POULTRY AXD BEES, 487 



cracked corn or oats where the cooped fowls can reach it ; also 

 keep water and sand within their reach. At night cram again, 

 unless the crop is still partly filled, in which case the bill must 

 be held up, some warm water turned, in and the bill closed. In 

 this way inside of two weeks the largest fowls can be made 

 very flit at a trifling expense. This feeding should never b > 

 continued more than two weeks. For twelve hours before 

 poultry is killed neither food, or water should be allowed. 



Ducks can be raised by any one who has an acre of waste 

 land, with a stream or a pond at hand, but it is useless to at- 

 tempt to keep them in close quarters or without plenty of water. 

 They are good layers, and drop a large egg with very rich 

 meat ; their eggs are very heavy, and when eggs come to be 

 sold by the pound, as they ought always to be, ducks' eggs will 

 bring a high price. The Eouen and Aylesbury are the finest 

 breeds for eggs and poultry, and a pair of either of them will 

 soon raise a flock, as the eggs are set under the hen. One drake 

 should be allowed to every six layers. 



Geese also require water and pasture, but will not pick up 

 all their living, as the duck will when it has a good range. 

 Geese must be fed morning and night with grain. When set- 

 ting, the female should have food and water convenient. Like 

 the duck and the turkey, the eggs require about four weeks to 

 hatch, and should be sprinkled several times in the last ten days. 

 The Bremen or Embeden geese are large, (weighing often fortv- 

 five pounds per pair,) quiet, fat readily, not as likely to stray 

 as others, and the most profitable for market. 



The Habits and Management of Bees present the most 

 interesting study we have ever attempted. Upwards of twenty 



Note. The cuts of fowls in this Chapter are from poultry owned by N 

 P. Boyer & Co., stock breeders, Parkesburg, Chester County, Pa. 



