320 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Frp., 1898. 
for that of their attendants, the mode I haye adopted myself? It was dis- 
covered entirely by accident. One day I wanted to set a hen, and, not having 
anything soft at hand, I took some dried crushed horsedung, and put it into 
the box and then set the hen. I noticed this hen always looked healthier than 
the rest, and when I handled her I found no lice; so I examined her and 
found nothing but a good healthy comb. I tried the experiment with others, 
with the same result. I had three hens sitting side by side, and set a second 
hen on the same nest with equal success. I have done this for over three 
years with the same satisfactory results, and have reported the matter to 
several scientific gentlemen, but have not yet seen them to know their opinion. 
I shall be glad to hear ‘of any improvement on this very simple discovery, as I 
have never known it to fail. 
PRESERVATION OF FEATHERS. 
FarMens very often overlook the value of little things whilst devoting their 
whole attention to their main crops. Amongst many other minor items of 
farm produce may be cited feathers, horsehair, pigs’ bristles, calfskins, bees- 
wax, &c., all of which we have seen thrown away ; and yet all of these are 
worth money, just as much as are the rags, bones, and broken glass, oat of 
which fortunes have been realised in the old country. Now take feathers. 
How many hundreds or thousands of fowls, geese, ducks, turkeys, roosters, 
and pullets are killed weekly by farmers? How many farmers preserve the 
feathers? Usually the poultry are plucked in the back yard, and the feathers 
thrown into the rubbish heap, when, if they were preserved, every 2 or 3 lb. 
. weight would suffice to stuff a fair-sized pillow worth from 5s, to 7s. There is 
very little trouble in preparing the feathers for use. The feathers of ducks 
and geese are, of course, the most valuable. Next to these come the soft 
feathers of hens, and after these those of turkeys. All that is required is to 
dry them in the oven, or put them in thin bags and expose them on a sheet of 
galvanised iron to the hot summer sun. The coarser feathers of the wings and 
tails should be stripped from the quills, and then they are equally seca for 
pillows and cushions. Some people scald the poultry with hot water to facili- 
tate plucking, and the wet mass of feathers is thrown away with the water; 
but all they require is drying, and subsequent baking to render them as fluffy 
and soft as those of fowls plucked dry. It is surprising what a quantity of 
feathers can be accumulated in the course of a year on a farm where there are 
a large number of poultry. The labour is a trifle once the fowls are plucked, 
and the feather crop is always saleable, or can be utilised by the housewife, 
who is never averse to having a good supply of feather pillows. 
