22 Material for the Shells. 



minute pests with the dust. For this purpose one or more 

 ample heaps of sifted ashes, or very dry sand or earth, for 

 them to roll in, must be placed in the sun, and, if possible, 

 under shelter, so as to be warm and perfectly dry. Wood 

 ashes are the best. This dust-heap is as necessary to fowls 

 as water for Avashing is to human beings. It cleanses their 

 feathers and skin from vermin and impurities, promotes the 

 cuticular or skin excretion, and is materially instrumental 

 in preserving their health. If they should be much trou- 

 bled with insects, mix in the heap plenty of wood ashes 

 and a little flour of sulphur. 



A good supply of old mortar-rubbish, or similar sub- 

 stance, must be kept under the shed, or in a dry place, to 

 provide material for the eggshells, or the hens will be 

 liable to lay soft-shelled eggs. Burnt oyster-shells are an 

 excellent substitute for common lime, and should be pre- 

 pared for use by being heated red-hot, and when cold broken 

 into small pieces with the fingers, but not powdered. 

 Some give chopped or ground bones, or a lump of chalky 

 marl. Eggshells roughly crushed are also good, and are 

 greedily devoured by the hens. 



A good supply of gravel is also essential, the small stones 

 which the fowls swallow being necessary to enable them to 

 digest their hard food. Fowls swallow all grain whole, 

 their bills not being adapted for crushing it like the teeth 

 oi' the rabbit or the horse, and it is prepared for digestion 

 by the action of a strong and muscular gizzard, lined with 

 a tough leathery membrane, which forms a remarkable 

 peculiarity in the internal structure of fowls and turkeys. 

 'a\v the action," says Mr. W. H. L. Martin, ''of the tWo 

 thick muscular sides of this gizzard on each other, the 

 seeds and grains sw^allowed (and previously macerated in 

 the crop, and there softened by a peculiar secretion oozing 

 from glandular pores) are ground up, or triturated in order 

 that their due digestion may take place. It is a remarkable 

 fact that these birds are in the habit of swallowing small 

 pebbles, bits of gravel, and similar substances, which it 

 would seem are essential to their health. The definite use 

 of these substances, which are certainly ground down by 



