128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Here is another writer's argument : " Well-bred chicks 

 are naturally hardy. Chicks born of strong hardy parents 

 come into the world about as well fitted for the battle of life 

 as anything we know of. Given half an opportunity, fed within 

 the bounds of reason and common sense, and properly brooded, 

 it seems almost impossible to kill them. They have an ample 

 coat of down which protects them from almost all kinds of 

 weather for short periods. Given a well regulated brooder 

 they will cheerily run out into an almost zero temperature, and 

 apparently be as happy and contented as though it was warm 

 summer weather, and they certainly grow much better than 

 when placed in what some call better conditions. They eat a 

 mouthful or two, kick up the scratching litter in search of a 

 tidbit of seed or grain, and then scamper back under the cover 

 for a minute's warming, and they certainly grow much better 

 than when placed in what some may think more favorable con- 

 ditions. Fed improperly, or kept at too warm a temperature, 

 or when they are so unfortunate as to have had weak parents 

 on one or both sides, the reverse conditions seem to be the 

 result — they are about as delicate, puny, and unsatisfactory 

 atoms of mortality as the world produces. 



By closely studying nature's methods with chicks, we find 

 that the mother hen, leaving the nest when the chicks are from 

 one to two days old, does not have a chance to lead the way 

 to a dough dish and fill them up with an indigestible mess of 

 dough. On the contrary, she starts out on a hunt, if she is un- 

 disturbed, she makes a good display by nightfall, and has suc- 

 ceeded in filling the crops of her numerous family. If we 

 could dissect those crops we would not find a scientifically pre- 

 pared mixture of one to four, or one to five, or " sixteen to 

 one," or any other startling array of chemical combinations; 

 instead we would find a bug or two, a worm, some seeds that 

 we may have carefully planted in the garden a day or two ago, 

 together with a variety of weed seeds, and plenty of grit. This 

 composite mass has been gathered together in ten or twelve 

 hours' time, with a liberal sprinkling of exercise thrown in, 

 and if the weather conditions are favorable and the mother 

 hen does not drag the youngsters around through the wet 

 grass too much in the morning, she usually comes out at the 

 end of the season with as many full sized chickens as she 

 started from the nest with. 



