The Process of Breeding. 79 



Ewes are not usually bred until they have attained the 

 age of yearlings. 



A boar cannot be expected to be a successful sire un- 

 less he has reached the age of one year; the sow being 

 bred to farrow at the same age; there is little danger of 

 the average boar being over- taxed, Coburn, in his Swine 

 Husbandry, recommends that five or six farmers com- 

 bine to own a boar, each farmer being supposed to own 

 a dozen brood sows. 



The Digestive and Reproductive Organs of Poultry differ 

 slightly from those of other farm stock. The gullet in 

 poultry is quite long and presents a widening out in the 

 neck known as the crop, in which is performed practically 

 the same work as in the first stomach of cattle or by the saliva 

 of the horse; lower down the gullet again enlarges to form 

 the proventriculus (the first stomach cavity) where a fluid 

 resembling gastric juice is secreted, to this succeeds a 

 muscular cavity known as the gizzard. The gizzard is 

 of interest because the work of grinding the food, ordi- 

 narily done in the mouth, takes place in this muscular 

 cavity, the thoroughness of this grinding process depends 

 on the presence of grit; such being the case a supply of 

 grit is essential to the health of poultry. The powerful 

 muscular walls of the gizzard by their action grind the 

 food between the particles of grit found in that stomach. 

 The intestines are shorter than in the other varieties of 

 farm stock, and terminate in a tube known as the 

 cloaca which is common to the digestive, urinary and 

 reproductive organs. The testicles in birds are located 

 under the back bone just in front of the kidneys, on 

 a level with the origin of the last two pairs of ribs. 



