314 | QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Aprrn, 1899. 
Fowls are often troubled with gout. In such case rub the birds’ legs with, 
brandy, or with an ointment made of 100 parts of lard and 50 parts crushed 
camphor. Keep the birds in a dry place, supply tonic food, and put rusty 
nails in the drinking water. 
Wheat is better for fowls than maize. It does not make them so fat, and, 
considering the number of eggs that can be secured by using it, is altogether a 
more economical food. 
_ Tincture of iodine is said to be an infallible cure for warts on fowls. The 
tincture, which is very cheap, should be brushed over the warts with a feather 
every other day. 
PREVENTING EGG-EATING. 
Att poultry-kéepers know how difficult it is to prevent certain hens from eating 
their eggs. The following is a preventive, if not curative, method, recom- 
mended by a Belgian experimenter, and which deserves at least to be put to the 
test. First you must make a coop, or box, in lattice-work ; the laths which 
form the bottom are ata distance of 2 or3inches from each other. This boxis. 
placed on legs 15 to 19 inches high, and below a thick layer of wheat husks is 
spread. In the morning the troublesome hen is taken from the hen-house and 
examined, to ascertain whether about to lay (this is done by placing the index 
finger in the cloaca, where the egg can be felt.) The hen is then shut in the 
box and there left. When she lays the egg, it falls through the laths 
into the husks below, and the hen misses her usual meal. You can then release 
her, and repeat the operation next day, if necessary. : 
You may also keep her in the coop for four or five days, giving her one day 
of freedom at the end of this time, and then putting her back again. This. 
treatment continued for a fortnight saves all the eggs, and also cures the hen, 
or does something towards doing so. You can ascertain whether a cure has. 
been effected as follows :—At the time of laying place a porcelain egg under 
the hen, without her being aware of it, securing the egg so as to prevent it 
falling through the laths. You can then easily see from the hen’s behaviour 
whether she is cured or not; if so, you may release her at once, and if not you 
should get rid of her, or continue the treatment indicated.—Aviculteurs. 
Francais. 
LIME AS A REMEDY AGAINST FROST, 
Mr. W. G. Crovau, hon. secretary of the Mylor branch of the Central 
Agricultural Bureau of South Australia, stated at a meeting of the branch, 
last January, that he had read in an American paper that powdered quicklime 
applied to plants touched by frost would prevent any injury resulting there-. 
from. He therefore obtained some marble lime, hung it in a bag in a shed 
until it fell to powder, but was still quick. Early in the morning, whilst 
some potato plants were quite white with frost, he dusted them over with lime, 
putting it in a bran bag for that purpose, and before he had gone far he 
noticed vapour rising from the plants as the lime took in water and gave out 
heat. The potatoes so treated received no damage, while others not treated 
were cut down by the frost. 
UTILISING ALKALINE SOILS. 
WE have referred on one or two occasions to the alkaline patches which exist 
on some of the lands near Warwick. At the Hermitage Experiment Farm 
there may be seen several plots which are so alkaline in their nature that wheat 
either fails to germinate on them or at best yields a miscrabie return. As. 
mangolds and beets, onions, Jersualem artichokes, and above all salt-bush will 
thrive on such soils, it would be worth while occupying the saline patches with. 
these crops in preference to trying to fit them for wheat-growing. 
