10 PROFITS IN POULTHY. 



ling White Leghorn cock, on a two-year-old Light 

 Brahma hen, is by all odds most desirable. The chicks 

 mature very rapidly ; they are plump and full-breasted 

 at nine to twelve weeks old ; they have a bright, yellow 

 skin, and no dark pin- feathers. 



I prefer a two-year-old hen to breed from for the reason 

 that her chickens are larger and more vigorous than are 

 those of a yearling, and they mature much more quickly. 



Next in value for broilers in these markets to this cross, 

 in the succession they are named, are the pure-blood Light 

 Brahma, Plymouth Rock, White or Buff Cochin, and 

 cross of Brown Leghorn on Partridge Cochin, all of the age 

 of from ten to twelve weeks old if hatched in January Or 

 February, or nine to eleven weeks old if hatched in 

 March or April, they growing a little more rapidly then 

 than the earlier hatched birds. For early roasters, for 

 these markets, I prefer a cross of Plymouth Rock year- 

 ling cock on Light Brahma hen, the latter furnishing 

 the large frame- work on which the blood of the former 

 builds a full-breasted, quick-maturing fine-meated bird. 

 Light Brahma cockerels, nine to twelve months old, make 

 good and marketable roasters, but they are not so profit- 

 able to raise as the cross I have named. 



MANAGEMENT AND FEED. 



As much depends on the management of the chickens, 

 however, as on the characteristics of the different breeds. 

 A good poultryman may, with poor stock, succeed better 

 than would a bad manager with the best of stock. 



It is of great importance, in raising chickens, that they 

 should be well supplied with a variety of food. " Short 

 commons " does not pay in chicken raising. The com- 

 mon custom is to keep a dish of " Indian meal dough " 

 mixed up, and three times a day a lot is thrown down to 

 the chickens. If they eat it, well and good ; if not, and 

 thechances are they will not, having become tired of one 



