356 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1902. 
In addition to this their resistant powers and their vitality are very ereat. 
Three or four years after cultivation they may be reproduced. They some- 
times attack the eggs in process of incubation, and are thus transmitted to the 
embryo. The inoculation ordinarily occurs through the medium of an abrasion 
on the delicate skin of the chickens about the bill and eyes. Some bags of grain 
appear to be very strongly infected, and thus a whole brood may be con- 
taminated at the same time. Then the disease appears to be contagious. 
Disinfection is resorted to; floods of limewater are poured out, but in vain ; 
the disease continues, and weeks later will be reproduced in another brood, 
The reason is that fresh grain has introduced fresh virulent spores. 
Remedies.—As the disease is purely external and not, as some say, a 
disease of the blood, it must be cured by external means. Lemon Juice, acetic 
acid, &c., have been used with more or less success. These are uncertain anti- 
septics. 
i The poultry-breeder must watch his chickens as the mother-hen watches 
them, and must act vigorously the moment the first sign of disease is apparent. 
1. Tear off the whole crust—the wart—with a pair of pincers or a pin. 
2. Touch the entire ulcer with a little cotton plug moistened with tincture 
of iodine. 
The iodine is an excellent antiseptic; it kills the spores. The mycelium 
is in the wound, and it must be destroyed there. Sometimes the disease is 
persistent; it is because the treatment has not been employed with a liberal 
hand. Some filaments have remained intact ; the owner must persevere till he 
has destroyed the last vestiges of them. 
* Bo * * * * * 
When the disease has lasted for seven or eight days it is more difficult to 
cure, the cicatrisation not being uniform. 
The only means of avoiding great loss is to treat the chicks at the very 
outset of the disease. 
[We perfectly cured a number of half-erown Cochins which were badly 
affected with warts by a treatment which we were assured by a poultry-keeper 
could not fail. Dip the heads of the chicks twice a day in fresh urine. The 
remedy is simple and sure. Out of eleven badly-diseased chicks we lost only 
one, which was too far gone to recover.—Ed. Q.A.J.] 
ALLOWING THE HENS TO PERCH. 
Generally speaking more attention should be given by poultry-keepers to 
the period when chickens should be allowed to perch. If they are allowed free 
latitude in the matter they will do so very shortly after they leave their mothers. 
This accounts for the frequency of crooked breastbones in fowls. In a table 
fowl this is a most unsightly fault, and greatly depreciates the value of a bird f 
while in an exhibition specimen it means that the bird will be passed by the 
judge if he detects the fault. And detected it is very frequently, as many 
breeds require handling in order that the winners may be properly picked out. 
It is so easy to avoid, that there is really no excuse for birds being allowed to 
have crooked breastbones from other than a constitutional cause. The lighter 
class of birds should not be allowed to perch before they are three months old, 
and the heavier class for six weeks or so later. As long as the bones are sott, 
continued pressure on a particular part will indent or twist them, and they 
gradually harden as the bird approaches maturity. The pressure exerted by a 
light bird is comparatively small, but in the case of Dorkings, Indian Game, 
Malays, Langshans, Rocks, Wyandottes, &c., the pressure is heavy, and is 
sufficient to cause curvature until the birds are about five months old. These 
breeds should not be allowed to perch before this age. Another matter for 
attention is the shape of the perch. A thin, rather sharp perch, or a very small 
round one, are two very bad examples. The perches should be broad, not less 
