Oct.  1,  1895.] 
293 
Supplement  to  the  “ Tropical  AgriculluristT 
is  an  t'.\cclU'iil  til)i'c,  of  fair  strengtli,  line  colour 
(wliicli  liowcver,  may  cliange  somewhat  uiuler 
continued  exj)Osure  to  tlie  aii );  and  were  it 
times  as  long  would  be  worth  £30  ]ier  ton 
today  in  London  ; if  twice  as  long,  £27 ; and,  as 
it  is,  it  may  he  valued  at  £2o. 
The  ordinary  Bombay  aloe  of  commerce  presents 
a very  different  appearance  to  your  s]jecimen. 
Jts  value  today  is  good,  £12 ; common  £0 
per  ton. 
Sir  Fredrick  Abel,  Secretary  and  Director  of 
the  Imi)erial  Institute,  considers  that  to  the 
process  of  “retting”  or  steeping  llie  leaves  in 
water  may  jrrobably  be  due  tlie  inferior  quality 
of  fibre,  as  it  is  a well-known  fact  that  monocoty 
ledonous  fibres  will  not,  as  a general  rule,  bear 
retting.  He  further  writes  ; — 
It  may,  therefore,  be  of  im])ortance  to  the 
Bombay  aloe  fibre  trade  to  bring  to  the  notice 
of  the  authorities  in  the  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment of  the  Government  of  Bombay  the  fact 
that  a better  fibre  tban  that  usually  supplied 
to  the  market  as  Bombay  aloe  has  been  obtained 
from  Indian-grown  .\gaves.  This  was  shown  in 
the  report  of  a filjre  e.vpert.” 
POULTRY  NOTES. 
According  to  Toicn  and  Conntnj,  M.  Bouruouf 
recommends  in  h<i  Belter,  a French  Journal  of 
Agriculture,  the  following  method  of  preserving 
eggs : Dissolve  in  two-thirds  of  warm  olive  oil 
one-third  of  bees-wax,  and  cover  each  egg  com- 
pletely with  a thin  la_ver  of  this  pomade  with 
the  end  of  the  finger.  The  egg-shell  by  degrees 
absorbs  the  oil,  and  each  of  its  pores  becomes 
filled  with  the  wa.v,  which  hermetically  seals 
them.  M.  Bouruouf  affirms  that  he  has  eaten 
eggs  kept  for  two  years  in  this  manner  in  a 
place  not  e.xposed  to  too  great  extremes  of  tem- 
perature. .He  thinks  that  the  germ  may  also  in 
the  same  manner  be  preserved  for  a considerable 
lime. 
Dt.  Ropenshaw  in  Poultry  states,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  all  plans  for  preserving  eggs  are  more 
or  less  unreliable,  because  tbe  eggs  experimented 
with  are,  so  to  speak,  alive,  or  contain  a living 
germ,  which  can  only  last  for  a certain  time 
unless  developed  by  incubation  into  a higber 
form  of  life,  when  the  egg  necessarily  becomes 
“ bad.”  He  draws  attention  to  the  facts  that 
unfertilized  eggs  are  after  being  subjected  to  in- 
cubation found  to  be  perfectly  fresb,  while 
fertilized  eggs  in  which  the  germ  has  perished 
are  found  to  be  putrid. 
“ If  a poultry-keeper  wants  to  preserve  eggs,” 
says  Dr.  Rojjenshaw,  “let  him  not  keep  a cock. 
The  hens  will  lay  just  as  well  without  one  fin 
my  experience  better),  and  the  eggs  will  beep 
if  cirefully  rubbed  over  with  fresh  butter  and 
then  put  in  a cool  place,  not  heaped  up  one 
on  top  of  another,  but  placed  side  by  side  on 
a shelf  previously  covered  with  a thin  layer  of 
siwdust  or  dry  moss  (not  hay,  which  has  a strung 
smell  ; or  brau,  which  is  apt  to  get  musty)  : 
if  they  are  turned  half  round  !iow  and  then 
they  will  remain  j)erfectly  good  for  six  months, 
possibly  longer,  but  1 have  only  tested  them  for 
half  a year,  and  cannot  speak  positively  beyond 
that  J consider  the  buttering  a much  better  jdan 
tlian  pickling  or  soaking  in  lime  water,  for  if 
the.  butter  is  fi'e.sh  it  imparts  no  taste  whatever 
to  the  preserved  eggs,  which  at  the  expiration 
of  six  months  cannot  be  disi  iiiguished  when  cooked 
from  eggrsone  to  three  day.s  old.  But  they  must  be 
unfertilized  eggs  to  begin  with,  for  those  that 
Contain  a living  germ  will  not  keep,  no  matter 
what  method  is  adopted  to  pre.serve  Liiem.  .More- 
over, maiden  hens  lay  far  more  eggs  then  mated 
ones,  and  are  not  nearly  so  frequently  ‘ broody.’” 
Turkey  hens  are  to  be  preferred  for  hatching 
eggs  for  many  reasons.^  As  their  jjeriod  of  in- 
cubation is  longer,  there  is  more  chance  of  constant 
sitting,  and  they  make  very  careful  and  attentive 
mother.s.  They  will  easily  cover  from  eighteen  to 
twenty  hen-eggs,  and  will  continue  quite  useful 
for  five  or  six  years. 
A little  powdered  sulphur  or  carbolic  shoi  Id 
be  sprinkled  in  the  nests  made  for  hatching 
this  will  keep  off  vermin.  In  very  dry  weather 
it  is  advisable  to  sprinkle  the  eggs  with  warm 
v/ater  about  three  days  before  the.y  are  due  to 
hatcb  out.  The  average  time  required  for  hatch- 
ing out  the  eggs  of  Hie  different  kinds  of  poultrv 
are 
Ordinary  fowls 
Ducks 
Turkeys  ... 
Geese 
. 21  days. 
28 
26  to  29  d 
30 
ays. 
h 
The  two  commonest  di-eases  among  fowl  are 
Roup  and  Diarrhoea.  The  symptoms 'of  roup  are 
running  at  the  nose  and  sneezing.  Immediately 
these  symptoms  are  observed  the  bird  should  be 
Isolated.  A tea  spoonful  of  Epsom  salts  should 
be  given  immediately,  and  when  this  has  acted 
the  head  and  throat  should  be  washed  witli 
diluted  kerosine  (two  parts  water  to  ono  part 
keroHne).  Soft  food  only  in  a crumbly  condition 
sbould  be  fed,  and  if  the  attack  has  I'aeen  taken 
jiromptly  the  bird  should  recover  within  a week. 
Care,  however,  must  be  taken  to  walcn  for 
symptoms  among  the  healthy  birds,  for  if  the 
disease  is  found  to  have  affected  several,  it  would 
be  better  to  shift  all  the  birds  into  another  rien 
and  the  infected  pen  should  be  closed  and 
properly  disinfected. 
Diarrlicca  is  often  caused  by  tbe  drinking  water 
benig  left  in  the  sun,  and  also  by  feeding  the 
soft  food  in  a sloppy  condition.  If  promptly  at- 
teiuleoto,  a case  may  generally  be  cured  by  feeding 
a little  boiled  rice  sprinkled  with  prepared  chalk 
It  there  appears  a tendency  amongst  the  birds 
in  the  pen  to  contract  diarrhoea,  a few  drops 
of  tincture  of  iron  should  be  put  in  the  drinkii  g 
water,  in  addition  to  giving  rice  and  chalk. 
WEEDS. 
The  plants  which  endeavour  to  take  possession 
ot  our  fields,  and  are  apt  to  choke  the  strmr.dincr 
crops  (or  apologies  for  such)  are  called  “ wcmds  ” 
are  de.spised,  detested,  and  jier.secuted  as  “ e.x- 
han.stmv  while  they  really  rejuu^ent  the  means 
by  which  nature  ende  ivours  to  replenish  the  ex- 
chequer, and  to  restore  the  productive  power  of 
the  soil,  of  which  it  has  been  deprived  by  man’s 
