Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-04-26
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Poultry Paragraphs.

Offal or damaged grain is unwholesome,
and if fed freely will produce disease.
Pounded oyster or clam shells are
good for laying hens. They act as gravel
in assisting digestion, and furnish lime
for the tissues from which the shells of
eggs are made. Break them up small
enough for the fowls to swallow easily.
They will eat good deal of this kind of
food.
A neat, simple and effective method of
keeping high flyers at home is mentioned
by The Poultry World. Merely scissor
away about half of the feathery part of
each wing feather, excepting an inch at
the end, without cutting the quill or
shaft of the feather at all. This shows
but little when the wings are closed,
and so does not disfigure the fowl, but
it let's the air through sufficiently to
prevent flying.
One of the best ways to destroy hen
lice is by proper use of the whitewash
brush and fumigants. When the poul-
try-house is kept in decent order there
will be little trouble, but otherwise the
fowls will not prosper. A very good
plan is to wrap the roost-poles with
pieces of old carpet, old bags, or horse
blankets. Tack these on neat and smooth
and saturate them once fortnight with
diluted carbolic acid, or coal oil. This
will clean the perches and add much to
the comfort and productiveness of the
hens.
Save eggs from the best hens for set
ting. Many poultry keepers do not
know which are the best layers, but this
may be be discovered by a little atten-
ton. Old hens lay larger eggs than
pullets, and the chicks Matched from
two-year old hens, when mated with a
vigorous one-year old cock, will be
larger, more thrifty, and fedge better
than chicks from pullets' eggs. In Sc
lecting eggs to hatch, take those that
are of fair average size (; reject the
small or ill-shaped ones, or the very
large ones. There is no way to deter
mine the sex of the chick by an exami-
nation of the size, shape, or other ex-
ternal appearance of the egg.
1t is little odd that in this country,
where every facility exists, so few ducks
and geese are raised. These are pro-
verbally the most hardy and long lived
of all our poultry. In places where
cholera, Group, ETC., sweep off the fowls
and turkeys, geese and ducks, which
are not subject to these diseases, should
be tried. In densely populated Great
Britain and even in Belgium where one
would suppose there was little room,
more geese are raised to the square
mile than in the United States. In the
interior duck and geese can be raised
as proftably as other kinds of poultry,
and where diseases prevail, more pro-
fitably.
Medical Hints.
TEAS FOR THE SICK RooM.-Dried
leaves of sage, one-half ounce boiling
water, one quart steep for three
quarters of an hour and then strain for
use sugar can be added to suit the
taste. Peppermint, spearmint, balm,
hoarhound, and other herb teas are
made in the same manner.
CURE FOR CHRONIC RHEUMATISM
DR.. Bennett, of Graulbet, France, rec
ommends and prescribes for chronic
rheumatism the use of the essential oil
of turpentine by friction. He used it
himself with perfect success, having al
most instantaneously got rid of rheu-
matte pains in both knees and in the
left shoulder.
RELIEF FOR CRoUP.-Croup can be
cured in one minute, and the remedy is
simply alum and sugar. The way to ac-
complish the deed is to take knife or
crater, and shave off in small particles
about teaspoonful of alum then mix
it with twice its quantity of sugar, to
make it palatable, and administer it as
quickly as possible. Almost instantan-
eous relief will follow.
ASTHMA. following prescription
was given q correspondent by Hon. E.
B. French of the treasury department. /:
Iodide of potassium, two drains tinct-
ure of lobelia, half an ounce syrup of
senega, two ounces ; camphorated tinct-
ure of opium, half an ounce water suf-
ficient to make four ounces. A teaspoon
full every half hour until relieved. The
above cured the above-named gentle
man, and has been used successfully in
the correspondents OWE family.
For ScA1D- HEAD.-Alice NJ. writes
to the Household: Here is cure for
scald-head that / have seen used many
years, but it has to be applied more
than once Take equal parts of good
pine tar and new mutton tallow melt
Just enough to mix well, then add few
drops of sweet oil to make it soft (if
sweet oil is not handy, hens oil or pigs
foot oil will do) do not shave the head,
but just open the hair and apply to the
skin if there is a scab, apply to that
and it will soon heal and come Off"
Household Hints.
A little corn starch in milk will i'm
prove chocolate.
Turpentine is the best to wet stove
polish with before using.
One cup of beef's gall in sixteen
quarts of water, will keep red clothes
from fading.
If you will pour little vinegar in the
water you wash blue clothes in, it will
keep them bright.
TEA. - Tea is best made in an earthen-
ware tea pot, which should be kept dry,
for if allowed to remain damp after use
it becomes musty. The water should
always boil when the tea is added. Tea
is not wholesome taken on an empty
stomach.
CELERY. Celery can be kept for q
week or longer by first rolling it up in
brown paper, then pin it up in towel
and keep it in dark place, and keep as
cool as possible. Before preparing it