1 Dec., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 547 
Poultry. 
PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF FLEAS, LICE, AND MITES. 
Infestation is always worse in dirty and neglected runs and roots, and such 
are a standing danger to more cleanly neighbours. Cleanliness and freedom 
will always put these pests under a disadvantage—not only cleanliness of the 
nests, walls, and floor, but also of the ceilings and perches. To suppress these 
pests the houses should be cleaned down at least twice a year with a wash made 
of hot lime and soft soap, the ceilings, walls, and nests having a good coating ; 
the wash should be fairly liquid, so as to run into every crack and crevice. ‘lo 
every gallon of lime-wash add + Ib. of soft soap, previously dissolved in 
boiling water. Early spring and autumn are the times for these applications. 
The perches are best treated with boiling water and soft soap, or with an 
emulsion of kerosene. It is important that houses should be well built, with 
as few cracks and crevices as possible, for in such harbours these pests 
congregate and may escape from any wash used. Special attention should be 
paid to the nests; they should be frequently cleansed and changed to keep off 
fleas and other parasites. Neither nest-boxes nor perches should be fixed, 
relays of each should be at hand, so that they can be changed to ensure 
complete disinfection. The nest-boxes should be now and then cleaned out, 
and dressed with hot lime. Hither dusting the prepared nests with Persian 
insect powder (pyrethrum) or putting a little sawdust or sand soaked in 
naphthaline at the bottom will keep off these depredators. Wood-shavings, or 
wood wool, in the nests instead of straw, is most beneficial. No lice or 
fleas will live in it, owing to the aromatic odour given off from the wood. 
Care, of course, must be taken that the remedies employed do not affect the 
eges. Regarding the infestation of the birds themselves, white precipitate 
seldom fails. The heads and necks of young chicks should be early dressed 
‘very sparingly, and repeated when necessary. White precipitate is a strong 
irritant poison, and needs the greatest care in the use, especially in young 
chicks. It is best obtained as an ointment from the chemists. Hens selected 
for sitting should have a small quantity of this ointment rubbed in under the 
vent, head, and sides, and then well dusted with insect powder (pyrethrum). 
Sitting hens are greatly tortured by parasites, and their young are often lost by 
neglect of these simple precautions. Dust baths are the natural remedy for 
lice and mites, and fowl should never be kept without them. Sand and road 
dust mixed with a small quantity of paraffin will generally keep the birds free 
from vermin. In place of paraffin, pyrethrum powder may be used with the 
dust.—Tropical Agriculturist, Colombo. 
COTTAGE BEER. 
Take a quarter of good sweet wheat bran, and put it into 10 gallons of 
water, with three handfuls of Mathon hops. Boil all together in the copper 
until the hops and the bran sink to the bottom, then strain the liquid through 
a hair-sieve or linen bag into a cooler; when lukewarm, add to it 3 pints of 
very thick treacle and about 3 1b. of honey; when all is dissolved, pour the 
whole into a 9-gallon cask, then stir in two tablespoonfuls of brewer’s barm. 
When the fermentation has subsided, bung up the cask. In four days the 
beer will be fit to drink. 
