POULTRY AND EGGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 556, 26 July 1862, Page 2

POULTRY AND EGGS.

(From the Yeoman.) By judicious management, the keeper of poultry may always have plenty of cg^s throughout the year, just as the dairyman may have always plenty of milk aud butter. The propar plan to adopt is to hare chickens hatche J and reared at different season?. If chickens are all hatched ab one particular season of the yearj a continual supply of eg«s cannot be expected. It is a diliicult thing to rear chickens during tlu hot summer weather, when green fool is often scarce, but every hen reared becomes a laying one during the winter months. By having chickens reared at all seasons, nothing is required but to feed them with proper food, to induce laying, even during the winter months. The following food has been found to answer well : — Besides ordinary food, give occisiouajly some maize meal made into dough, to which is added, a small quantity of Epsom salts, some burned bone or oysters shells pounded fine, and a little dripping fat. By keeping poultry well supplied with pure water, and no damaged grain and. with plenty of vegetable food, they will continue in good health. During the last summer we did not lose any by death, although the decease which has prevailed for years is still found as destructive as ever, especially where great numbers are kept together in a small space. It is decidedly wrong to keep poultry shut up in a yard without green food. This has been one of the great causes of the mortality which has prevailed for years.

Sawdust as a Manure.— A German gardener related the other day the great value of sawdust as & manure. He instanced it in the fact that he had experimented upon it in an orchard, consisting'principally of peaoh«3, apricot 3, and plums. The trees, although in tolerablo vigor, were almost destitute of fruit. In July, 1859, he procured a quantity of decayel sawdust, and applied it plentifully, digging it well ia around the stems of the trees ; "the residt has been— both in the lost and the present season— an abundant crop.

Worth Knowing.— The great difficulty of getting horses from a stable where surrounding bnildinga are in a state of conflagration, is well known, and that in consequence of such difficulty, arising from the animal's dread of stirring from the scene of destruction, many horses have perished in the names. Ono gentlemau, whose horses had been in great peril from such a cause, having iv vain triel to "save them, harnessed them as if they were going to their usual work, whoa, to his astonishment, they were led from tha stable without difficulty. Useful Seed.— ALr. Randall, of the Darling, ha-, left with us some sjed, which he brought down on bis last trip, and which appears to be possessed of some valuable qualities, it resembles cress seel ia appearance, aud wo.s collected by a person, recently on the Darling, for the purpose of feeding birds, which Seam 111 1 be fond of it. It, however, has the property of swelling like sago when placed in water, but to a greater extent, anJ it makes a pleasantly-tasted jellylike "substance, which might be found, perhaps, a us:ful substitute for several articles of nutriment now largely in uso. Mr. Itandall has eaten the seed when soaked, and found it very good. He is unable to say what kind of plant it is obtained from ; and Mr. Francis, who has had some of the seed shown him. doe 3 not recognise it. He will, however, sow a fewgrains, and v.atch the result.

WnEAT a Weed.— lt has long been suspected that the cereal grains are but cultivated examples of wild cereal grasies— that they were not created as corn, but that they have been improved by culture into their present condition. This supposition was confirmed by M. Fabre, of Aude, ia the south of Prance,' who, in IS3S, sowed some grains of the Jlgilopt ovata, a- common cereal grass, and by successive sowings in garden soil, produced in 1846, crops of real wheat as fine as any to be found in the neighborhood. This experiment is now being carried on by the pro-fe-sor of geology aud botany in the Royal Agricultural College, and the grass is gradually undergoing th« same transformation into the true cereal grain Once a Week.

Substitute for Tobacco in the Cure op Scab. A correspondent, who, from his experience and intelligence, is entitled to be regarded as an authority on the subject, gives us some very valuable information on the cure of scab in sheep. As the result of actual experiment, he asserts that sulphur and soda is an effectual remedy, quite as effectual, indeed, as tobacco water, and more useful for general dipping purposes, inasmuch as it also acts a preventive to contagion. Our informant assures us that for three years he used this in Tasmania with the greatest success, and that quite recently he has dipped a flock badly diseased, which has resulted in a most effectual cure" This information is peculiarly valuable at the present time; for, bad asthe scab naturally is asascourge to the sheep firmer, it will be a still more serious matter when the Scab Act comes into operation. In fact, if tho provisions of the Act are to be carried out, the scab must ba eradicated next year ; and any squatter who fails to get rid of it, will himself nearly ruined ; and, ia addition to this, there is the unpleasant fact that tha price of tobacco has risen cent per cent. A commodity that is at once cheap and effectual in its operation is consequently a great desideratum, and this sulphur and soda is asserted ,to be. The difference in price between it and tobacco is very great. To dip a thousand sheep in tobacco-water costs, in material alone, £13 10s.; while with sulphur and soda the material would ouly cost Li 18V.' There is also an additional advantage in using the latter, from the fact that, with the most ordinary care in purchasing, the sulphur and soda can always be relied on as good" ; whilst wit i the imported article, tobacco is often so thoroughly destroyed in bond that all its remedial properties are lost, and the dipping, from no want of forosk,'!tfc, and from no sparing of expense on the part of the squatter, is rendered useless. These are arguments which should induce fbekmastors to give the suggestion of our correspondent their very serious consideration, and to test the proposed remedy by actual experiment. It is devoutly to be hoped that the day is not far distaut when the scab will be a thing of the past. In no part of the colony has it proved more generally prejudicial than in Western Victoria. As an instance of this, we have been credibly informed that during the past year the negligence of oue iudividual in this district has caused the dipping of from 80,000 to ■10,000 sheep. The new act, however, will prevent a recurrence of such instances as this. Hamilton Spectator.

IXVERTIOX AND INJUIUK3 OP THE Etß-LIDS.— Dogs are most liable to invcrtion. It may b8 removed by cutting out a portion of skin above or below the lid, as the case may be, and drawing the parts together, by inserting a couple of pins and passing a ligature round them so as to press on the wound — generally affects the lower lid. The eye-lids are liable to be injured or torn by a horse rubbing against a splinter, nail, or projecting surface. The parts should be brought together by pins and thread, the pins about half-an-inch distant from each other ; each alternate pin should be carefully removed in the course of twenty-four hours, and by proper surgical treatment the eye-hd may be always preserved, — Yeoman .

An important action was tried on Wednesday in the County Court, affecting the rights of shipping 1 agents. Mr. Henry Hammond, a warder of the Collingwood stockade, had engaged with Messrs. Bright Brothers and Co., for a passage to England for hia wife and two children, in the Marco Polo, upon the undei standing that Mrs. Hammond was to have the sole use of a cabin. The passage money was L-45. When Mrs. Hammond got on board, she found that she was obliged to occupy her cabin with another female. She alleged that the accommodation. was inadequate, and the vessel meeting with tempestuous weather, and putting back to the Heads, she left and came back to Melbourne. Her husband then brought' nn action against Bright Brothers anil Co. , to recover the amount of passage money paid, and L 2, his wife's expenses from the Heads. Ti e defence was that the vessel meeting with distress of weather, Mra. Hammond took advantage of its return to leave. Judge Pohlman thought that the lady's version was correct, ns she stated that she had made an appointment to meet her father at Liverpool, and it was only reasonable to suppose that she would not have left except for the want of accommodation. Verdict for the plaintiff. Damages, L47.— Age. Subscription fou Mrs. Husnm— The amount received at the Argus office on behalf of Mrs. Hughes —£353 18a. 61— has been forwarded by this mail to Mr. Lachlan Mackinnon, to be handed over to Messrs. Coutts and Co., or whatever gentlemen are taking charge of the fund for Mrs. Hughes in England. The above remittance includes the sums collected by Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Rome. The Rev. E, Myera, we believe, will himself remit the sums he lias received. — M. A. Mail Which is Riqhx ?— His Excellency gave his fifth, annual ball on Wednesday, and it was well attended^ There -was only one toast drank at- supper,' "The Queen," proposed by His Excellency. The Age'anyti — "it was drunk in silence." Tho A rgus reports that, "it met with a warm response." The Herald represents that it was " responded to in a most loyal and enthusiastic mnnner." J eußinß is evidently at fault. — M. A. Mail.

In every elopement that we ever heard of, both patties were deceived, for always the' gentleman .mist tooh, and the lady was miss taken. " Pure as the driven suow." This is about |he most absurd of all proverbs, for, like the horse, the; more the snow is driven, the dlrti«r it gets,