SCRATCHINGS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6622, 11 September 1908, Page 3

SCRATCHINGS.

Last month the fifty one-year-old hens in the Hawkesbury College competition. New South Wales, laid 6311 eggs, the excellent average of 126.22 per pen, the highest average yet recorded at Hawkesbury.. There is nothing so conducive to disease in poultry as that known as foul ground. Ground that has been for several years used as a poultry run becomes contaminated with the filth of the fowls, and disease assuredly follows. The well-known English poultry authority, Mr E. Brown, on his return from investigating the- poultry industry in America, says;—"The poultry-keepers in America are experiencing considerable difficulty in that the land is becoming exceedingly foul, and the idea held that the manure is washed through light soil has undoubtedly led to the ignoring of the importance of this question. In many, parts of the country there has been a great increase of disease, particularly tuberculosis. Up to the present the importance of fresh ground or of cultivation has not been recognised. Were the conditions in America as to climate the same as in Britain, I should have- anticipated ere this a great outbreak of epidemic disease of one form or another, similar to what we have experienced in different parts of Europe, and I think that unless methods are modified very considerably that will be the experience in America within the next few years. It cannot he too -strongly emphasised that poultrykeeping must be linked with some form of cultivation, and that intensification of method must be accompanied by modification of the system adopted. The "Mark Lane Express” of late devotes one of its columns to poultry. In a late issue the subject is chicken rearing for farmers, and is as follows, and applies largely here; —Farmers who have an orchard or kitchen garden should use this for chicken-rearing. Jn a kitchen garden coop the hens in the path and let the chickens run over the garden, and the little ones will do well and thrive, and will clear off many insects and grubs. This system of putting the chickens in the garden and orchard is now generally adopted. We feel sure that those who

have trie, it will continue to utilise their ground to advantage in this way, a., it is found to answer two purposes, both of which arc profitable to farmers. The chickens pick up the grubs, sings, and wireworms, and all kinds of flics. This helps to keep the plants and trees clean, and provides food fur the chickens, which saves their keep, so that the farmer reallv gains two points here, as the vermin arc cleared off free of expense, ord the chickens arc fed almost free ot cost, because they only require feeding twice a dav—first thing m the morning and last thing at night. It is well to move the coops daily, which should be without bottoms.