34 m 
Fighting Red Mites. 
In former years, early in the season, I 
have soaked the roosts of my hen house 
with crude oil, and haye had but little 
trouble with lice or mites. 
however, has been an exception. Through 
This year, 
carelessness, or laziness, before I was aware 
of it, my houses were literally alive with 
the little red pests. 
First I tried my old remedy, kerosene, 
-crude oil and crude carbolic acid. 
not seem to be of any benefit. Linquired 
of my poultry friends and found they were 
altin the same boat. 
smoke the houses with sulphur. I 
I was advised to 
~did 
that, and the lice only seemed to grow” 
The next advice 
“Was to whitewash. I mixed a barrel of 
fat on that. treatment 
whitewash and, with my spray pump, I 
literally soaked all parts of, the houses 
removing roosts, drop boards, and all 
movable things. The next morning the 
lice seemed to be just as thick on the roost 
-as ever. | j 
I then tried smcking again with sulphur 
with the addition of tobacca dust. The 
lice seemed to increase on the roosts. Next 
with a torch I burned the roosts every 
morning, until the wooa seemed to be all 
-charred, and again they were just as thick 
as ever. I was advised to try boiling water 
which I did a few mornings with the same 
results, 
JI began to get discouraged, and, bought 
‘some of the advertised lice killers. The 
-directions reminded me of a bedbug killer 
I read about when a boy, viz.; A party 
not having got good results with the 
preparation, complained to the agent. 
‘The agent said the way to.use it was first 
to catch the bug and squeeze him until 
he opened his ‘mouth, then drop some 
of the liquid” into it and he would 
strangle. 
The lice killers were about the same; | 
catch the hen by tke legs and thorough- 
ly dust all parts of the hen with the 
powder. 
“Now, fora person-with a few hens that. 
‘may be alright, but to catch and ‘dust a 
‘hundred hens two or three times a week, to. 
-say the least, is rather trying to one’s 
nerves and patience. Besides, I fail'to see 
It did. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER.- 
how that wouldaffect the mites on the 
perches. I tried only a few, as it was too 
much like useless labor. 
TI looked in my poultry books, and they 
said to keep up a constaut warfare, or 
something to that effect, but they didn’t 
say what to fight with—shot gun or ar- 
bitration. I concluded the authors didn’t 
know. Then as an experiment I dusted 
abunch of lice with a little tobacco 
dust, and was surprised to see them all 
die immediately. I tried the spray pump 
and whitewash again, and while the per- 
ches were still wet I sprinkled them 
liberally with tobacco dust, and the next 
morning the perches were all covered 
with lice—all dead. SolI think I have 
solved the problem of red lice, as I haven’t 
seen one since. 
—H. U. Durfee, in ‘ Farm Journal? 
Grean meenines of Poultry. 
D. S. THOMPSON, Poultry Expert. 
The green feeding of poultry is a sub- 
ject of the greatest importance. A few 
To-day it 
is only practised amongst the most skilled 
years ago it was not heard of. 
poultrymen. 
The general farmer, the man sai can 
produce the green feed, rarely thinks of 
it, and never practises the feeding. Ifhe 
lives in a wheat district, the fowls are fed 
on wheat only; if in maize country, he 
The up-to-date 
poultry farmer who buys his own food 
supplies, purchases green feeds, or their 
ubstitutes, besides the grains and mill 
offal necessary. 
Tt has now been: apstbubesivea that a 
very large quantity of green fodder, pro- 
duced oni the farm, can be profitably fed 
to poultry. 1t has generally been under- 
stood that poultry. hens included, pecked 
grass and lived to.a considerable extent. 
by grazing on the pastures‘; but when the 
green and succulent grass is nipped with 
frost in the winter or scorched’ in the 
uses that grain alone, 
summer, the hen ceases from peciing, and” 
Of course, other artificial 
stops laying. 
conditions are necessary in the way | of 
meat feeding to take the place ofi: insect, 
life, and turn autumn and winter ‘con- 
ditions into as‘hear- summer as ‘possible 
August‘ 2, 1909 
and equally, if not more so, is provision 
of green food. This is one of the great 
secrets of how to produce eggs in the 
autumn and winter, which is very valuable 
to the farmer, but it is also of great im- 
portance for him to know that he can feed 
with advantage so much valuable bulk 
fodder to his fowls. at such a low pro- 
ductive cost. 
The question is constantly asked: What 
are the best green, foods for poultry? Lu- 
cerne is certainly the best, and if the 
land will not grow it, try rape. All green 
foods should be finely chatfed, the finer 
the better, and the more relished by the 
hens. 
—Lucerne.— 
Lucerne is a very useful crop for the 
poultry farmer with suitable soil to grow 
it on. It is really astonishing how much 
green stuff can be obtained from a small 
patch of lucerne. The great thing is to 
confine the area to just the size that cap 
be thoroughly prepared by very deep 
digging or forking, and unless the natural 
drainage is very good, artificially, 
drained, A patch of ‘lucerne, 15 fest 
square, properly sown and established, 
will suffice fora hundred head of poul- 
try. : ‘ 
For poultry it should be as ‘Jeafy as 
possible, and cut before it grows too long 
It can be cut 
cutter oF 
chaffed. A fairly large quantity: can b? 
cut at.a time, aud fed as required. 
in the stem or hardens. 
with an ordinary: clover. 
There: have been comparisons mad@. 
frequently between clover and lucerne: 
Both are-good for poultry feeding ; bub 
once. established, 
perennial and can be cut repeatedly 1? 
the year, while clover will last. but tw? 
years ut most and can be cut once or twice? 
lucerne, when 
only. - S 8s . 
‘A comparison: of the feeding al of. 
lucerne and bran shows. that the forme: 
is’ almost equal to that generally 
expensive mill product, which it can, 107 
place as the bulk ration pie a anes 
mash. hv ie gLike 
Wheat Pran—Protein,, 16s A; che 
hydrates, 53:9; Fat, 4:0." tit 
«<Luéerne Beeson 1485 Garbox! 
hydrates, 42-7.; Fat, 2:2... aoet fateh 
eae 4 
