Poultry that Pay a Profit. 59 



difference of one dollar each in the two flocks. There are 

 "families "of butter-cows among the Jerseys, and someday 

 there will be " egg-hens" among the already famous Leghorns. 

 One of these improved hens placed in the hands of a person igno- 

 rant of feeding-principles would be compelled to descend to 

 a level with the rest of the flock from a lack of well-balanced 

 rations. 



The egg-shell is largely carbonate and phosphate of lime. 

 The hen can not manufacture lime and albumen from fat or 

 starchy food, which is chiefly valuable for the warmth it fur- 

 nishes : hence corn is a poor food, while milk, meat and shell 

 are very essential for egg-production. When the hens are lay- 

 ing large quantities of eggs the shell-boxes will soon be emp- 

 tied, but they are scarcely touched at other times. Some 

 prominent writers have written much against the expense of 

 oyster, clam and sea-shell, claiming that they only serve the pur- 

 pose of ' ' grit or grinders, " which can be furnished much cheap- 

 er, and that the lime in the egg-shell comes from other sources ; 

 but when the attendant who cleans the eggs can tell by the num- 

 ber of eggs brought in and the thinness of the shell that the 

 boxes are empty, without going to look, it seems as if these 

 writers must be mistaken. Eggs differ in quality and appear- 

 ance in accordance with the nature of the food. Cotton-seed 

 meal in excess gives an egg a week-old taste that is disgusting. 

 Onions give a rank taste. Too much clover-hay and a bad- 

 colored lot of sea-shells spoil the beautiful white of the egg. 

 shells. Wealthy city people have nothing to do but cultivate 

 a critical appetite, and are slaves to it. The guaranteed 

 fresh, large, rich, white and clean eggs of this hennery are 

 now selling for 60 cents per dozen in the city. Candy-makers 

 are making trials of them for use in the making of the fin- 

 est candies. The fowls are fed on green food every day in 

 the year one bushel of beets per day, sliced in winter, and 

 green grass in spring ; in summer Swiss chard is good, the 

 leaves growing again when broken. All refuse cabbage, and 

 other vegetable matter that is not decayed, is used. One 



