Storing Stock Beets.



What is the best method of storing stock beets and stock carrots in this climate? We can let them remain in the ground and grow until February or March and would like to preserve them for feeding as long as possible.

Stock beets and carrots can be stored in California without recourse to covering with ground or use of a cellar. They keep very well during the winter if piled under cover in such a way as to keep cool and dry.



Kale for Cow Feed.



What is kale worth for cow feed as compared with alfalfa, also can it be cut and cured the same as alfalfa and what variety is the best?

Kale is very similar to cabbage in growth, and for feeding purposes. For cow feed it would have about three-fourths the amount of digestible nutrients as green alfalfa, but would have an added value on account of its succulency. It would go especially well with alfalfa hay. The Jersey or Thousand-Headed kale is considered the standard for stock or poultry feed. It is always fed fresh and is not made into hay.



What Kind of Beet for Stock?



Which would be most valuable to plant on river-bottom land for cattle and hog feed, sugar beets or mangels?

Grow a large stock of beet by all means - either a mangel or a tankard. Usually you will get more weight than with sugar beets; the cost of harvesting is far less, and the nutritive contents high enough.



Keeping Pumpkins.



What is the best way of storing pumpkins, under ordinary farm conditions, in a climate such as we have here in northern California? I have no facilities for cold storage.

All you have to do in this climate to keep pumpkins is to keep them out of reach of the stock. They do not need storage of any kind, but will keep in good condition during the late autumn and winter months in any open-air place where they may be convenient for feeding purposes. In parts of California where there is hard ground freezing, protection must be given by covering with boards or straw or any other material available. We have no need for root cellars or cold storage, for our winter temperatures are neither high nor low enough to hurt them.



Grape Pomace as Hog Feed.



What is the value of grape pomace as a hog feed?

It has been sold for 50 cents a ton as it comes from the press at the winery and when a person has not got any surplus of other feeds, it is evidently worth that and then some. The only way to feed it is to put it up in a big pile and let the hogs take it as they want it. It will help keep them growing through the winter provided they have other feed with it that might not be sufficient without the pomace.



Proper Feeding of Young Pigs.



If I put two 50-pound shoats to an acre of barley that will yield 10 or 12 sacks of grain, how many months could they be kept there to advantage, and what gain could I expect them to make in that time?

If the pigs have been properly fed and were of good stock, they should have attained a weight of 50 pounds at three or four months of age. Pigs in this condition would be more likely to lose than gain turned on a dry barley field, even if the yield were double what you state. Barley is an excellent fattener for mature hogs, but is a poor food for young growing pigs. Young pigs should have a balanced ration, which may be defined as a little of almost all kinds of feed and not all of any one kind. We have pigs running on a barley field such as you describe, and in addition to the barley we feed them once a day a slop composed of wheat middling and bran in equal parts by measurement, to which we add about 8 per cent tankage, and they seem to be moving along nicely. Without the slop we don't think they would hold their own. - Chas. Goodman.



Pie-melons and Pigs.



I have 14 sows which were fed almost entirely on pie-melons and milk, not much of the latter. Out of the 14, only 3 sows have saved any pigs; the rest lost all the young they had. Four or five sows that for the last three weeks have had no melons, nothing but green grass and a little whole barley each day, are saving their pigs all right.

Pie-melons are poor feed and pigs which are not given anything better ought to fail. "Green grass and a little whole barley" is much better feed than pie-melons. Pie-melons are useful fed with alfalfa hay or some richer food.



Wheat or Barley for Hogs.



Which would be the better grain for me to buy for hog feed; wheat at $1.30 per hundred, or barley at $1? Would it be worth paying 10 cents a hundred for rolling, and then haul the grain 8 miles by wagon?

Wheat is only considered about 10 per cent more valuable as a hog feed than barley, so that in your case, barley at $1 is the cheaper. In Bulletin 80 of the Oregon Station it was found that crushed wheat was 29 per cent more efficient than the whole grain, and it is safe to say that barley will run about the same, enough so at any rate to pay the extra 10 cents a hundred for crushing and the hauling.



Grain and Pasture for Pigs.



What is the most profitable amount of grain to feed to spring pigs while on alfalfa pasture, from the time of weaning to the time of marketing?

We doubt the profit of feeding whole grain to hogs of any age while on green pasture. On almost all kinds of land they will get enough grit to keep their teeth sore, hence they will not masticate the grain thoroughly. Perfect mastication is very essential. We would feed the pigs all the slop that they would clean up good twice a day. The slop to be composed of equal parts of corn, barley meal ground fine, and wheat middlings mixed with milk. There is nothing in all the world like milk for growing pigs. If milk is not to be had, we would add from 5 to 10 per cent meat meal, which we consider next to milk. If whole grain is to be used, it should be thoroughly cooked on account of the pigs' teeth not being in condition to chew the hard grain. - Chas. Goodman.



Growing Pigs on Roots and Barley.



We can raise all kinds of root crops, such as carrots, sugar beets, rutabagas, etc., and cow peas and pumpkins do wonderfully well. Will hogs do well an that kind of diet, especially if given a little barley with it?

The plants that you mention are good for hog feeding and can be used to advantage with a little barley as you suggest. None of these plants are, however, rich in protein as alfalfa and the other clovers are. The reason why we get such a rapid and satisfactory growth of young hogs in California is due to the fact that they are largely kept on alfalfa and rapid growth is the product of a sufficient protein content in the fodder. Both common field peas and cowpeas do not possess this element, and if you can grow them they will serve as a substitute for the other legumes, such as alfalfa. If you are feeding skim-milk, which is rich in protein, roots and grain will go well with that.



Wheat and Barley for Feeding.



What is the difference in the feeding value of wheat and barley for hogs and horses?

There is very little difference in the chemical composition of wheat and barley. In their physical condition there is much difference, chiefly because of the adhering chaff of the barley, which makes it more digestible because it separates the starchy mass and enables the gastric juice to work upon the particles more readily and quickly. Oats also have this character. This is very important in the case of horses, which can quickly be put out of condition by feeding wheat. For hogs and chickens it makes much less difference, and the absence of the chaff gives a greater amount of nutritive matter to the ton, so that wheat is worth more at the same ton price. But look out about giving horses too much wheat.



Part VII. Diseases of Animals

This division is largely compiled from the writings of Dr. E. J. Creely of the San Francisco Veterinary College.



Abscess of Parotid Gland.



My horse has had a bad cold and it has a large lump on its neck which keeps running and does not seem to get any better; it has been running for two weeks.

This horse has an abscess of the parotid gland and the abscess should be opened large enough so that the finger can be introduced to break down adhesions, so that proper drainage can be established, after which wash out with a 5 per cent solution of permanganate of potash. As this is a dangerous location for a layman to interfere with, owing to the branching of the carotid artery, pneumogastric nerve and jugular vein, it should be done by a qualified veterinarian.



Forage Poisoning.



Last fall one of our horses was taken ill and had a swollen jaw. He died soon and we supposed that he had been kicked and died of lockjaw. This spring another was taken ill. He began dragging around, making an effort to eat and drink, but not being able to swallow much. Something seemed wrong with his throat and his hind legs. In two or three days he got down, seeming to have no strength in his back. He kept struggling for two days, not being able to swallow much; so we put him out of his misery. Since then two others have gone off the same way.

The trouble is due to forage poisoning, caused by the eating food infested with poisonous moulds. The symptoms are inability to swallow (paralysis of the muscles of deglutition) and paresis of the hind and forequarters. When the symptoms become advanced, treatment is of little avail. However, further troubles can be prevented by ascertaining the food which is infested with this mould. Ofttimes, however, such food may be apparently clean to the eye. Make a complete change of food and a thorough cleaning of your stable and corrals of all old fodder which might be in the mangers, or in any accessible place. Very frequently old food which is left in the bottom of mangers becomes mouldy, and horses picking for grain which might be left in it, eat considerable quantities of this spoiled fodder, get poisoned.



For a Scabby Swelling.

One of my cows has a swelling on her hind leg with little scabs on it, first it was on the front leg. It is as big as your hand.

Use the following, applied once daily: Olive oil, 1 pint; turpentine, 2 ounces; oil cedar, 2 ounces; lysol, 1 ounce; mix and apply.



An Easement in Bloat.



What can be done for bloating?

It does not seem to be generally known that to put a bridle on a cow or put a stick in her mouth and tie tightly with a string or strap up over her head, so as to keep her jaws working, will relieve bloat. We have given common soda and salt with good results to our milk cows. Take a whip and run her around the corral, after giving the soda. This treatment causes the wind to pass off.



Fatal Skin Disease.



About two months ago a horse was turned out in pasture. Several of the horses in the pasture started to lose their hair. It seemed to fall away from the hide, and leave the skin exposed. The horse that was newly turned to pasture got the same disease and died. The other horses did not die. The hair on the horse that had died had fallen off from the sides and hind legs.

This is gangrenous dermatis, a gangrenout inflammation of the skin. It is due to mould, must or vegetable fungi. Remove to a new pasture, give food free from the fungi, and apply the following ointment to the skin: Lanoline, 8 ounces; zinc oxide, 1 ounce; Pearson's Creoline, 1/2 ounce; tannin, 3 drachms; mix and apply once daily.



Shoulder Injury on Mare.



A young mare that bruised her shoulder on the point with collar. It was lanced and now has a hard lump or callous, about three inches in diameter. What is best to do? She is not lame, but it would interfere with the collar.

Get a qualified veterinarian to operate and entirely remove the growth or you may use the following mixture to see if it will not cause it to partly absorb and then use a dutch collar or a specially padded collar: Compound tinct. iodine, 4 ounces; sulphuric ether, 2 ounces; oil cedar, 2 ounces; turpentine, 4 ounces; mix and apply once daily until blistered.



Horse with Worms.



What is the best remedy for a horse that has worms? I would like to know, as I have a horse that is getting poor with this trouble.

Mix 1/2 pound pulverized and dried iron sulphate and 1/2 pound bicarbonate of soda, and give one teaspoonful each morning until the medicine is gone. After the last dose give the following: Turpentine, 2 ounces; fluid extract male fern, 1/2 ounce; Pearson's Creolins, 1 ounce; raw linseed oil, 1 pint. Mix and give all at one dose. To improve the general condition one may give artificial Carlsbad salts, 1 tablespoonful in each feed, and each dose to have added to it 3 to 5 grains arsenious acid. If plenty rock salt is allowed for horses to lick, they will be protected against intestinal parasites to a slight but useful degree.



Is It Mange?



We have a horse five years old that is always scratching and biting himself as if he had mange or lice. He seems to itch more on his shoulders and front legs than any other place. We have washed him with a carbolic wash, also with a tea made from tobacco, but so far have been unable to stop it. He often bites his legs below the knees until he takes off all the hair and part of the skin. None of the other horses are, troubled, although this horse has been troubled for three years.

Apply the following: Lysol, 1 ounce; kerosene, 4 ounces; formalin, 2 drachms; cotton seed oil, 9 ounces. Mix and apply once daily after washing with hot sheep dip solution 10 to 100.



Horse with Itch.



For about a year my horse has been itching so badly that he has rubbed off all the hair on certain parts of his body. Lately he bites his tail.

Whitewash the stall once weekly, scrub the harness, brushes, combs and every stable appliance that he has come in contact with. Don't use the same appliance on other animals that you use on this horse. Use the following mixture once daily on affected spots: Milk of sulphur, 4 ounces; tincture of iodine, 4 ounces; turpentine, 4 ounces; kerosene, 16 ounces; cottonseed oil, 120 ounces.



For a Bowel Trouble.



What can I do to relieve a horse that balls up on alfalfa at the time of the first symptoms? I have been bothered considerably with this, and although I know the symptoms, I can never seem to relieve the pain before the veterinary is called.

Give the following prescription: Fluid extract Cannabis Indica, 3 ounces; sulphuric ether, 2 ounces; spirits turpentine, 3 ounces; oil peppermint, 10 drops; raw linseed oil, 24 ounces. Mix. Give one-half at once, balance in one hour. If not relieved give several hotwater soap-sud injections.



Abnormal Thirst of Horse.



I have a horse with an abnormal desire for water. I notice that in drinking she always wants more than the others. I also notice she perspires more freely in the harness and even will sweat in the barn at night.

Your horse has kidney affection, probably due to feeding hay rich in alkalines. Treatment: Change the feed and give 1 quart of thick flaxseed tea three times daily.



Scours.



Kindly recommend a treatment for a horse troubled with scours. He is on dry feed, but the trouble continues.

Give very little water mornings and while worked, but give plenty at night. Feed dry rolled oats, oat hay, one handful of whole flaxseed at night, and the following powder: Bismuth subgalate, 4 ounces; iron sulphate, dessicated, 8 ounces; bismuth subnitrate, 8 ounces. Mix, and give a heaping teaspoonful each morning.



Depraved Appetite.



I have a colt about one year old that continually delights in chewing up harness, ropes, chews on the manger and, in fact, anything it can get a hold of.

This is a condition caused by something being lacking in the system (lime, salts, etc.). Give plenty of salt, good food, grain, etc. Get this prescription: Iron sulphate, 2 ounces; soda syposulphate, 4 ounces; Gentian root pulv., 2 ounces; ginger, 1 ounce. Mix and give teaspoonful daily.



Good Dentist Needed.



I have an old horse which has always been fat and quite full of life until right lately. Now he is getting thin and looks bad. He eats his food all right. I had his teeth fixed a few weeks ago. The man said they were bad and he fixed them as well as he could.

There is probably an excessively long molar projecting into a cavity and the projecting molar should be cut off by a qualified veterinarian. The horse will begin to pick up and grow fat almost as soon as the condition is relieved. Most horse owners will permit every person with a float to ruin a horse's mouth without inquiring whether the dentist possesses proper qualifications as certified by a State license and diploma.



Kidney Trouble.



My horse has some trouble in passing water. What can I give him that may be put in the mash? I don't think his trouble is due all to old age, for it didn't come on gradually.

Give gran. sal nitre: a teaspoonful daily in water is good to stimulate the kidneys.



For Chronic Indigestion.



I have given my horse condition powders for indigestion, but her hair is rough still. Do you advise feeding on the road when a horse leaves the stable at 10 a. m., traveling continually for thirty miles, returning 5:30 p. m., being fed at 7 a. m.?

A great majority of condition powders contain resin and antimony. While a slight amount may be beneficial, continued use results in affection of the kidneys by over-stimulation. Give the following for indigestion: Bismuth subintrate, 1 ounce; powdered pepsine, 1 ounce; soda bi carbonate, 12 ounces; carbonate iron, 2 ounces. Mix and give a heaping teaspoon twice daily. By all means feed your horse three times daily and water as often as you can. It is unnecessary to warn you that the horse must not be overheated when you give the noonday feed.



Wound Sore.



My colt got its hind leg cut on barbed wire some weeks ago. There is a hole about an inch and one-half deep in the center of the sore which will not heal. The inside of the sore does not seem very tender, but the leg stays swollen all of the time and is somewhat feverish.

This is probably a fistulous track that should be curetted by a veterinarian, after which the following formula could be used to heal: Acetanilide, 1/2 ounce; zinc oxide, 1/4 ounce; bismuth subgalate, 1 1/4 ounce. Mix and apply on cotton and bandage once daily after washing.



Warts on Horse.



How can warts be removed from a horse's hide?

We use sulphuric acid. The results were favorable from the very start. The warts rapidly shrunk away and finally disappeared entirely. The acid is applied to the crown of the wart with a small swab or similar instrument, and only in sufficient quantities to wet the crown surface of the wart. It should be applied about three times a week until the wart is well reduced. Don't use too much acid, and don't keep up the application too long - A. F. Etter.



Kidney Trouble in Horse.



What is the remedy for a horse that stops often to urinate while working?

The horse is affected by an irritation of the kidneys. Give 1 quart of flaxseed tea daily, change the food and give 1 drachm of C. P. hydro-chloric acid in one bucket of drinking water.



Castration of Colt.



Which is the correct and best way to castrate a yearling colt, with an emasculator or a blade, and when is the proper time?

An emasculator is the only instrument to use in castrating. The object in using any instrument is to prevent a hemorrhage, and nothing works with so much certainty and quickness. The A. Hausman and Dunn emasculator is recommended. The proper time is when the weather is mild, the grass at its best and the colt in good condition.



For a Chronic Cough.



We have a mare seven years old that is troubled with a chronic cough, and at times shows symptoms of heaves, and also has occasionally a white foamy discharge from the nostrils. She is a greedy eater and drinker and her excreta is often very offensive.

If she expels flatus when she coughs, this would indicate a predisposition to heaves. Wet all food, as dry or dusty food aggravates the cough. Give the following: Spirits camphor, 4 ounces; Fl. Ext. belladonna, 2 ounces; neutral oil, 8 ounces; oil eucalyptus, 2 ounces. Mix and give tablespoonful three times daily.



Chronic Indigestion.



I have a mare eleven years old. Give her plenty of oats, hay, grain and a little alfalfa hay three nights per week and leave salt where she can get at it, but she is falling off and her hair does not lie down properly. She eats well and her system seems to be in good condition. Have had her teeth attended to so she chews her food well.

This condition is caused by the animal not being able to properly masticate the food. Have your dentist examine the mouth again, or you can carefully examine the feces and see if it shows whole grain, or long pieces of hay.



For Short-Wind or Heaves.



I have a mare that has something wrong with her wind. About six months ago I noticed her wind was not good and she had a slight cough, and about a week later, while working her, she seemed to choke down and almost died before she got her wind, and since then she sometimes takes those spells should she trot off briskly for a short distance.

Give two 3/2-ounce doses of Fowler's solution arsenic daily. Dusty or musty hay will aggravate the symptoms. Thoroughly shake out the dust and wet the hay. Feed hay only at night. Give the animal as little feed and water as possible before being put to work. Continue this treatment one month if necessary. The following is a case of experience with this treatment: For a remedial agent we began to use Fowler's Solution of Arsenic, in two teaspoonful doses at first. once a day, put in the water with which the hay was moistened. These doses were given for a few days, then skipped for a day, then continued for five or six days again. This treatment has been continued. At times when the trouble was most severe, giving a great spoonful at a dose, twice a day for two days, then stopping for a day or two, always being sure to mix it with the water which the hay is moistened, so that it shall be taken into the stomach very slowly. This course of treatment has served to so relieve the disease that nature has nearly or quite overcome it.



Side-Bone.



I have a 1500-pound 3-year-old colt with small brittle feet that has side bone coming on left front foot caused by driving him barefoot on the road two or three months ago.

A good blister of the following once every six weeks for three times will stop the side-bones from growing. Side-bones on a draft horse are not considered an unsoundness; in light fast drivers it is an incurable blemish causing lameness. Side-bones cannot be removed. Use this blister: Simple cerate, 4 ounces; cantharides, 3 drachms; bin iodide mercury, 2 drachms. Mix thoroughly and apply after clipping hair.



Fungus Poisoning.



One of my mares, every evening after a full day's work harrowing, stands for an hour or so with her head to the ground, shaking it frequently and not touching the feed till the spell was over. She does not seem to be any worse off, and in the morning seems to be in good shape.

This is due to a mold or fungus in the earth or hay. Let them have access to plenty of water during the day. In the morning feed give a handful of sodium hyposulphate.



Treatment for Horse's Feet.



The soles of the fore feet of a fine 4-year-old horse, weight 1350, are rather spongy and grow down faster than the hoof, sometimes causing slight lameness. He is not on soft pasture, but is stabled all the time. Now have bar shoes on him. What treatment do you recommend?

Use leather, tar and okum and a dish-shoe.



For a Cleft Hoof.



I have a horse with a cracked hoof. One hind foot has been in a bad condition, the other seems to be beginning to crack. Can anything be done by feeding or otherwise to toughen the hoofs and render them less liable to crack?

Apply the following: Honey, 2 ounces; yellow wax, 4 ounces; tar, 2 ounces; olive oil, 8 ounces. Melt, mix and apply once daily.



Stiff Joints.



I have a horse that was bruised on the ankle about two years ago. This is now producing an enlargement of the bone and stiffness of the joint.

Apply the following liniment: Sulphuric ether, 1 ounce; tinct. iodine, 1 ounce; pulv. camphor, 1 ounce; alcohol, ounces; turpentine, 2 ounces; oil of cedar, 2 ounces.



Treatment for Nail Puncture.



Our horse got a nail in his foot. It was a wire nail, rusty, entering about one inch from the point of the frog, and just puncturing far enough to reach a sensitive part of the hoof. It occurred six days ago; the nail was pulled at once, the hoof cut open, and thoroughly cleaned with turpentine (the first thing we could get), then later filled with iodine. Since then I have kept on a flaxseed poultice.

The treatment with turpentine and iodine was proper and should prove a success. If the foot becomes tender and inflamed, it will be because all dirt was not removed from the wound, and the poultice should be taken off, all foreign matter removed from the wound, and the treatment repeated. In case of similar accidents, other disinfectants could be used in place of turpentine or iodine.



Pregnancy of Mare.



Is there any way to tell when a mare is in foal? I have had a veterinarian and he could not tell me.

There is no very good way to tell whether a mare is in foal for some time. Practically speaking, the safest way to do is to have her bred every time she comes in heat until she takes the stallion no longer. Even then some mares will come in heat a couple of times after getting in foal. If the sexual excitement speedily subsides and the mare persistently refuses the stallion for a month, she is probably pregnant, though not surely so. Also if a vicious mare becomes gentle after service it is an excellent indication of pregnancy; likewise pregnant mares will very often put on fat rapidly after conception and will be unable and unwilling to do as hard work as before. Enlargement of the abdomen, especially in its lower third, with slight falling in beneath the loins and hollowness of the back are significant symptoms, though they may be entirely absent. Swelling and firmness of the udder, with the smoothing out of its wrinkles, is a suggestive sign, even though it appears only at intervals during gestation. A steady increase of weight (1 1/4 pounds daily) about the fourth or fifth month is a useful indication of pregnancy. The further along the mare is in gestation the more pronounced the symptoms become. In the early stages it is naturally much more difficult to detect, especially with the great differences in different mares. Cessation of heat and changes of disposition are about the best signs in early stages.



Diseased Uterus of Mare.



I have a brood mare that has given me two fine colts, but for the last two years I have not been able to get her with foal. She takes service and then refuses service for three or four months, and about the time I come to the conclusion that she is safe with foal she will pass off great quantities of mattery substance. I have had her thoroughly washed out with Lysol previous to breeding, but so far she has repeated this performance each time about three or four months after service.

This is a disease of the ovaries or uterus; perhaps mumification of a foetus. Irrigate with a normal salt solution (teaspoon salt to each pint of warm water) only daily. Insert the solution through the neck of the womb into the uterus. Give internally 1/2 ounce daily of Fowler's Solution of Arsenic.



Deep-Seated Abscess.



I have a mule which has a swelling on the throat about where the throatlatch touches. It just seems to be swollen hard and not sore. I am using caustic liniment to fester it so it will come to a head and I can open it, but the liniment does not seem to do much good. The mule is losing flesh and does not eat much.

This mule should be operated upon at once by a qualified veterinarian. The application of liniments or blisters are useless; the knife only will effect a cure. The fact that the mule is losing flesh makes the case serious.



Cure for Cocked Ankles.



I have a 4-year-old mare that has cocked ankles, and would like to know what treatment to give her.

Cocked ankles are due to an inflammation of the tendons back of the ankle and a drawing up or contraction in consequence. Put on heel calks one inch, no toe, to rest and relieve the back tendons from strain. Apply the following liniment at night, after which put on cold-water swabs and let them remain all night: Soap liniment, 8 ounces; tincture iodine, 2 ounces; oil cedar, 4 ounces; sulphuric ether, 2 ounces. Mix and apply once daily.



Dehorning.



Which is the best way to dehorn cows and calves?

The best time to dehorn cows is in the spring, before the fly season starts. It is best not to have a cow too far along in calf before dehorning, as she is very apt to lose her calf. It is also better to dehorn before your cows freshen, because when cows are milking and are dehorned they will go back in their milk a great deal for the first month after the dehorning has taken place. Calves can be dehorned by blistering the little buttons before they adhere to the skull. This is very simple and not painful. First clip the hair about the horns and wet the little loose button and apply caustic potash, in stick form, by rubbing it on the damp horn. Remember, this must be done before the horn adheres to the skull. Also remember not to use water enough to run the lye away from the button and rub until the skin reddens. Also, look out to keep your end of the potash stick dry or you may dehorn the tips of your fingers.



Paralysis During Pregnancy.



I have a cow that will freshen in a few days. About six days ago she seemed weak in her hind legs and on going downhill would drag or stumble for 10 or 12 feet, then catch herself and go on rather wobbly.

Pregnant animals about to bring forth their young sometimes show a paralysis or loss of power in their hind parts due to pressure of foetus. Nature corrects this after birth.



Bloody Milk.



What can be done to stop bloody milk?

Milk each teat in a separate glass jar, let stand to ascertain which teat the red specks are coming from, then milk the teats clean and inject the infected teat with equal parts of hydrogen dioxide and water. After a few hours inject 4 drachms of ferric chloride in 1 ounce of water. Then milk clean.



To Cleanse Cows.



My cows are healthy and calves all right, but seem to have trouble throwing the afterbirth.

Wash out twice daily with about 1 gallon of normal salt solution (teaspoonful of salt to each pint of warm water). Give internally the following powder: Pulv. gentian, 4 ounces; puv. slippery elm, 1 ounce; puv. charcoal, 1 ounce; pulv. hyposulphate of soda. 8 ounces. Mix and give a heaping teaspoonful twice daily.



Treatment for Caked Bag.



I have a cow whose udder is caked hard and has been swollen from the udder to the forelegs. This latter swelling has gone down by applying equal mixture of turpentine and lard, but the udder itself still remains hard. When first noticed, one teat caked, then another, until all four are caked alike.

Insert a milk tube and inject the following: Hydrogen dioxide, 8 ounces; tincture iron chloride, 1 ounce; water, 7 ounces. Inject into each affected teat. Apply the following externally: Camphorated oil, 8 ounces; tincture belladonna, 2 ounces; oil eucalyptus, 2 ounces. Mix and apply twice daily.



Garget.



I have a cow which gave rich milk all the time, but now every time I milk her some yellow, hard substance will come out instead of milk. First from one teat, then the next, and when I strain the milk the strainer will be full of hard yellow specks.

Your cow has undoubtedly been affected with garget. This milk should not be used. The condition is best treated by massaging the udder every day with camphorated oil. It will also be necessary for you to continue to milk her regularly until about six weeks before she is due to freshen, at which time you should proceed to dry her up.



Infectious Mastitis.



We have a 2-year-old heifer, which, two weeks before she was due to freshen, had a large udder slightly caked. Upon pressing the teat a discharge of blood issues from each teat.

This is infectious mastitis. It may be due to a bruise or blow or infection introduced through the milk duct. The first is most likely. Apply camphorated oil externally and inject into the affected udder some hydrogen dioxide (peroxide of hydrogen. - EDITOR.). After ten minutes, milk out again. Repeat once daily.



A Mangy Cow.



I have a milk cow with some trouble about her head, neck and shoulders, which causes her to rub herself enough to make raw spots and take off most all of the hair from the parts affected. The trouble has been standing for 18 months, but I have been using medicine at different times, which stops the rubbing, and the part will cover with hair nicely again, but in due time the trouble shows up again.

This cow seems to have mange or scabbies, which is caused by a parasite and is easily spread by contact to other cattle. It should be treated by two or three applications, ten days apart, of a hot solution of creolin, well scrubbed into the skin. The solution is made by mixing five tablespoonfuls of creolin in a gallon of hot water. The treatment should be applied pretty well over the body to cover all the affected parts, and needs to be repeated in ten days to destroy the younger generation. The sheds should be cleaned and whitewashed.



Irritation on Back of Udder.



I have a yearling heifer which has sore teats and blotches just back of her bag which seem to itch. Her mother had a sort of eczema on her neck. I fear her sore teats will spoil her for milking when she comes in next year.

The following treatment is advised: Drench with 1 pound of Epsom salts dissolved in a couple quarts of water. The sores may be treated by washing them with a 2 per cent solution of one of the coaltar disinfectants, such as creolin. After the sores have been allowed to dry naturally, a very little powdered calomel may be dusted thereon. Do this every other day for a few days.



Enlarged Gland on Neck.



I have a calf that has a lump on her neck, which appeared when she was two days old. The lump is getting larger.

This is probably an enlarged thyroid gland. Apply the following once daily for several weeks and let it alone unless it becomes too large or gets very soft, which is unlikely. Churchill's tincture iodine, 8 ounces; turpentine, 1 ounce; sulphuric ether, 2 ounces; oil aniseed, 1/2 ounce. Mix and apply once daily.



Lumpy Jaw.



Some of my cows have hard lumps on their jaws, or lumpy jaw. Can that be cured, and how?

This is Actinomycosis (lumpy jaw) and is due to ray fungi (actinomyces) which are found originally on plants which enter the body in various ways. The trouble usually appears in the upper or lower jaws of cattle, where it generally produces tumors of bone or soft tissues. For treatment give 1 1/2 drachms of iodide of potash in 1/2 pint of water daily for 14 days. Increase to 2 drachms for 14 more days, and then gradually decrease. Divide the tumor and insert gauze saturated with tincture of iodine for 4 days. In 8 days a visible improvement will be noticed,



A Neck-Swelling.



My cow has a swelling under her neck between her jaw bones about the size of a baseball and almost as hard. It is not attached to anything apparently, but largely suspended by the skin at the entrance to the throat.

Cut directly through the center of the enlargement, clean to the bottom, splitting it wide open. Clean it out with peroxide of hydrogen, after which saturate absorbent cotton with tincture iodine, pack in tight and sew the skin to hold it in place. Remove the dressing in 48 hours and wash with sheep dip (tablespoon to 1 quart of warm water) twice daily. This may be tubercular, or the result of foxtail, etc.



Cow Chewing Bones.



One of my cows is continually chewing bones. What can I do to prevent it?

Give the cow good clean hay; some root crop, cocoanut meal, bran or soy-bean meal. If the cow does not stop mix in the drinking water twice daily a little dilute hydrochloric acid. Also, have boxes arranged near feeding stalls which contain wood ashes, slaked lime and salt.



Swelling on the Dewlap.



I have a cow that has a large lump at the point of the breastbone, the dewlap. This lump is as large as a cocoanut, and was caused, I think, by friction against a low manger in eating.

Get equal parts of tincture of iodine and soap liniment and rub onto the swelling twice daily for a week.



Barren Heifers.



I have three heifers, 3 years old, which have run with the bull right along and have failed with calf; have had three different bulls to them; what can be done?

There is a possibility of contagious abortion causing these heifers to fail to breed. If this has occurred in the herd, the heifers are very apt to be affected. If apparently healthy, reduce me feed and make the heifers take considerable exercise to reduce flesh. Give each a dram of powdered nux vomIca and one-half dram of dried sulphate of iron once daily in a little feed. Breed to a healthy bull when the heifers come in heat.



A Sterile Cow.



I have a very fine Jersey cow. I have had her to the bull every month, and can't get her with calf.

In an isolated case of this kind there is probably some disease of the generative organs or some condition whereby the impregnation cannot occur even when the animal is bred. The ovaries may be cystic; there may be chronic inflammation of the womb and possibly the mouth of the womb was injured at last calf birth and the scar prevents its admitting the fertilizing cells. If possible, a veterinarian should make a careful examination of this cow in order to determine what the trouble is. However, this treatment may be tried: About the time of coming in heat, give the cow a large dose of glaubers salts (one pound) and the nux vomica and iron treatment advised for "Barren Heifers" in another paragraph. Before breeding the cow, apply a little extract of belladonna and glycerine to the mouth of the womb and breed a few hours after.



Supernumerary Teat.



On the upper part of one of the hind teats of a young Jersey cow that freshened recently for the first time, there is a small growth from which the milk comes more plentifully than from the natural opening below. How, if at all, can this opening be closed without drying the cow? The milk from it runs all over the milker's hand and makes milking very disagreeable.

The only thing that can be done until the cow is dry is to tie the small teat up before milking. This can be done with a string, rubber band, or an ordinary clamp. If it is so small that the opening cannot be tied, there is nothing to do, except, perhaps to use, her as a nurse for calves. Two of these might run with her at a time, making way for others as soon as they are able to look after themselves. Quite a number of calves can sometimes be handled in a single year by a cow affected this way and the benefit to the calves might be nearly as much as by using the cow for butter production. When the cow is dry the teat can be amputated and the opening will close when the sore heals, or a stick of lunar caustic can be inserted into it, causing a wound that will heal solid.



Infection of Udder.



Last year one of my cows had milk fever which affected her udder. This year after freshening she milked two months when she suddenly went dry on one side of her udder. She is now badly stiffened up in her hind quarters and off her feed.

The cow has infectious mastitis due to introduction of some infection. Give a saline purge (1 pound. glauber salt), inject peroxide of hydrogen, after which pump in, sterile air. Apply externally camphorated oil once daily. Camphorated oil has a tendency to dry up the secretion of the gland and is used advisedly.



Lumps in Teats.



My cow has hard lumps in, her teats and lower part of the bag. These cause pain to her on milking, but there are no other symptoms of disorder. This condition has prevailed several months.

Give 1 drachm. iodide potash daily for one week; 2 drachms the second week 3 drachms the third week, add reduce as you began. If tumors are small and interfere with the flow of milk they can be removed.



Wound in Teat.



I have a cow with an open slit about one-fourth to one-third of an inch in the side of one teat. I have lacerated the edges and stitched the slit well together many times but the milk will ooze out and prevent healing together. I have used numberless milk tubes to no avail, as the flange on the tubes loose out. When I remove the flange the tubes creep up into the udder and it is a trouble to get them out again.

Wounds of a quiescent udder usually heal, but if the cow is in milk and the lesions involve the teats it is exceedingly difficult to heal the wound, as the irritation delays or interrupts the healing process. The following lotion is one of the very best to use for teat wound: Tinct. iodine, 2 ounces; tinct. arnica, 2 ounces; glycerine, 2 ounces; comp. tinct. benzoine, 2 ounces. Mix and apply twice daily after washing with 5 per cent solution carbolic acid and castile soap. Your milk tube must be an ancient one as all milk tubes of today are self-retainers and could not slip into the udder. Care must be taken to boil the tube previous to each using as you may cause an infection of the udder by a filthy tube.



Injury to Udder.



I have a cow which has a gathering in the back of her udder which seems to be some sort of injury. It has been there but a few days.

This injury was caused by a blow or traumatism. Thoroughly scrape out the diseased tissue and after washing with sheep-dip water (tablespoon to one quart) apply the following powder: Mix the following powder and apply it to the wound: Iodoform, 1 drachm; boric acid, 1 ounce; alum, 1/2 ounce; zinc oxide, 1/2 ounce. Be sure and insert this powder into the bottom of the wound, so that it will reach all diseased parts.



Blind Teat.



What can I do for a "blind teat"? The cow has just freshened and that quarter of her udder is very full, but there is no milk in the teat. I have been rubbing and greasing the udder. The blind quarter is slightly inflamed.

An artificial opening should be made in the teat at once. Call in the nearest physician unless you have a regular graduate veterinarian near.



Cow Pox.



I have a yearling heifer which is in fine condition and making good growth. But all four of her teats have sores on them and are mostly covered with scabs.

It is probably cow pox. Give a physic of glauber and epsom salts mixed 4 ounces of each to the heifer and double the dose to the cow. Apply externally, once daily, after washing, the following prescription: Zinc ointment, 4 ounces; iodoform, 1/2 ounce; glycerine, 2 ounces; carbolic acid, 2 drachms. Mix thoroughly and apply. to sores.



Cause of "Loss of Cud."



About three months ago a pure-bred Jersey commenced to fail on her milk and soon went dry, although on good feed. Did not seem to be sick, but did not eat ravenously as she generally did, and little was thought of it. During the past six weeks she has failed rapidly. Does not chew her cud, froths at the mouth, runs at the eyes, and when she eats anything much it bloats her. In fact, she seems bloated all the time. She is lifeless and will hardly move around, getting very thin, and hair standing the wrong way. Is there such a thing as a cow losing her cud?

Most people imagine a cow's cud is something material. As a matter of fact, in a certain sense the words appetite and cud are synonymous. You can say a cow has lost her appetite or a cow has lost her cud. Now, any sickness severe enough will cause a cow to lose her appetite. The bloating is caused from indigestion secondary to some organic disease, probably tuberculosis. Keep up the cow's strength by giving condensed floods or drenches of egg-nogg, gruel or greens. Give warm salt-water injections twice daily and give the following mixture: Quinine sulphate, 2 ounces; Antipyrine, 1 ounce; ammonia muriate, 3 ounces; alcohol, 1 quart; water 1 quart. Mix; give 2 ounces every four hours.



Calf Dysentery.



I would like to know the reason for bloody discharges from the bowels of a young six-day-old calf. There is a looseness of the bowels and the blood is intermingled with the excrement. There is not a profuse amount of blood, nor is it very dark in color, and it seems to be accompanied with mucus or light, thick substance.

This is dysentery, due to scours so prevalent in calves. Give 6 ounces olive oil, 4 drachms bismuth subnitrate and 1 drachm Pearson's creoline. The discharge is very dangerous to other animals.



Bovine Rheumatism.



Our Jersey cow got somewhat lame one year ago in one hip or leg after calving but soon got better. Last June when she came in one leg was lame. It seems to be in the stiffle joint and the first one above. When she walks she gets real lame.

Rheumatism is the trouble here. Give the following powder: Soda salicylate, 3 ounces; salol, 2 ounces; pulv. gentian root, 2 ounces. Mix and make 24 powders. Give four daily. Apply Pratt's, a good veterinary liniment.



Bleeding for Blackleg.



I have read several articles on blackleg, and it seems strange to me that no mention is made of an operation that is an absolute preventive, namely, bleeding in the feet.

The reason that no special mention of bleeding is made is that it is not now considered the preventive that it once was. Some people appear to have fair success with it, and others no success at all. The Bureau of Animal Industry states that the evidence indicates that bleeding, nerving, roweling or setoning have neither curative nor protective value and, therefore, should be discarded for vaccination which is now widely used as a preventive.



Poor Feeding, Depraved Appetite.



I have three cows. They have been fed alfalfa hay all winter and are in very good condition and seem otherwise in good health, and have salt to run to. Every time they chance to come to the yard they will pick up on old bone and chew it for perhaps a half hour. I always take the bone away from them when I discover it.

These cows have a depraved appetite, owing to the fact the tissues of the body are crying out for something lacking that is required in the system. Administer the following powder; also put a lump of lime in the watering trough: Pulv. gentian, 1 ounce; pulv. elm bark, 2 ounces; pulv. iron sulphate, 1 ounce; pulv. bicarb. soda, 4 ounces; pulv. aniseed, 2 ounces; pulv. red pepper 1/2 ounce; pulv. oilcake meal 10 pounds. Mix thoroughly and give a tablespoonful in scalded grain once daily.



Cows Swallowing Foreign Substances.



We recently lost a valuable cow, and when we opened her we found a large tumor or abscess at the top of the heart as large as a gallon jar. What caused it, or is there any danger of other cows taking it, and if so, what can we do?

This is a common disease among cows and is called traumatic pericarditis. The trouble arises from the habit of the cows picking up foreign substances such as wire, nails, or hairpins, and swallowing them. They are taken into the paunch and the digestive movements of this organ cause the foreign body to penetrate the lining and enter the heart, where it gradually causes death as it enters deeper. It is very common to find nails, etc., in the stomachs of old dairy cows which are killed at the slaughter-houses. If you had examined the animal carefully, you would find that some foreign body had penetrated the heart and caused death. There is no danger of any contagion arising from your cow.



Defective Urination.



I have a cow that seems to be in good health and gives plenty of milk. Nearly every morning when she is being milked she seems to want to urinate and will stand letting the water drip from her.

This trouble often results from the cows eating alkaline hay. Give her two quarts of flaxseed tea daily. Mix it with her food in which there has been placed one-half teaspoon of powdered Buchu.



Infectious Conjunctivitis (Sore Eyes).



I have several cows and heifers that are affected with sore eyes. The disease first makes its appearance by excessive watering of the eyes; then the center or pupil becomes white and later turns red of bloodshot.

Bathe thoroughly with the normal salt solution (teaspoon salt to 1 pint warm water), after which place in the eye and all around the mucuous membrane of the eye the following: Twenty-five per cent solution of argyrol, one-half ounce; apply thoroughly once daily and keep out of the sunlight if possible. Another treatment is: Bathe the eyes once daily with boracic acid 1 teaspoon, water 1 pint, after which thoroughly saturate the eyelids and eyes with 1 to 10,000 solution of bichloride of mercury. You are dealing with a disease that will spread throughout your herd if you do not take proper means to separate the affected from the well ones.



What to Do Against Tuberculous Milk.



I should like to know what could be done with a dairy where cows are dying with tuberculosis and the owner knows, but is selling the milk.

The case should be reported to F. W. Andreason, Secretary of the State Dairy Bureau, at San Francisco, for investigation by an inspector. If conditions are found as represented, the sale of milk will be prevented, as it is contrary to State law to sell milk from sick cows. County boards of health have also authority to prevent the sale of such milk in the county on the ground that this is a menace to the public health.



Effects of Ill-Feeding Pigs.



I have a couple of pigs, out of about 75 head farrowed last spring, which seem to have the staggers. They are looking fairly well, feed well on pasture and at feeding time are right there making as much noise as the others. They run around as if they had a shot too much.

Your pigs are suffering from acute indigestion, undoubtedly due to improper feeding. Cut down the rations, especially if they are getting grain. Give sick pigs two tablespoonfuls of castor oil each.



Sore Eyes in Pigs.



What is the matter with young pigs when their eyes swell shut? Before they shut they look as if there was a white milky scum over them.

There is some infection present, and a good cleaning up in needed. The sows and pigs should be dipped in a warm solution of some coal-tar disinfectant, and the quarters thoroughly cleaned and disinfected or changed to a dry warm place. The pigs' eyes should be washed with warm water and a few drops of the following solution dropped into eyes once a day for a few days: Have druggist prepare a 1 per cent solution of silver nitrate. After applying this the eyes had better be washed a few minutes later with water to which a little common salt has been added.



Hog Cholera.



I have a number of pigs which have been ailing for three weeks or so. They discharge a yellowish kind of manure at times, running of the bowels. The most striking symptom seems to be a partial paralysis of the hindquarters. The hogs will be walking along and seem to lose control of their hing legs. It seems to be spreading to the other hogs and a number have already died. Their appetite is poor.

This is undoubtedly hog cholera. The owner should appeal to the Experiment Station at Berkeley for serum and treat all well hogs and clean up as thoroughly as possible. The matter should also be reported to the State Veterinarian at Sacramento.



Pneumonia in Pigs.



What is the disease which may be said to confine itself, with few exceptions, to young pigs weighing 100 pounds or less? Its symptoms are at first sneezing and a mild cough. These quickly change to hard coughing and labored breathing, which as the disease progresses shows evidence of much pain. The appetite is lost and the eyes become gummed and inflamed. In some cases the pig lingers on for weeks, while in others death occurs almost immediately. Vomiting sometimes occurs.

It is pneumonia and in its treatment "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Once pneumonia gets a foothold in a hog, the chances are so strongly in favor of death that recovery may be considered out of the question. Since remedies are not certain in the cure of pneumonia, it will be found that the prevention of the disease is the only real way to combat it. The main causes of the disease are exposure to draughts, sudden changes in temperature, damp beds, manure heaps as sleeping quarters, and exposure to the disease itself. Pigs in thin condition or weak constitutionally are more liable to contract the trouble than pigs in good flesh and healthy specimens. Good, dry, warm, comfortable sleeping houses, well ventilated and so arranged as to prevent crowding and piling up, will, I think, do more to prevent pneumonia than any other one thing. Some such preparation as advocated by the Government for the prevention of hog cholera will help keep the stock in a good healthy condition, the better to combat exposure. It is the little attentions that keep the herd healthy and in a vigorous condition, and by using simple preventatives, remedies will he found unnecessary. - H. B. Wintringham.



General Prescription for Hog Sickness.



My hogs seem to be mangy and scabby, but am unable to find any lice on them. They eat well, but vomit a good deal and are falling off in flesh.

They may be affected with a chronic type of cholera, and this should be determined by some one who can see the hogs. Make a general cleaning up of the hogs and quarters, using a dip and repeating in ten days. Hogs have a true mange as well as other animals. A change of feed may also be needed, depending on what is being fed and how the hogs are managed. Green alfalfa pasture with a moderate feed of shorts or middlings of wheat and ground barley made into a slop would be a good ration. Evidently there is some digestive trouble here, and a dose of croton oil (3 drops) mixed in a teaspoonful of raw linseed oil for each hog would be beneficial. Charcoal, ashes, salt and a little epsom salts would be of benefit to tone the digestion. The oil should be carefully mixed in the slop.



Pigs Out of Condition.



Of a litter of pigs weaned about a month several of them have itchy scabs on their legs, ears and noses, and those having white feet show reddish spots through the hoofs. They did not get it until after they were weaned. They are fed on soaked whole barley and have alfalfa pasture.

Put the pigs on a slop composed of wheat middlings and barley ground fine, with the hulls removed, and milk, or, in the absence of milk about 8 or 10 per cent of meat meal to which add some good stock food. Dip them with some standard brand of dip or apply crude oil to be sure that they were free from lice, fleas, etc. Give them good, clean, comfortable sleeping quarters and trust to nature to do the rest.



Paralysis of Sow.



During the last few days one of my sows appears to be paralyzed in her hind quarters and now cannot use her hind legs at all. She is about a year old and is due to farrow her first litter in and about six weeks.

It is paralysis due to advanced pregnancy. Give 4 ounces castor oil and 4 ounces olive oil. She will recover after parturition.



Rickets in Hogs.



A fine boar, 16 months old, weight about 380 pounds, well built, with little surplus fat, until lately has been very thrifty, but appears to be losing control over his legs. Can't step over the smallest stick without falling forward and acts like a foundered animal. He carries his back rather arching since this trouble came on. During my absence from home a hired man gave this boar a good beating with a pick handle, and it appears to have been the beginning of his troubles.

This disease is Osteo Rachitis (rickets). The abuse has probably aggravated the symptoms: This condition is due to a lack of hardening principles in the bones. Give 4 ounces of cod liver oil daily and plenty of lime water to drink. It will be all right to use him for breeding when he recovers. In addition to good food and pure water give daily a handful of a mixture of principally ashes and burned barley (charcoal) with the usual addition of salt, sulphur and soda. This mixture is good: Pulv. dried, iron sulphate, 4 ounces; soda bi-carbonate, 8 ounces; soda salicylate, 2 drachms; pulv. aniseed, 4 ounces. Mix and give one-half teaspoonful twice daily.



Pigs Losing Tails.



We have five pigs, 17 days old, and when they were farrowed they had rings around the roots of their tails, and now their tails are dropping off.

This is caused by interference with circulation before birth. Apply tinct. iodine around the affected parts once daily and if it shows no signs of improvement after one week amputate.



Over-Fat Sow.



My brood sow is awfully fat; how should I feed her so that she don't get too fat? She is bred and it will be her third litter. She was running in the vineyard all winter, and I fed her a handful of barley every day or a few potatoes. Now she has free access to my growing barley field, and I give her half a dozen potatoes every day.

You need not worry about getting her thin. She simply requires less food. An animal excessively fat brings forth an inferior offspring.



Musty Corn for Pigs.



Would Egyptian corn that has been musty and then dried in the sun be fit for pigs? It heated and musted quite a good deal, but is dried well. The idea is, to grind it and then feed it in milk if good.

It is very dangerous to feed any stock moldy or musty food, especially pregnant animals. It is this kind of food which causes a majority of the abortions. Mold or smut in food is poisonous both to man and beast. It is usually almost impossible to get out of feed because it runs throughout the structure of the hay or grain.



Wounds and Wound Swellings.



What is the proper treatment for a fresh wire cut on a horse? How should saddle galls be treated? Is there any way to make the hair come in its natural color where saddle galls have been? How can an enlargement of a colt's leg, caused from a wire cut, be reduced?

After all foreign matter has been removed from a lacerated wound, like that made in a wire cut, the wound should be carefully fomented with warm water, to which has been added carbolic acid in the proportion of 1 part to 100 of water. It should then be bandaged to prevent infection. Zinc ointment would be a good thing to use under the bandage. For a simple saddle, or harness gall, some ointment like the following should be applied and the wound rested up: One pint alcohol in which are shaken the whites of 2 eggs; a solution of nitrate of silver, 10 grains to the ounce of water; sugar of lead or sulphate of zinc, 20 grains to an ounce of water; and so on. Or advertised gall cures may be applied. If a sitfest has developed, the dead hornlike slough must be cut out and the wound treated with antiseptics. There is no way we know of to make hair come in with natural color after a wound. The swelling on the colt's leg may he reduced by rubbing it well several times a day and at night rub in some 10 per cent iodine petrogen.



Fly Repellants.



Can you tell me what to use as a spray to kill the flies in my stable? In the early, morning the ceiling and sides are thickly covered with the pests partly dormant but not enough so that they can be swept down and killed. What spray can I use that will destroy them?

It is difficult to kill flies by spraying them. You can, however, spray the sides and ceiling of the barn with a spray of epsom salts (sulphate of magnesia) using about a cupful to the gallon, which will prevent them from gathering there. And since prevention is better than cure, flies can be kept from gathering around by, destroying their breeding places, if those are under one's control, by having all manure and litter removed before the flies have a chance to develop. The following may be found useful to readers as a spray to keep away flies: Fish oil, 2 quarts; kerosene, 1 quart; crude carbolic acid, 1 pint; oil of pennyroyal, 1 ounce; oil of tar; 10 ounces. Mix thoroughly and apply in a fine spray. The following has been successfully used to repel flies from cows: Nitro benzine, 5 ounces; carbolic acid, 3 ounces; kerosene oil, 3 ounces; sol. formaldehyde, 1 ounce; fish oil, 1 1/2 quarts. Mix and just touch the hair with the mixture.



To Destroy Fleas.



My barn, is full, of fleas I tried to destroy them by using creso-dip, but did not kill them, all.

Fleas can only be permanently checked by destroying their breeding places which are in the dust! and dirt that accumulate in cracks and corners around barns, sheds and dwellings. Follow the cleaning up with a thorough distribution of flake naphthalene. This is most effective where the stable or room can be closed tight for half a day, or even 24 hours; An ingenious suggestion is made that if a sheep can be let run in and around the buildings where the fleas breed, they will soon be less numerous and as new batches hatch out the sheep will soon get them picked up, and after a while the place will be entirely free of them. But the sheep must be allowed to run all around the sheds and breeding places, as the flea jumps up, gets into the wool, and can never get out again. A hog can also be used as a flea trap. One reader says: Pour a little of the crude oil on the hogs' heads and along their backs, about a gill on each hog; This would run down the sides of the hogs and kill all the fleas on them. The oil also remains on the hogs for several days, and all the fleas that jump on the hogs from the ground stick fast and never jump off again. In about three weeks the fleas all disappear and the hogs look fine and sleek from the use of the oil.



Part VIII. Poultry Keeping

Largely compiled from the writings of Mrs. W. Russell James and Mrs. Susan Swapgood.



Teaching Chicks to Perch.



What is a good method of breaking in young brooder chicks to use the roosts?

At from six to eight weeks old the chicks should be taken from the brooder quarters to the colony houses and range, or wherever they are to be located, and at this time they should be taught to perch. Have the new quarters arranged with low wide perches (1 by 3-inch scantlings); also make slatted frames by nailing lath or other such narrow strips two inches apart. Set these frames against the wall so that they will extend slant-wise under the perches, and have the corners on the other side of the room cut off by nailing boards across them. The chicks will run up on the frame to find a huddling corner and land on the perches, as they cannot rest on the open slanting frame. A little care for a few evenings in putting up those that remain on the floor and straightening them out on the perches will teach them the ropes. Where there are but a few to be taught, all that is necessary is to provide the low wide perches and shut out the corners, and a few of the smart ones will soon take to the perches, and gradually others will follow until all will be roosting.



Liver Disease.



I have hens which seem well in every respect up to the time of their combs changing color, when they die within three days. The combs turn a faint yellow, almost white; they are heavy, have their usual appetite up to the lost 24 hours. I have treated by giving small doses of castor oil and Douglas mixture in the drinking water, feeding on dry mash with plenty of green feed. There is no tendency to lameness nor limp neck. The droppings are loose and very white.

The fowls were victims of jaundice, which is a form of liver disease and caused by over-feeding on rich starchy foods that also cause fowls to become overfat. However, at the end of the laying season and the beginning of the molt the poultry keeper will lose some hens, even when kept under the best conditions, and especially hens of that age. In doctoring such cases in the way described, if the fowl does not improve in a couple of days, the hatchet cure is the most profitable.



Rupture of Oviduct.



I have had two other hens die suddenly when on the nest. The second one - we opened and found one egg broken near the vent and another with shell formed ready to be laid.

Rupture of the oviduct was probably the cause of the hens dying on the nest and is due to the same condition in the hens; that is, the straining to expel the egg necessary in the engorged condition of the internal organs from overfatness.



Melons for Fowls.



Have "stock melons" or "citrons" any merit as a green food for laying hens? Are the seeds of the above injurious to hens or cows?

Stock melons are desirable for chicken feeding if other succulent materials are scarce, but they are inferior to alfalfa and other clovers. Seeds are not injurious to stock unless possibly one should feed to excess by separating them from the other tissues. If melons are fed as they grow, no apprehension need be had from injury by seed.



Rape and Vetch for Chickens.



What time do you sow rape and vetch and are they good for chickens?

They surely are good for chickens or for any other stock that likes greens. They are winter growers in California valleys and should be sown in the fall as soon as the land is moist enough to keep them growing, or just as soon as you can get it moist either by rainfall or irrigation. Neither plant likes dry heat or dry soil.



Preserving Eggs.



What is a good way to preserve eggs for home use?

In a cool cellar, eggs will keep very well in a mixture of common salt and bran. Use equal parts, mix well, and as you gather the eggs from day to day pack with big end down in the mixture and see that the eggs are covered. Waterglass eggs are good enough for cooking purposes, but when boiled anyone that knows the taste of a strictly fresh egg can tell the difference in an instant; when fried the taste is not so pronounced, but it is there just the same; besides, when broken, they are a little watery. This watery condition passes off if left to stand for a few minutes. The best way is to use the waterglass method, is one quart of waterglass to ten quarts of water. Boil the water and put away to cool, when cold add the waterglass, mixing well, and store in 3 or 5-gallon crocks in a cool place. They will keep six months if good when put in. In all cases the eggs must be gathered very fresh, for one stale egg will spoil the whole lot, so great care is needed.



Dipping Fowls.



How do you dip hens to kill lice?

To dip fowls you must have a very warm day, or a warm room where you can turn them in to dry. I have know people to use tobacco stems, but it requires good judgment as to the right strength to use. The dips usually sold already prepared are safer, in my opinion, because they give directions as to quantity. Get a can of "zenoleum" or "creolium" - either is good - and have the water a little over blood-heat to commence; be very careful that the liquid does not get in the fowl's throat. If there are no directions with the cans, put enough in to make the water quite milky and strong smelling. It is best to make the hen sit down and with a sponge wet the back and head thoroughly, then under the wings and breast; if there are nits, don't be in a hurry to take the hen out, but let the dip get to the nits and skin on the abdomen. If the water is too warm it will be dangerous, as some fowls have weak hearts; that is the only danger, providing you dry them quickly.



Cure for Feather-Eating.



What is the cure for feather-eating?

Feather eating is the result of idleness or a shortage of green feed. The best way to cure it is to furnish the fowls with exercise. Boil some oats until soft, and when cooked stir in salt enough to taste and about a quart of good beef scrap; feed this for breakfast several mornings together. Make them scratch for the rest of their food in deep litter and give them sour milk to drink if you have it. If sour milk is not available, put a tablespoonful of flowers of sulphur in the boiled oats. The object is to cool the blood and furnish exercise. See that the fowls are supplied with mineral matter, such ash shells, bone meal and some, sand if it can be had. It is surprising the amount of sand that chickens will eat when carried to them in yards, so there must be a necessity for it, and if they cannot get to it, it pays to carry a good box full once in a while.



Cannibal Chicks.



What can I do to cure my chicks of eating each other?

Some kind of animal food is necessary when the chicks begin to pick toes, wings and vents. But the meat must always be cooked, the least bit of raw meat drives them wild as does the blood they can bring on each other. For that reason a strict watch must be kept to detect any case before blood is brought. Remove all weak chicks as they always go for the weakest, and as soon as one chick is picked on for a victim, remove it at once. Some people paint the toes with tar or liquid lice paint, but I have had the best success with bitter aloes mixed with water. A nickel's worth covers a lot of toes. It is best to buy a powder, then dissolve in a little water and paint wings, vent and toes. They won't take many pecks at them when they find they are so bitter.



Sunflower Seeds for Poultry.



What is the food value of sunflower seed as a ration for fowls, mostly laying hens? Should it be fed whole or crushed?

Sunflower seed is rich in oil, having the same proportion as flaxseed; otherwise it rates in value the same as grain. A little, not too much, fed whole is well relished by fowls and is said to give luster to the plumage in fitting birds for shows. Sunflower is greatly overrated for poultry purposes. It is an ungainly plant of no use for forage and its seed is so well liked by the sparrows that the only way to keep them till ripe is to cover the heads with netting.



Clipping Hens for Cleanliness.



My hens foul all the feathers below the vent; they appear healthy, but do not look nice. What can I do?

Take a pair of scissors and clip the fluff away from that part of the abdomen, give a teaspoonful of olive oil, and notice of they have any discharge that is of an offensive color or odor. Sometimes it is nothing but pure laziness with hens of the large breeds that causes this matting together of the fluff below the vent. We rarely see hens of the small breeds so affected. Whenever a hen soils her feathers clip her at once, and, in fact, it is a good custom to follow in any case. When hens are very heavily fluffed it interferes with the fertility of the eggs. In such cases there is not anything for it but the scissors.



Bowel Trouble in Chicks.



What is the cause of bowel trouble in young chicks, and what to do for it?

Bowel trouble in very young chicks is usually caused by a chill. It is very hard for us here to believe chicks get chilled because, not feeling the cold ourselves, we forget that chicks have really undergone a violent change from incubator to the outside atmosphere. In the Eastern States, great care is exercised in moving chicks from incubator to brooder oven, and also in seeing that the brooder itself is warm and fit to receive the chicks. But we are, as a rule, very careless in these little matters and the chicks feel the change and suffer from bowel trouble. Sometimes, of course, the trouble may be traced to the food, but more often it comes from a chill. The best way to cure it is to remove the chicks to new ground at once, or if in a brooder, clean it out well and spray with some disinfectant. Boil all the water that is given to the chicks and feed boiled rice once or twice a day in which a little cinnamon is mixed. Do not put in too much or they will not eat it, keep all meat away and just feed dry chick feed and boiled rice. No oatmeal or any other cereal but the rice; if chicks won't eat it, feed dry chick feed and boiled water and a little lettuce.



Quick Roosters and Laying Hens.



How can I get the young roosters off quick and the hens to lay in winter?

These two happy results come from correct methods of poultry keeping from the ground up. To get the cockerels off quick, they must be hatched from strong-germed eggs, incubated properly and kept growing from the first jump out of the shell. To get eggs in winter the pullets must come from the same conditions. Very few hens will lay in the early winter under any conditions. The pullets must be depended upon for that season and the hens kept properly will drop in some time in January.



Poultry Tonic.



What is a good poultry tonic?

The following is a very good tonic for general purposes: Tincture of red cinchona, 1 fluid ounce; tincture of chloride of iron, 1 fluid drachm; tincture of flux vomica, 4 fluid drachms; glycerine 2 ounces; water, 2 ounces. Mix and give one teaspoonful to a quart of water, allowing no other drink.



Poultry in the Orchard.



Kindly advise me about keeping hens in an orchard. I would like to know if they will injure the trees in any way if kept in large numbers. In what way would they benefit the trees?

From the point of view of the trees there is no doubt that they would be advantaged by the presence of the poultry, providing the coops are not allowed to interfere with the proper irrigation and cultivation. If it is practicable to handle the fowls in coops without causing the soil around the coops to become compacted by continual tramping, and if they are not kept upon the ground long enough to cause an excessive application of hen manure, which is very concentrated and stimulating, the result would unquestionably be beneficial. From the point of view of the tree, this benefit of injury would depend upon how long the fowls were kept around the tree and the maintenance of them in such a way that the soil should not become out of condition physically or too rich chemically for the satisfactory performance of the tree. If they can be moved frequently, and if they are only put in place when the soil is in such condition that tramping around the coops will not seriously compact it, the presence of fowls would be an advantage. On the other hand, if the coops are to be kept in place for a long time and all the ground outside of them crusted and hardened by tramping and the soil under the coops overloaded with droppings, the thrift and value of the trees will be seriously interfered with.



Caponizing.



Can three to four month old cockerels be caponized successfully in summer, and if so, what care, feed, etc., do they require afterwards?

The birds should be between two to three months, not over four, unless some very large variety that matures slowly. Size is equally important as age, and a bird to be caponized should not weigh more than one and a half pounds. The work can be successfully done in the summer season, but the fowl must be kept without food or drink for at least 24 hours, longer is better and keep in shady place. After caponizing, feed the bird what soft feed he will eat up and let him have plenty of water. Then leave him to himself as he will be his own doctor. In two or three days look them over and if there are any wind-balls, simply prick with a needle to let the air out; this may have to be done two or three times before the wound heals up, but after it has healed, treat just as you would other chickens and feed them about twice a day. There is nothing made by trying to rush nature; it takes fifteen months to grow a good capon of the large breeds.



Roup Treatment.



Up to a week ago the chickens had been exceptionally well in every way. Now they seem to have a cold and a running at the nose and with it a bad odor. It was suggested that this might be the beginning of roup, but I see no swell-head.

The distinguishing characteristic of roup is not so-called "swell head" or other form of cold, but the offensive roupy odor. When the cold has reached this stage it is a pronounced case of roup, and highly contagious. Separate all the ailing fowls and segregate them in comfortable hospital quarters, warm but with one side partly open for fresh air. Disinfect the quarters of the well fowls by spraying with distillate or cheap-grade coal oil and sprinkling the floors and about the houses with air-slaked lime. Use some simple remedy like coal oil or permanganate of potash to cleanse the throat and nostrils. With coal oil, first wipe the eyes and bill with a clean cloth dipped in the coal oil, then inject with a sewing-machine oil can enough coal oil to open and thoroughly clean out the nostrils. If the throat is affected, give a tablespoonful of sweet oil and coal oil, half and half, two or three times a day until relieved. One of our correspondents has sent us the following treatment with permanganate of potash which he has found the best roup remedy he has ever tried: Dissolve 1 ounce of permanganate of potash in 3 pints of water, hold the fowl's head in this for a second, then open the beak and rinse out the mouth in the solution. Wipe with a clean, soft cloth and apply a very little witch hazel or carbolated salve to the eyes, nostrils and head. Repeat the operation as often as the throat and head become clogged with mucus. Until the disease is eliminated from the premises, keep permanganate of potash in the drinking water of all the fowls, both sick and well. About 1 ounce to each 2 gallons of water or enough to give the water a claret color. The sick fowls should be allowed no other feed but a little stimulating mash three times a day. Where the fowls do not show a decided improvement in the course of a few days, or where the disease has assumed a violent form, all such birds should be killed and the bodies burned at once.



Bad Food for Chickens.



My chicks are about three weeks old and have always been strong and sturdy, but when taken sick first appear a little dumpish, then the head seems a little heavy and the neck lengthens out. As the disease advances they become staggery.

Your chicks have eaten soured food, decayed vegetables or tainted meat. Baby chicks are just like other babies and the same care should be used that their food be always sweet and fresh. Wet food should never be given chicks, nor raw meat nor anything the least bit tainted or stale. Put a teaspoon of coal oil in each pint of drinking water and see to it that the latter is kept pure and cool. Mix a teacup of sulphur with enough bran or shorts for each 100 chicks, moisten with sweet milk and feed it on clean boards, what the chicks will eat up clean in some, twenty minutes. Give them one feed of this each day for three days if the weather is dry. Clean the brooders and runs daily, then dust white with air-slacked lime and cover the lime with a sprinkling of clean sand. Rake and clean up the yards where they range and never let them eat any of their grain or food out of dirt and filth. You cannot doctor such small chicks and must depend upon the coal oil in the drinking water. Keep the water fresh, but add the coal oil until the chicks are relieved.



Open-Front Chicken Houses.



In what direction shall I face open-front poultry houses?

North or northeast is the proper direction to face the open fronts of poultry houses and coops in the Pacific Coast climate. The prevailing winds are from the south and southeast in the winter, and from the west and southwest in the summer. The occasional north winds or "northers," may be called dry winds, in fact, are an indication of dry weather, and so do not harm the fowls even when cold. We like the upper half of the north-end or slide of our poultry houses open with inch-mesh covering the open space and the eaves extending several inches as a protection. In case of an unusual storm from that direction, one thickness of burlap may be tacked to the edge of the extending eaves, and to the lower part of the opening. This will admit plenty of fresh air while breaking the force of the wind. We also have a large trap door for the use of the fowls, in the solid lower part of the open end, and the large door, for cleaning and sunning the house, in the west side.



A Point on Mating.



I have fine roosters a year old this April; would you advise keeping them for mating with the same hens next season, or do you advise selling each year and getting fresh stock?

The young males will be all right to mate with the same hens next season - that is, if they come through the molt with vigor. They will be just two years old and at their best. The molt is the test for both, hens and cocks. If they show no signs of ailing or weakness during that period, it is proof of the proper stamina and vigor.



Age for Mating.



At what age may a cockerel be mated with hens?

From nine months to a year is the proper age to mate a Leghorn cockerel. Cockerels of the larger breeds should not be mated before a year old.



White-Yolk Eggs.



Why are eggs watery and light-colored?

The trouble is in the feed somewhere. Too much green feed, especially green feed that springs from wet, soggy ground, will sometimes make the eggs watery. Or if you are feeding more mash feed than dry grain, it will have that tendency. Some people claim that the feed a hen eats does not affect the egg at all; but if it does not, why do eggs differ in color and quality? Eggs that are laid by hens fed wholly on wheat, or the by-products of wheat, such as bran, shorts or middlings, all have a pale yolk. Now feed the hens some green feed - any kind will do - and the eggs from the same hens will have a yolk several degrees or shades darker.



Poultry Diarrhea.



Will you kindly tell me the cause and cure for bowel trouble among hens?

The "quick cure" for chick diarrhea has not yet been found. Prevention is the only sure remedy. The first treatment in diarrhea (which must not be confused with simple looseness of the bowels) should be a mild physic to clean out the digestive tract. Epsom salts is probably best for this purpose where a number of fowls are to be treated. This is usually given in the drinking water, but Dr. Morse, who has charge of the investigation of poultry diseases in the Bureau of Animal Industry, gives the following directions for administering the salts: "Clean out by giving epsom salts in an evening mash, estimating one-third to one-half teaspoonful to each adult bird, or a teaspoonful to each six half-grown chicks, carefully proportioning the amount of mash to the appetite of the birds, so that the whole will be eaten up quickly." For a few days afterward, feed only lightly with dry grain and tender greens, such as fresh-cut mustard and lettuce leaves. Keep plenty of pure, cool water, with just a thin skim of coal oil - one drop to each pint - for drinking; also plenty of sharp grit and fresh charcoal broken to the size of grains of wheat.



Limber-Neck.



A very peculiar disease is taking off my fowls. The head of the fowl bends down to the breast and the fowl looks like dead, there is also a slight discharge from the mouth. The head and tail droop and if the fowl could stand up they would almost touch.

When a fowl loses partial or entire control of the muscles of the neck the common name of the affection is limber-neck. In medical science limber-neck is regarded as a symptom rather than a disease, and may be due to a number of causes, such as derangement of the digestive organs, intestinal worms and ptomaine poisoning. The affected fowls should be given immediately a full tablespoon of fresh melted lard or sweet oil, to which has been added a scant teaspoonful, of coal oil. In an hour repeat the dose. For a few days the fowls should be fed on some light food, such as shorts scalded with sweet milk in which has been dissolved a level teaspoonful of baking soda to every pint of milk, and also allowed plenty of crisp, tender lettuce or similar greens. A little Epsom salts should be added to the drinking water for a few days. This treatment, if resorted to at the start, will be effectual, but if the poisoning has had its course long, nothing will save the bird.



Chicken Pox.



My one and two-year-old fowls are getting scabby combs. It starts with a round blackish spot and swells into many spots, finally nearly covering one side of the comb. Sometimes accompanying this is the closing of one eye, and later both eyes.

The trouble is chicken pox, which is a very contagious disease. A treatment which has been successful consists in bathing the sores with strong salt and water and giving the fowls a mash containing one teaspoonful of calcium sulphide for each 25 hens. With a large flock of hens the method successfully employed by one of the large coast ranches in stamping out an epidemic of the disease was to place a sulphur smudge, to which had been added a little carbolic acid, in the poultry house after the fowls had gone to roost. This was allowed to remain till the fowls began to sneeze, when it was instantly removed. The affected fowls were also treated by dipping the heads in a solution of permanganate of potash.



Roup in Turkeys.



My turkeys have a disease that is spreading rapidly. They commence with a running at the nose, have swelling under the eyes which are filled with pus.

This is clearly a case of cold developing into roup. Get one ounce of permanganate of potash and pour a quart of boiling water over; after it is cold, bottle for use. Now take an old tin can, three parts full of warm, not hot water, and drop in enough of the permanganate of potash to make it dark red. Hold the turk's head under in this can until it needs breath then give it time to breathe, and dip again. Press the fingers along the swollen parts towards the nostrils and get out all the pus you can, then take a sewing-machine oil can and fill it with a little of the mixture, and part olive oil, inject the liquid up the nostrils and in the cleft of the mouth. Put a little of the permanganate in the drinking water for all the flock. Make the water a light red, later it will turn to a dirty brown, but don't mind that.



Disinfectants.



What can I use to disinfect poultry belongings?

Sulphuric acid spray is good, but you will need to be very careful that you do not get it on the hands or clothing. Get 16 ounces sulphuric acid (50 per cent solution), water 6 gallons. Have the water in a wooden tub or barrel and add the sulphuric acid to the water very slowly, in order not to splash it on the flesh or clothes. But mind: nothing but wooden vessels to mix it in. When made according to directions, and of this strength it is a very valuable disinfectant, but is dangerous to use of any stronger mixing. After mixing, it can be stored in glass bottles or earthenware jugs. Another very good disinfectant for poultry houses and runs is the formaldehyde disinfectant. Formaldehyde 1 pint (40 per cent), water 2 gallons. This is fine for houses that you can shut up. Turn the fowls out of the building, close all windows, and spray thoroughly, then close the door and leave it do the work. Air well by opening windows and door several hours before the fowls go to roost.



Cloth for Brooding Houses.



Would some good grade of white cloth on a frame do as well, or would it be better than glass, for a brooder house, or would it keep out too much sun-heat?

Cheesecloth, not heavy cloth, would be better than glass, so far as the sun is concerned. There would be none of the overheating during the middle of the day followed by the chilling at night which are caused by a large expanse of glass. On the other hand, there should not be openings on opposite sides of the house to create a draft. Also, the rat and vermin question must be considered. It might be necessary to have wire screens made to fit firmly over the cloth at night.



Grains for Chickens.



What variety of grain adopted for poultry food will be the best to grow, with and also without irrigation?

Wheat is a standard grain for poultry feeding, and Egyptian corn is also largely used. Indian corn is also satisfactory, under the general roles for compounding poultry rations which are laid down by all authorities on the subject. Egyptian corn is very successful in the interior parts of the State, and, on lands which are winter-plowed and harrow to retain moisture, very satisfactory results can be secured by summer growth without irrigation from planting as soon as frost danger is over.



Plucking Ducks and Geese.



I would like to know about how, when and how often to pick old ducks so as to get the feathers for pillows and not kill the ducks, either. Will they lay any eggs while growing new feathers?

Neither ducks nor geese should be plucked until after the laying season is over, which will be in July. Just before the moult, when the feathers begin to loosen, they may be plucked again. Those most considerate of their birds make only this latter plucking, which does not greatly inconvenience the fowls. At no time must they be plucked unless the feathers are "ripe"; that is, dry at the root, so that no bleeding or injury to the skin is caused. An old stocking is drawn over the head of the victim, and the bird held in the plucker's lap on a burlap apron; then the soft feathers on the body are quickly and very gently removed; but those on the side of the body which support the wings should not be taken. Great care should be exercised not to injure the skin or pinfeathers or pull the down. To grow new feathers quickly and resume laying are matters which depend largely upon the condition of the bird and the feed. The latter should consist of some 15 per cent of animal food.



Feeding Hens for Hatching Eggs.



Should soft feed be given to the mothers of chicks intended for broilers? How about dry mash? How would you advise feeding animal protein?

Cut out all ground feed, except perhaps a little wheat bran. While you may not get quite as many eggs, they will all have good strong germs and the chicks will stand forcing to the limit, while if you force the egg output you reduce the vitality of the germs and livability of chicks hatched. The only way to feed hens whose eggs are intended for hatching chicks for broilers is to feed whole grain and make them exercise for it, good green feed, or, better still, sprouted oats, and feed beef scrap in a hopper all the time. At first, while it is new, they may eat more than you would give them but don't mind that they will regulate the quantity in a few days better than you can. Get a good grade of beef scrap and keep it in a hopper that will not let rain in or keep it under cover and feed all the wheat and oats they require; if you are short on green feed give them a bale of alfalfa hay to work on.



A Dry Mash.



Will you give a formula for a dry mash?

Wheat bran, 500 pounds; middlings, 200 pounds; cracked corn, 200 pounds; charcoal, 20 pounds; alfalfa meal 200 pounds; bone meal, 150 pounds; blood-meal 100 pounds; meat cracklings, if ground, 200 pounds; ground oats or barley, 300 pounds. Give oyster shell separately and supply fowls with good sharp grit.



Depluming Mites.



My chickens are losing the feathers from their necks, some three inches down the front and then extending around the neck.

The loss of feathers is probably due to the depluming mite. Dust well with buhach through the feathered portion of the bird and apply carbolated vaseline to the bare skin and the edges of the feathers where the insects work. Do this daily as long as needed. When vaseline is not on hand, a mixture of coal oil and sweet oil applied with a soft sponge squeezed nearly dry does as well. We would advise that you make a general cleaning and spraying of your poultry quarters, nest boxes, etc.



Part IX. Pests and Diseases of Plants



Control of Grasshoppers.



This county is having trouble with the grasshoppers as are other counties. Would you kindly inform me what I could do to exterminate them on my young orchard?

The best thing for grasshoppers is to fix up a lot of poison. This is made in the proportion of 40 pounds of bran, 2 pounds of molasses and 5 of arsenic, mixed together as a mash. They will take this wherever they find it, even when nice green leaves are close by, but it has to be kept moist. Grasshoppers can also be reduced by driving a "hopper doser" over ground where they are. This is made somewhat like a Fresno scraper, but is much longer and the bottom is covered with crude oil. When disturbed the hoppers jump up and fall into the oil. Besides the poison, you should also protect the trunk of the tree to prevent the hoppers from climbing up it. This can be done by applying tree tanglefoot, or putting on one of the tree guards that prevent climbing insects from passing up to the leaves. The combination of poison and tree guards will give you about all the protection you need.



Sunburn and Borers.



Please state the best remedy for keeping the borer out of young fruit trees.

Sunburn can be prevented in many ways. The manufactured tree-protectors are good if they are light colored and are kept in place so that the sun does not scald above or below them. Wrapping spirally with narrow strips of burlap, torn from old grain sacks, from the base to the forking of the branches, is also good. A very effective and widely used method is to apply a good durable whitewash which may be made of 30 pounds of lime, 4 pounds of tallow and 5 pounds of salt, adding the salt to the water used in slaking the lime, stirring in the tallow while the slaking is in progress and hot, and then adding water to thin the wash so that it will work well with pump or brush.



Gumming of Prune Trees.



I write to ask for information concerning my prune trees. They are from two to six years old and the gum is exuding from them. As I notice the branches dying I cut them out, but this doesn't seem to save the tree. I would appreciate any information you can give me.

This is a pretty hard matter to diagnose from a distance. There is a good probability that the trouble is caused by sunburn, a point you could determine on inspection. Whitewash would be a protection against this and more or less of a cure also. Furthermore, borers may be the cause, which can be determined by examining the points where the gum exudes, seeing if any wood grains are present. These borers should be dug out and whitewash applied, which latter also protects against this trouble. Lastly, your ground may be drying out, which also you can determine and remedy.



Borers in Olive Twigs.



There are quite a number of olive trees in this locality that have something wrong with them. They make a growth of five or six inches and the center twig dies back, then it sprouts out at the sides and makes another growth in the same way. This makes a thick bush instead of the tree coming up as it should.

The dying back is caused by a beetle which bores into the twigs. The twigs above the point where the beetle enters dies and then, of course, buds come out from healthy wood below. No treatment has been devised against it, though its breeding ground is limited if all dead wood and brush and litter is cleaned up and twigs are cut off below the point of injury whenever the work of the insect is seen.



Raspberry Cane Borer.



Can you tell me what to do for my Loganberries and raspberries? A small worm got into them in the new growth of wood lost summer, right in the tips of the new growth of wood, and then worked down through the pith of the wood, and as fast as they worked down the can wilted.

This is the raspberry horn-tail, or the cane-borer. The adults are wasp-like insects about a half-inch long and very active. They come out of the canes in spring and the females soon lay eggs in the tender tips of the young shoots. These eggs soon hatch and the larvae eat their way up toward the tip, which causes it to wither and die. It is this injury that causes much notice. As the tip dies, the larvae turn and go down into the canes, as in the sample sent, also injuring them greatly, though possibly not killing them for some time. The only way to attack them is to pinch the spots where the eggs were laid; then those that escape and cause the tips to wilt should be destroyed by cutting off the tips below the point of injury or cutting off the canes when they show damage. Likewise, the insects work on the wild rose, and cutting all those out around a place will prevent enough adults from developing to permit little damage to be done, always provided the berries are well looked after.



Control of Red Spider.



Can you give directions for the prevention of injury by the red spider to almond and other trees in the Sacramento volley?

The red spider on almond and prune trees is usually controlled by the thorough application of dry sulphur to the foliage. On almonds the first sulphuring should be done as soon as the leaves appear in March. A second application is advised from the 1st to the 10th of May. A third application should be made from the 1st to the 10th of June. Prune trees should be treated as soon as the spider appears. In the Sacramento valley this usually occurs about the first week of July. Full-grown trees require about a pound of sulphur which should be thoroughly distributed throughout the foliage. The old method of throwing a handful of sulphur in the branches of the tree or on the ground under the tree is valueless. The use of a blower is economical in large orchards, but a can with perforated bottom is frequently used on young trees or small orchards with good results. In normal seasons the spider is easily, controlled by dry sulphuring. When the pest does not yield to this treatment, a spray is recommended.



Liquid Spray for Red Spider.



Is there any liquid spray I can use in my spraying that will kill the red spider without injuring the foliage of the almond?

A liquid spray for red spider is made by taking sulphur 30 pounds; lime (reduced to milk form by water), 15 pounds; water, 200 gallons; or use commercial lime-sulphur, 4 or 5 gallons to 200 gallons of water. These sprays can be applied without injuring the foliage. They are more expensive in labor cost than dry sulphuring, but are more effective.



Apple-Leaf Aphis.



I am sending herewith a small piece from one of my young apple trees. If you can, will you kindly tell me what the insects are an it, and what I had better do for them?

The apple twig which you send is infested with the eggs of the leaf aphis or leaf louse. These eggs are very difficult to kill. A good thorough spraying with lime-sulphur might, however, get rid of many of them and would be good for the trees otherwise - diluting according to condition of tree growth. The chief campaign against the leaf aphis, however, must be made early in the growing season, just as these pests are beginning to hatch out and to accumulate under the leaves of the new growth. They should then be attacked with properly made kerosene emulsion or tobacco extract with a nozzle suited to land the spray on the under side of the leaves. Unless these pests are attacked early in the season and repeated if necessary, your apples on bearing trees will be ruined so far as they attack them, being small, misshaped and worthless. On young trees the destruction of the foliage is fatal to good growth.