640 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agricziltimst." [March 1, 1900. 
chilled the gercL is either killed or so badly injur- 
ed that the chick dies in the shell, or immediately 
after it is liberated. The egg should be turned 
once a day, to prevent the yolk setting and ad- 
hering to tlie shell. 
KKW QUARTERS FOE POULTRY. 
One mistake in pouli ry-keeping is in running 
the hens on the same plot of ground continually. 
1' is stated that they will not do as well in the 
sime quarters after tunning there a few years. 
That has been tlie experience of many, and they 
come to thecoacliision that soms cheap, but warm, 
shelter should bo made, and every few years re- 
moved to an entirely new spot. 
CLEANSE YOUB HOUSES. 
Spray the hen houses willi kerosine, says the 
" Rural Australian." This is better and cheaper 
than whitewash. A spraying bellows will soon 
])ay for itself. The spray penetrates every crack 
and crevice, and it is so fine that a very small 
quantity of kerosine serves for a given surface. 
This method of cleansing hen houses is cheap and 
effectual. 
CUT THE WINGS. 
It will do a hen no harm to have her wings 
clipped if she is a tramp, and it will prevent her 
from visiting the garden as often as usual. The 
proper way is only to cut one wing. The two 
longest or flight feathers may be left, cutting all 
the shorter ones- When her wings are folded the 
shortened feathers will not be seen. 
don't starve the fowls. 
Hens that are starved seldom lay, and hens that 
are made and kept too fat never lay. The way 
to be sure of eggs is to strike a happy medium 
between the extremes, and keep them in good 
condition. It is not often that poultry need 
stimulants, and when they do it is from a lack 
of crood attention, pure water, clean food, and clean 
qmirters. It is not often that disease in any form 
attacks well-kept poultry yards. 
SOFTSHELLED EGGS. 
In the majority of cases softshelled eggs are 
caused by the hens being too fat. To remedy this 
stop feeding corn, and furnish wheat, oats, and 
barley. If the cause is simply a lack of lime, 
place old plaster, pulverized bones, or crushed 
shells, where the hens can pick at them. A little 
air-slacked lime can be put in the drinking water 
until the evil is remedied. Crushed bones, green 
or dry, is an excellent egg-producing food. 
THE VALUE OF DRY LEAVES. 
A correspondent in an American paper advises 
the readers to gather fallen leaves before they 
get wet and sodden, and store them in a dry place. 
There is nothing like dry, dead leaves in the 
poultry-house or shed. The hens will scratch 
them over and over again, until they (the leaves, 
not thejihens) are worn out, ftnd the exercise tht 
liens get in .scratching is what they need to keep 
t hem in good health, while necessarily confined to 
their limited winter quarters. 
THE CAU.se of MANY DISEASES. 
It is not cold so much as dampness that brings 
about disease in. the ])oultry-liouse. A duck will 
stay in the water half the time, and be perfectly 
healthy, but compel them to remain in a house on 
nights in which tlie floor is damp, and in a little 
while they will show the effects of it. Chickens 
can stand a hard rain occasionallj', but a house 
that is damp and full of bad odours is a regular 
death-trap, and a breeder of diseases. Half the 
diseases of poultry are directly traceable to damp 
houses, and compelling the chickens to roosts 
wheie the air strikes them through cracks and 
crevices. 
CHANGE THE FOOD. 
A'ariety of food is absolutely essential to hens ; 
but that is not a good arrangement of the variety 
which provides corn this week, bran next week, 
oats the next week, and wheat the following week. 
These are all good, but should be given at proper 
periods of the day, rather than during the several 
weeks of the month. Corn affords heat, and is 
fat-producing, and .fhould be given sparingly the 
last thing in the evening so as to supply nourish- 
ment and warmth during the cold winter nights. 
The bran, with table scraps thrown in and all 
mixed with warm water, is best in the morning, 
and the wheat and oats should be in places where 
the fowls can scratch for them during the day. 
FOUR FACTS. 
In his work on poultry, Mr. Lewis Wright states 
the following are four facts gathered as the result 
of careful experiment and enquiry : — " 1. The eggs 
of a young pullet are generally longer and more 
pointed at the small 'end than those laid by the 
same bird either later in the season or the next 
year. 2. These early pullets' eggs will produce, 
on an average, about the proportion of six cockerels 
to four pulletfS. 3. Eggs laid early in the season 
by older hens are also, as a rule, perceptibly longer 
and more pointed than those laid later in the 
season. 4. It is well known that cockerels 
oftener predominate in early broods and pullets in 
later ones. 
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL RAISING. 
The opinion is gradually gaining ground that 
chicks raised by hens are superior to those brought 
up in a brooder, says the " Farmer." It makes 
but little difference whether they are hatched 
under a hen or in an incubator, but no brooder has 
yet been made that will approach the hen for 
comfort. The fact that the hen that steals her 
nests, hatches and raises more chicks than those 
that receive so much atten tion is argument suffi- 
cient in favour of the hen over the brooder. One 
trouble with many persons is-that they continually 
annoy settiug hens in making them comfortable. 
This is especially true when the eggs are high- 
priced. An old, setting hen is a good deal like 
Little Bo-Peep's sheep: — "Leave them alone, 
and they'll come homo, carrying their tails 
behind them.'' 
