after eleven o'clock A. M., for by that time most of them will have laid, and thus the eggs will not be lost, as so frequently happens. Like the "going-about" hens, the ducks on a farmyard require very little inspection, and little hand-feeding; but morning and evening they should get some mashed potatoes or turnips, mixed with barleydust, and given in a soft condition. Hens are generally employed to hatch ducks' eggs, but the ducks themselves will be found better for the purpose, as, if they are allowed to sit themselves, or are provided with a cool, damp nest, they will almost invariably bring out both a larger and a hardier brood than a hen. It is desirable to have as many early broods of ducklings as possible, as they command a ready market about the end of June and beginning of July; and, excepting for stock, ducks should never be kept till they are older than twelve weeks, if the maximum of profit at the minimum of cost is meant to be realized out of them. It is almost impossible to calculate the real expense of breeding poultry on a farm of mixed husbandry, as the hens which are at liberty ought, in a great measure, to forage for, and keep themselves, and the food provided for those in confinement should consist chiefly of "light" grain, small or diseased potatoes, and refuse from turnips, boiled up with any offal from the farm-house kitchen; and we are convinced that fowls fed as we have described should not cost more for keep than two shillings per head annually. With regard to poultry kept in confinement, the case is different; and as the mode we have suggested, as most desirable for a mixed farm, is to keep a few fowls of pure breeds so inclosed, it is proper to state that, allowing these birds a fair diet, and stimulating food occasionally, to compensate for the want of exercise and natural food they would find for themselves, and assuming that their food must either be purchased at the ordinary market prices, or these rates be debited to the poultry department account for the quantity consumed, in the case of a farmer who feeds the yard from his own growth, the average cost of keep per head should not exceed six shillings per annum. Such an allowance will not only maintain the fowls in good health and profitable condition; but if a little linseed be added to the diet, with grated liver once a week, they will be in a state to exhibit or compete at any of the largest of our national shows, so far as plumage and condition are concerned. We append an abstract of accounts and expenditure upon a yard so conducted, of which every article of diet, excepting the refuse from the house kitchen and garden, had to be purchased. These accounts are not chosen from any one individual "good" year for the sake of argument, but are the average of several years. In France, where the management of poultry is far better understood (because more attended to) than in this country, the fowls are regularly every morning in spring conveyed in a covered cart to the fields where plowing is going on, and allowed to feed upon the worms, grubs and grass and other seeds which the plow turns up; and again in autumn they are taken similarly to the newly gathered stubble fields; and in this way they are almost wholly independent of any artificial feeding, and in a manner may be said "to work for their living." In submitting the calculations given in this paper, we have purposely omitted fancy prices paid or received for prize birds and their eggs, as few farmers might be inclined to take the trouble requisite for obtaining them; and we have confined ourselves to showing how, with a very little trouble and additional care, and at almost no extra expense, poultry keeping may and ought to be profitably extended in any mixed farm in Scotland. ABSTRACT OF ACCOUNTS REFERRED TO IN THE FOREGOING REPORT. Poultry yard at Carlowrie. Season, 1866-67. No. 1-Brahmapootra yard, containing at 1st February, 1866, one cock and six hens. Dr. To cost of one cock, at 25s... To cost of six pullets, at 10s. 6d. . To cost of one year's keep of above on purchased food, at 6s. each...... To share of cost of management, rent and maintenance, at 3s. per pair To balance, being 40 per cent profit. Cr. .... By 65 eggs 5 settings, sold at 10s. 6d. . By value of feathers cast, at 6s. per stone. By value of seven fowls on hand at close of year... £. 8. d. 1 5 0 330 2 2 0 0 10 6 Or, assuming that the eggs produced by this pure breed yard are hatched and not sent to market, we find the following result: No. 3 yard-Dark Brahmas. Season 1866-'67, at 1st February, 1866, containing one cock and six hens. To cost of one cock and six hens. Dr. To cost of one year's keep, at 6s. per head. To cost of four months' keep of 560 young chickens till sold, at 6s. per head per annum To balance, being profit.... being a net yield, after paying all expenses, of about 57 per cent. ON DIPPING, POURING, AND SMEARING SHEEP.* BY N. P. STEWART, CEMAES, LLANRWST, NORTH WALES. The processes of dipping, pouring, and smearing, though entirely different in themselves, all tend to the same object, viz., the destruction of ticks and other parasites peculiar to sheep, enhancing the quantity and quality of the wool, and promoting the general health and comfort of the sheep. Each system has many advocates, but dipping appears to be the most universal. Smearing is confined for the greater part to the highlands of Scotland, the upland districts of Lanark and Dumfries, and other hilly parts of the south of Scotland. Pouring is pretty much discontinued now. It was practiced more extensively twelve or fifteen years ago, before dipping became so much in vogue. It is now mostly adopted by the smaller class of farmers, who grudge the expense of a regular dipping-machine. We shall in the first place describe the modus operandi of each process, in the next place the ingredients used, and thereafter discuss. the relative advantages of each system. The simplest, and perhaps the most original mode of dipping is with the use of two large tubs; one for immersing the sheep in; and the other, having a close hurdle or piece of wire netting nailed over it, for pressing the liquid out of the fleece. This plan we have often adopted at hogg winterings and elsewhere, when better apparatus could not be conveniently had. A tank, with a drainer attached, and constructed for the purpose, is, however, what is most generally used. The tank is made about five feet long, two feet broad, and four feet deep. The drainer is hooked to at one end of the tank. It is about four feet long, and composed of a lattice rack, resting on an inclined plane, which overlaps the tank, into which all the liquid pressed out of the wool returns. This apparatus costs £3, 3s., and five men can dip about 400 sheep a day with it. AG.] *From the transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. 57 |