Io 
The Fowls Saved the Farm. 
Mr D. F. Laurie, the S.A. poultry 
expert, relates a remarkable instance of 
the benefits to be derived from poultry 
keeping that came under his notice re 
cently during a trip tothe Murray. It 
appears that a German farmer had con- 
tracted a debt of some £20 with a store- 
keeper in one of the towns. He was 
anxious to reduce his liability, so he took 
the only 12 bags of wheat he had reaped 
from his crop to the storekeeper, and 
offered them in payment of his debt, 
saying that he would have to sell his 
fowls as he had nothing left to feed them 
with. The storekeeper, knowing that the 
fowls : ere the only source of revenue left 
to the farmer, told him to take the wheat 
back and feed his fowls with it and bring 
the eggs to the store, and that he (the — 
storekeeper) would supply the necessaries 
of life. The farmer did so, and so well 
did the fowls perform that in 20 months 
they had laid sufficient eggs to wipe out 
the liability and provide enough to keep 
the family. 
The Value of Green Bone. 
The invention of the green bone cutter 
has certainly been a valuable innovation, 
and all well-regulated poultry farms count 
upon this piece of machinery as necessary 
for the successful prosecution of the 
poultry work. The green bone must be 
judiciously given, and must not be offered 
the fowls with a lavish hand. A pound of 
cut bone for every sixteen head of stock 
is about the proper amount, and even 
then it should not be given’oftener than 
every alternate day. A little goes a great 
way. Green bone is a complete food. It 
is rich in nitrogen, albumen, carbonates, 
and phosphates of lime. These ingredients 
are essential for the making of the egg. 
- Rather Smart Sparrows. 
A gentleman beught a lot of chickens 
and commenced feeding them on rice, 
but could not make ont what they did 
with the large quantities that were thrown 
down to them. He determined to watch. 
No sooner had the rice heen scattered 
over the ground than a cloud of sparrows 
swooped down and made a splendid meal. 
There was one consolation, and that was 
the chickens would socn be ‘fowl’ enough 
to eat Indian corn. Next morning came, 
and he threw down corn, thinking he would 
be one in front of the spar:ows, but no 
such luck. They came as usual, and pick- 
ing up the corn flew away with it to a 
railway, placed it on the rails, perched on 
the telegraph wizes, and waited for a 
train to come by and smash it? He has 
since given.up keeping fowls for profit. 
This is not a Yankee yarn; it comes from 
Birmingham. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
July 1, 1907 
INTERNATIONAL STOCK FOOD. 
Age Limits of Dairy Cows. 
A bulletin from the Wisconsin Station 
states that a cow is at her best during 
her fifth and sixth years 
time the production of milk and butter- 
fat by cows in normal condition increases 
each year. The length of time the cow 
will maintain her maximum production 
depends on her constitutional strength. 
and the care with which she is fed and 
managed, A good dairy cow should not 
show any marked falling off until after 
ten years of age, Many excellent records 
have been made by cows older than this. 
The qnality of the milk produced by 
heifers is somewhat better than that of 
older cows, for a decrease has been noted 
of one to two-tenths of one per cent. in 
the average fat content for each year 
until the cows have reacned the full age. 
This is caused by the increase in the 
weight of the cows with increasing age, 
At any rate. there seems to bea paral-_ 
lelism between the two sets of figures for 
the same cows, Young animals use a 
portion of their food for the formation of 
body tissue, and it is to be expected, 
therefore, that heifers will require a 
larger portion of nutrients for the pro: 
duction of milk or butter-fat than do 
other cows. After a certain age has been 
reached, on the average seven years of 
age, the food required fer the production 
of a unit of butter-fat again increases 
both as regards dry matter and the diges- 
tible components of the food, A good 
milk cow of exceptional strength, kept 
under favorable conditions, whose diges: 
tive system has not been impaired by 
over-feediny or crowding for high results, 
should continue to be a profitable producer 
hy the highest au- }\ 
@\thorities to be the | 
= est medicated stock 
food the world has 
produced. ' 
Sold in 13 Ib. 
packets, Is. 
3lb packets, 2s. 6d.; 
25 |b. pails, 17s 
: ¥ Used by over three 
million stockowners 
throughout the 
world, and endorsed = 
Lp 
\\ 
up to which | 
EVERY 25 1B. PA\L 
SAVES $7.00 IN CORN OR ONS. 
KPORIFIES THE BLOOD. NOS NGESO™: 
6d. ; 
Sole Agents— 
E. B. COX & CO., 
Corner Rundle St. & Kast Terrace, 
ADELAIDE. 
till her twelfth year, although the cconomy 
of her production 1s wont to be somewhat 
reduced before this age is reached, 
Deterioration of Milk. 
It seems to te very difficult for a great 
many dairyinen to understand the im- 
portance of keeping ilk clean—allowing 
no foreign substances like pieces of straw, 
dust, and even particles of manure to get 
into the milk They will tell you that 
they strain it through two thicknesses of 
cheese cloth, and remove all these foreign 
substances, consequently the milk ought 
to be clean, The fact is that straining the 
milk does not do as much good as they 
imagine. The hair, or the bit of straw, 
does not do su very uch harm. It is the 
bacteria, or microscopic organisins, little 
inicroscopic plants, adhering to these 
foreign substances which really do tho 
harm, and these bacteria canuot be re- 
moved by straining the inilk. ‘The only 
thing to do ig to keep them out in the 
first place. 
When milk is drawn from a cow’s. 
udder it is perfectly clean and wholesome. 
In other words it is what is known as 
sterile milk, Lf it cay be kept in that 
condition it does not spoil. Dr. Marshal, 
the bacteriologist 0 the Michigan Agri- 
“cultural College, succeeded in keeping 
some from a cow absolutely clean and 
sealed it up in a glass vessel. This inilk 
keeps sweet. ‘here is nothing to sour it. 
It is now about two yeaas since it was 
drawn from the udder of the cow and yet 
no change has taken place. Many people 
would not believe this if they did not 
know it. ; 
