12 
Starting. 
Good reader, no doubt you are one of 
the many who have for years been wait- 
ing and wanting to start with thorough- 
bred poultry, but have put this good 
work off from time to time from some 
trifling cause. 
Now, it doesn’t take the earth in value 
to start, and start right into it, and now 
a word to those who contemplate starting 
this spring. 
Let us say from our long years of expe- 
rience, and much of it very costly at that, 
as we had no one of experience to inform 
or explain the ups and downs to us, don’t 
wait too late as the time is near for hatch- 
ing, and we have many hundreds of beau- 
tiful little fellows off and doing fine. 
Study out the breed you wish to try 
and that test suits your taste, also one of 
the most popular varieties as well as the 
most profitable, and then send to some 
‘reliable breeder whose strain is well 
known for his or her catalogue or circular 
fully explaining their matings, with prices 
on eggs as well as show winnings, then 
study all over closely and go for the best 
every time and leave cheap, shoddy birds 
or eggs alone, as the best is none too good 
for the beginner. 
Go to the breeder whom you can rely 
upon, aud who can offer you good quality, 
then buy of him. 
When a fancier uses particular care in 
selecting and mating up his breeding 
yards, and succeeds year after year, aud 
has at all times quality to offer, one can 
hardly have a failure in sending orders 
to such breeders, for if he will send to 
such for the best eggs he will in most 
every instance get full value and satisfac- 
tion. 
Of course cne should not expect too 
much of a good thing, in fact if a 75 per 
cent. hatch is received he should consider 
limself extraordinarily lucky, and a 60 
per cent hatch very lucky. 
Do not always expect a 100 per cent 
hatch, as you surely are aware that very 
few breeders obtain such hatches them- 
selves at home although every breeder’s 
ambition is to get all the fertility in his 
eggs possible. 
Selling Eggs and Poultry. - 
As a general rule hens are kept on the 
farm for the primary purpose of produc- 
ing eggs. 
Unless the eggs are produced in éuper- 
abundance, which is seldom the case, the 
farmer’s wife or daughter can dispose of 
them to the best advantage by selling 
direct to private customers in the nearest 
town. These private customers can best 
be cbtained by first offering for sale only 
the highest class of products, and then — 
keeping all offerings up to the high point 
thusestablished. 
Once a reputation for dealing in only 
the very best eggs and chickens is estab- 
lished it can only be lost by wilful neglect. 
A few private customers thus secured will 
soon begin to depend entirely upon one 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
source of supply, confident that it is the 
best, and they will not grumble at paying 
the highest market prices. 
Many farmers have regular marketing 
days. on which their customers expect 
them, and they will not buy of any other 
if they are sure of not being disappointed, 
It is one thing to raise chickens and 
produce eggs: it is quite another to dis- 
pose of them to good advantage, but it 
can be’easily dcne. 
Setting Hens 
To bereally successful one must begin 
further back than the mere act of putting 
the eggs under the hen, which means the 
purchasing of eggs from a reliable breeder 
of stock of known vigor and worth, for 
the chick, like members of the human 
family, has the right to be well born and 
should be given that right by proceeding 
as above. 
After we have made things ready for 
the reception of the her, who should have 
been left for three days on the nest to 
* prove her good intentions, we remove her 
after dark to the nest prepared as follows: 
In a box about 12 x 14x £0 inches we 
have turned on its side we place a shovel 
_ ful of moist earth, loam preferable, in 
which has been mixed a small shovelful 
of coal ashes, and on this the nest mate- 
rial of straw without grain in it, shaping 
so not to leave too flat, neither eo deep as 
to hinder the hen in turning the eggs— 
the form of a saucer is abont right —and 
over all we sprinkle a good supply of lice 
powder, This done we dust biddy freely 
with the same and consign her to her 
three weeks of lonesomeress. 
Have yournest room in a quiet spot, 
sheltered and not too light, provide a 
dust bath, good sound grain and fresh 
water daily, and twice during incubation 
dust the hen freely, and you may be 
assured of a good hatch. 
{t is usual with us to set two or more 
hens at oue time, as in so doing if the 
weather be such as to permit two broods 
may be given the one hen to mother, and 
the other hen returned to the yards and 
other duties. 
Eggs should be tested at the end of ten 
days, and all infertile ones removed, thus 
giving more room to the fertile ones and 
lessening the chances of nest soiling by 
broken eggs. 
Should this happen at any time, and it 
does frequently where hens are used, take 
a basin of warm water and wash the eggs, 
dry carefully and return to the nest pre- 
pared with clean straw and no harm has 
been done. 
It will do no harm to confine the hen 
tothe nest the first day by a screen in 
front, and remc ving this the second morn - 
ing, giving the hen a chance at feed and 
water, by which time in usual cases she 
will be true to her trust. 
The principal element in the action of 
bones is phosphate of lime, which is indis- 
pensable to the growth of nearly all plants, 
but it is scarce in many soils and is 
speedily exhausted. 
Avaust 6, 1906 
The Dairy. 
Training the Young Dairy Animals. 
When a heifer first. comes into the 
dairy the glands which constitute her 
udder are in an undeveloped condition, 
and need good management in crder to 
secure an abundant and prolonged flow 
of milk. From the start seo that every 
drop of milk is drawn out. Rub the 
udder, carefully kneading it, especially if 
it contains any very hard lumps. If 
lumps form which seem difticult to reduce 
Lathe with water as warm as the hand 
will bear. Repeat this three or four 
times a day. If the cow is intended for 
the dairy, under iio conditions let the 
calf run with her. In feeding, be caréful 
at the start not to feed too liberally ; bunt 
after a few days have elapsed it will be 
well to gradually increase her rations. 
Liberal feeding is necessary in order to 
develop her milking qualities. One ad- 
vantage in breeding the heifers so that 
they will come in after the grass has 
started is that it will help materially in 
securing a good flow of milk. It is neces- 
sary to secure not only the largest flow of 
mjlk, but a flow for the longest season. 
For this reason it is best in many cases 
not to breed the heifer for her second calf 
for several months, Let at least twenty 
months intervene between the first and 
second ealf. In many cases a young pro- 
mising heifer is ruined as a profitable cow 
by breeding her too soon after: her first 
calf as her energies are directed to the 
growing of the calf she is carrying, and 
this affects her milk giving, and a failure 
to secure a good development of the milk- - 
giving functions at this time will affect 
her the remainder of her life. TT} e milk- 
giving, like other organs, are beneficially 
stimulated by use, and all reasonable care 
should be taken to secure a large flow of 
milk for the-longest period possible, and 
the feeding and management and the 
breeding must be done in the way best 
calculated to do this. So far as possible 
the cow must be liberally fed after she 
drops her calf, and after the danger of 
milk fever is past. No matter what her 
treatment may be in other respects, she 
‘canuot be developed into a good dairy 
cow unless she is well fed, and the ration 
must be one calculated to enable her to 
give the largest flow of milk. ‘his is of 
more importance with a young heifer that 
must of necessity need development than 
with a cow whose habits are fairly well 
established. Many dairymen and others 
who milk cows for profit believe that 
when a cow reaches the age of seven or 
eight her useful years are over, and that 
she should be replaced by one younger. 
Bunt, other things being equal, this is a 
mistake. A cow that has been well cared 
for, with generous rations and proper 
attention given to her comfort through 
all seasons of the year, is better and will 
make a more profitable return at eight 
years old than at an earlier age; in other 
at 
