Arguments, 



ing upon hens to have chickens, seem^ 

 to point out to us what we ought to 

 do. Notwithstanding the expence of build- 

 ing the ovens, and that of the people 

 employed to look after them, their broods 

 are not by much so expensive as ours : for 

 it would be a very great mistake, to think 

 tliat it costs us nothing to make our hens 

 sit ; a hen is employed in sitting on her 

 eggs, and in the care of her chicks that 

 come out of them, for two months and a 

 half at least, and sometimes for three, or 

 three and a half of the months, that arc most 

 favourable for laying, and during which she 

 might have laid above thirty eggs at a me- 

 dium. To have fifteen eggs sat on, which 

 is the number commonly given to a hen in 

 France, we must of course lose thirty 

 others : by which means, the price of each 

 of those which are put under the hen, be« 

 comes that of three eggs. This is one of 

 those things that may seem to be small, or 

 almost unworthy of our notice, when con- 

 sidered singly ; but which appear of some 

 importance, when we reflect on the pro- 



