582 
Supplement  to  the  '•'■Trnpical  Ac/ncHUuristy  [FKn.  1,  1896. 
roULTRY  NOTES. 
It  i.s  unnecessary  to  teeil  cliickens  for  twenty- 
four  liours  after  they  were  hatched.  The  first  feed 
given  should  be  of  eggs  liard-boiled  mixed  witli 
oatmeal  or  bre.ad  crumbs  in  a dry  state,  placed  on 
a clean  board  for  the  chick.s  to  feed  from  ; give 
them  a little  new  milk  to  drink. 
Feed  chickens  six  or  sevei;  times  daily  for  the 
first  eight  weeks  ; always  giving  food  fresh,  never 
allowing  any  of  the  last  meal  to  remain  on  the 
l)Ourd.  Do  not  give  sloppy  food  as  this  causes 
diarrhoea  which  kills  them  off  fast. 
Give  chickens  a daily  supply  of  fresh  water 
in  which  a small  portion  of  sulphate  of  iron  has 
been  dissolved  in  proportion  of  the  size  of  a pea 
to  one  ((uart  of  water.  Keep  the  water  in  a shady 
place,  for  water  heated  by  the  sun  is  fatal  to  tht> 
chicks- 
The  Poultry  Moyithly  gives  some  interesting 
facts  as  regards  the  rate  of  the  growth  of  chickens  ; 
The  egg  Weighs,  2 oz.  ; the  newly-hatched  chicken, 
1|  oz.  ; at  one  week  old,  2 oz. ; 2 weeks  old,  -1  oz.: 
.3  weeks  old,  6.j-  oz.  ; 4 weeks  old,  10  oz. ; 5 weeks 
old,  14  oz.  ; 6 weeks  old,  18|  oz.  ; 7 week.s  ohl, 
23^  oz. ; 8 weeks  old,  28  oz.  ; 8 weeks  old,  32  oz.  ; 
10  weeks  old,  36  oz,  ; 11  weeks  old,  41  oz. 
The  value  of  turpentine  for  the  removal  of 
intestinal  worms  in  poultry  and  dogs  does  not, 
says  the  N.S.W.  Ayricultuval  Gazette,  appear 
to  be  fully  appreciated.  It  is  a good  plan  to 
scatter  a few  drops — say  two  for  each  bird — over 
the  soft  food  occasionally.  Birds  are  more  lial)le 
to  worms  after  a spell  of  wet  weather.  Though 
this  will  help  to  remove  them,  it  mu-'t  not  be 
forgotten  that  clean  floors  will  do  much  to  prevent 
them,  which  is  far  better. 
Compared  with  well-rotted-  farmyard  manure 
there  are  4S-60  of  V)ho.sphatic  acid  iti  hon  manure 
to  6 lbs.  in  farmyard  manure;  41  lbs.  of  potash 
to  10  lbs.  in  farmyard  manure  and  67  lbs,  of 
nitrogen  to  ll  lbs.  in  farmyard  manure.  This 
analysis  is  Iwised  on  a ton  each  of  hen  and  farm- 
yard manure. — iV.  Ac/ricultural  Gazette.. 
OBITUARY. 
Hermann  Ilellriegel,  " a tyi>e  of  tho.se  qumt  and 
patient  scientific  investigators  for  which  (fermany 
is  famous,  and  the  scene  of  wliose  rcstair-clies 
is  gradually  wresting  from  nature  her  hidden 
secrets,”  was  born  on  October  2Lst,  1831,  After 
his  school  career  he  gave  him.self  up  to  agri- 
cultural re.search,  and  for  17  year,*  he  developed 
upon  a scientific  Iiasis  the  method  of  -saiui-cullure, 
i.e , the  growth  of  plants  in  jmre  sand  as  far  as 
po.ssible  free  from  all  plant  food,  and  adding  thereto 
various  food  materials  in  known  amounts ; light, 
water,  heat,  kc..,  being  so  regulated  that  all  the 
factors  of  growth  were  kept  under  exact  control. 
In  1886  he  announced  the  discovery  which  at 
once  took  the  scientific  world  l>y  storm — the  con- 
nection between  the  developement  of  the  nodules 
found  on  the  roots  of  certain  leguminosae  and  the 
assimilation  of  free  nitrogen  in  the  course  of  the 
growth  of  such  plants.  The  general  phui  and 
results  of  llellriegel's  experiments  may  be  ex- 
plained as  follows : — 
(iuite  consistently  with  common  experience  in 
agriculture  and  in  accordance  with  the  results  of 
the  Kothaiasted  and  other  experiments,  Ilellriegel 
found  in  his  experiments,  that  plants  of  the  grass, 
the  beet-root,  tlie  buck-wheat  and  the  turnip 
families  dei)ended  on  combined  nitrogen  supplied 
within  the  soil.  On  the  other  hand  he  found  that 
leguminous  plants  did  not  depend  entirely  on 
such  supplies,  liis  results  were  indeed  not  only- 
very  definite,  but  they  had  a special  bearing  f)ii 
the  admittedly  unsolved  problem  of  the  source 
of  the  whole  of  the  nitrogen  of  leguminous  crops. 
In  1883  he  commenced  a compiehensive  series 
of  vegetation  experiments  in  j)0ts,  in  which  he 
grew  agricultural  plants  of  various  families,  in 
washed  quartz  sand.  To  all  the  pots  nutritive 
solutions,  but  containing  no  nitrogen,  wereaddial. 
To  one  ,«eries  nothing  else  was  snj)plied  afterwards  ; 
to  a second  a lixeil  qu.-intity  of  nitrogen  as  sodium 
nitrate  was  sulrSequently  supplied  : to  a third  twice 
as  much,  and  to  a fourth  four  times  as  much.  The 
result  was  that  in  theca.se  of  the  grass  family  and 
some  other  ])lants,  the  growth  was  largely  propor- 
tional to  the  combined  nitrogen  sujtplied,  while  in 
that  of  tlie  bean  family  it  was  not  so.  In  the 
case  of  these  plants  it  was  observed  that  in  the 
series  of  j)ots  to  which  no  nitrogen  was  added, 
most  of  the  plants  were  apparently  limited  in 
their  growth  by  tlie  amount  of  nitrogen  which 
the  seed  suiti)lied.  Here  and  there,  however,  a 
plant  growing  under  ostensibly  the  same  conditions 
grew  very  luxuriantly ; and  on  examination  it 
wa.s  found  that  while  no  nodules  were  developed 
on  the  roots  of  the  plants  of  limited  growth, 
tliey  were  abundant  on  those  of  the  luxurian'.ly 
grown  plants. 
In  view  of  this  result.  Ilellriegel,  with  his 
Cvjlleague  Dr.  Wilfarth,  instituted  e.xperiments  to 
determine  whether,  by  the  infection  of  the  soil  with 
aj>propriate  organisms,  the  formation  of  the  root 
ufalnles  and  luxuriant  growth  could  be  induced; 
and  whether  by  tlie  exclusion  of  such  infer  tion,  the 
result  could  be  ]>reveuted.  'I'o  this  end  they 
added  to  some  of  a series  of  experimental  pots  2-') 
or  sometimes  <50  cubic  centimes  of  the  turliid 
watery  extract  of  a fertile  soil,  made  by  shaking 
a given  quantity  of  it  wdth  live  times  its  weight 
of  distillerl  water,  and  then  allowing  the  solid 
matter  to  subside.  In  some  cases,  however,  the 
extract  was  sterilized.  In  those  in  which  it  was 
not  sterilized,  there  was  almost  al  ways  luxuriani 
grow'tli  and  abumlant  formation  of  root  nodules  : 
but  with  sterilization  there  was  no  such  result. 
Consistent  rc,sults  were  obtained  witli  peas,  vetches 
ami  some  otlier  leguminosae,  Imt  the  ap])lication  of 
the  same  soil-extract  had  little  or  no  effect  in  the 
case  of  lupins,  semidella,  and  some  other  plants 
of  the  family  whicli  are  known  to  grow  more 
naturally  on  sandy  than  on  loamy  or  rich  humus 
soils.  Accordingly  they  made  a similar  extract 
from  a diluvial  sandy  soil,  wh(>re  lupins  wen; 
growing  well,  in  wliicb  it  might  be  siip])0sed  that 
the  organi.sm  peculiar  to  sncli  a soil  would  be 
present ; and  on  the  application  of  this  to  a 
nitrogen-free  soil,  lupins  grew  luxuriantly  and 
nodules  were  abundantly  devid  )])ed  on  theu-  roots. 
Ilellriegel  du'd  on  Sei)t('mber  2 Ith,  I8!t5.  His 
further  researches  into  the  determination  of  the 
reqiHrements  of  plants  as  regards  phosjihoric  acid 
ami  potash  have  not  yet  been  published,  Imt  their 
