Seo. 9.] 



POULTRY. 



139 



as long, nor please the customer as niucli ; while the advance price will 

 amply pay for the ditierence of time in dressing." 



On the contrary, in New York, dry -picked j^oultry does not sell as well as 

 that which is scalded. 



190. The Guinea-Fowl. — A nnion of two breeds of fowls is seen in some 

 measm-e united in the Guinea-fowl. It appears to have some of the charac- 

 teristics of the turkey and the pheasant. Its head is bare like the turkey ; 

 its body and plumage, and general form and appearance, somewhat like the 

 pheasant. Tiie plumage of the most common sort in this countiy is of a 

 bluish ground, delicately spotted with white. The wing feathers are nearly 

 white. There are also fowls of this family entirely white. The greatest ob- 

 jection to the Guinea-fowl is the almost continual noise they make, which to 

 some is intolerable. It is about as musical as the sharp squeak of a grind- 

 stone or old cart. The noise is, however, tolerated for their good qualities, 

 which are not a few. Their noise tends to keep off hawks and other pests 

 of the poultry-yard. They are very ornamental, and give a place a lively, 

 pleasant appearance. Their flesh is pretty good for the table ; thej- are 

 good layers, and their eggs are large, and rich, and good fur cookery, but 

 not so good as common hens' eggs for the table. 



The young chicks are hardy, and very pretty. There is no prettier sight 

 in connection with poultry than a fine Guinea-hen with her brood. The 

 hen sits a month, and nine eggs are enough for her to cover. The eggs may 

 be hatched under a common hen, but a good sitter must be selected, because 

 the time is longer than her own. Hard-boiled eggs chopped tine, bread 

 crumbs, chopped meat or suet, arc good food for young chicks. Some per- 

 sons procure maggots on purpose to feed chicks. Any kind of small worms 

 are devoured greedily by the young Guineas, which are real cormorants. 

 They will eat a dozen times a-day, and a full supjdy of food is one of the 

 great secrets of success in raising these as well as turkeys. 



There is no domestic hen that gives such a bountiful supply of eggs all the 

 yeau round as a Guinea-hen ; consccpientl}' they are not good sitters, and 

 other hens have to be used when it is desired to increase the stock rapidly. 



191. Ducks. — "Wherever suitable conveniences exist for keeping ducks, 

 they are not only ornamental to the farm, but ])rnfital)le. Some of the vari- 

 eties are particularly ornamental — the little Wood duck the most so of all. 

 The Pintail duck is a very neat-looking bird. The Aylesbury sort are i)ure 

 white. The plumage of the drakes of some of the wihl sorts which have 

 been domesticated, is very beautiful. A few ornamental ducks might bo 

 kept upon almost every farm, and furnished M'ith artiticial water. Wo 

 would never raise but a single brooil or two a year, except we had natural 

 water. A drake and pair of ducks, with their progeny, would cost but 

 little, and the amount of good they would do is incalculable. They arc 

 great destroyers of slugs, snails, worms, and all larvae; and if you should 

 sec an old duck pitch into a nest of young mice, you would learu what good 

 she can do in that way of ridding the farm of pests. 



