FARM TOPICS.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12750, 23 March 1910, Page 1

FARM TOPICS.

Ihe question of tho shortage of j I horses in Great Britain and Ireland ' has recently been raised, and attention has been drawn to the fact that, ' while the reserve of horses for the : purposes of our own Army lias very seriously declined, all the best stocK is being purchased by agents of the War Departments of various Contin-j ental countries. i Germany, France, Holland, and Italy are among the countries which nave been making the greatest in- ! roads into Great Britain's horse sup- : ply during recent years. Their agents pays a London paper) have come over .^^ t^e purpose of obtaining , the best animals procurable, and they • ! have outbidden our War Omce agents in all directions. i j Mr Hupert Tattersall, speaking on j the question, said.— "lf there were i war now 1 have no 'doubt whatever that it would cost the Government uU per cent, more to obtain the necessary horses than at the time of the Soutn • African war. - j "•You must remember that thero is < now no great reserve of London cab ' and omnibus horses to draw upon. \ Ihe light trtfde horse also is practi- ' cally a negligible quantity. Here are three sources of supply as good as • lost, and it. means tnat in the event or war we should have to fall back on hunters, hacks, and the best kind of harness horses, which are not to : bo bought for £35 to £50 a head." : T^P following, issued as a leaflet by . the ban I<rancisco Society for the ±»re- , vention of Cruelty to Animals, should bo read by all who have to do with that noble animal "the horse: — . "To drivers, and owners of carriages,^artßi .etc.— Man, L God made you: He also" made me; and He also recommended me to jour mercy. 1 wash to serve you, and obey your will, and to Jove jou, too, if you will let me. Do not, therefore, brean my hearfc with ill-treatment. I have intelligence, memory, affection, and gratitude; only I do not know how to speak. I want to undestand you and do your bidding, but I am often terrified by you that I no longer know H'Jiat you want me to do, nor why you punish me. Often I am full of pain from blows you give me; my whole body writhes with your lash; my mouth and teeth ache with the hard bit wJiich you incessantly tug at as if it were a bell rope. lam old, and have become so lame from years of hammering away upon the hard metal that I can't easily put my foot to the ground; yet I must still run up and down hill, over the stony roads, all day in a burning heat or a cutting south wind, overladen. My collar frequently works. a sore upon my shoulder— look at that wound that goes nearly to my bone — and when it presses upon me, if I falter, instead of, looking to it, or easing, me, j'oti cut mo with your whip. I willingly even in my old age, struggle' my utmost to do your work, j r et often, when I am. "broken down, you take no further t::.>i:glit for. me than to turn me out npoii a common to die from starvation. God has made me a nervoun animal, and when you call upon me 1 strain every muscle. But often you overwork and illuse me, so that I become faint and ill, and then you curse mo for a sorry~brute, when it ,is you that has made me sol I come home quite knocked up with hunger, thirst, and fatigue, full of pain and misery j.and then my food is poor and old wad scant, and I often .cannot get rest for the next day's struggle. If you .do not care for me as I wish you would, only think of this, that if you treat me well I will do more work for you and last you much longer^ and so you will make more out of me in the end. And think of another thing : You also have a master. You are as much iv His power as I am in yours, and you will want mercy from Him one day, Can you fairly ask it if you show none to me? — Signed, respectfully by A Broken Down Horse, in the name, of all the ill-treated horses." Everyone who keeps fowls wants to get eggs in the winter, and many who had not even thought of becoming poultry-keepers have- become so for the simple reason that they found it impossible to purchase eggs during the autumn and winter — even when they were prepared to pay good prices for them. So, with the object of producing them at home, they have invested in a pen of fowls; sometimes with success, and in some cases without it. By the selection of birds from good laying strains and by feeding them On the right fooJ?-, the object of every would-be egg-p»oducer can be achieved with but little trouble. There are many who do not give their birds soft food in the morning, as they consider it costs more than hard corn, and so induces loss; but this idea is a mistaken one, as fowls fed once a day on meal will produce at least 30 or 40 eggs more per bird during the year in comparison with others kept under exactly similar con ditions which are fed on hard grain. It must be remembered too, that these extra eggs are produced in tho winter months, with the breakfast of soft food— just at tho time when eggs are most valuable. One reason why soft food in the morning is so beneficial to fowls is that the hard corn takes a certain time to soak in the gizzard, but tho soft meal passes into the system immediately, and the fowl is nourished at once, so that no time is lost, and the flesh or eggs are produced with less exertion than if hard corn was given. It pays better to give tho soft meal once a day, viz., in the morning ; and this should consist of good biscuit meal, one-third mixed with two-thirds of middling of best quality; or of special poultry meal and middlings in equal proportions. Hot water should be used for mix-" ing the meal, or, better still, hot skim milk — where it can be obtained. During the winter months the food should .bo given hot, as this helps them in many ways. Care should be taken nob. to make the food wet or sloppy, as it is not so good for the fowls when it is sticky and clings to their beaks. Fat or scraps from the table are very good for mixing with the meal, and in tho winter, if there are not . very many scraps, it is a good plan to buy some liver lights, paunch, or tripe to boil up for the fowls. A sheep's paunch may bo had for 2d, and the tripe — nine to eighteen pound — may be bought for Is, and this should be given to the fowls the last thing before going to roose, as they will greatly enjoy it, arid eat ravenously of it. . , It should never be given, however, before tho corn, or the fowls will probably show ; some preference for i this, and eat the meat and leave the corn. After the lights have been boiled, the liquor should be used to mix tho meal with, as this water has a good deal of goodness of the meat in it. Some people have not time to ■j boil and prepare the lights, and these 1 should use granulated meat in the . soft food, as this does not require preparation beyond the use of boiling I water poured over the granulated meat first, and then mix in with the 'rm-cal when it is hot. Spare cooked - .vegetables, such as small potatoes and ■preens, and pieces of fat meat may also be used, as when these are mixed up with good meal they make first rate food. Turnips, mangel-wurzels, in fact, nearly all vegetables may bo

• used in the same way, especially during the winter months, when green food is so scarce, and they may be thrown down so that they may peck at them raw, or t]?ey can beboiled and mixed with the soft food. During the autumn and winter thefowls should have their morning meal as hot as they can eat it, and it is well to give them warm water to drink first thing in the morning when the- weather is cold, as after drinking cold water they will often stand moping about on one foot, whereas the warm water seems to revive the whole system on a cold morning. Poultrypowder should be used in the soft food at least five times a week, as this helps them through their moult, and brings one or two-j-eartoW bens on to la ythrough the winter, just as well as the young pullets. When liens s£dp laying, or are not doing well, somo poultry powder should at once bo given daily, as this pulls them round, aud they will commence laying much earlier on account of its use.