FOR CULINARY PURPOSES. Ill 



no Roosters" what an elegant word ! " give the Hens fresh 

 meat, chopped up like sausage-meat, once a day, a very small 

 portion, say half an ounce a day to each Hen during the win- 

 ter, or from the time insects disappear in the fall, till they ap- 

 pear again in spring. Never allow any Eggs to remain in the 

 nest for what is called Nest-eggs. When the Roosters do not 

 run with the Hens, and no Nest-eggs are left in the nest, the 

 Hens will not cease laying after the production of twelve or 

 fifteen Eggs, as they always do when Roosters and Nest-eggs 

 are allowed, but continue laying perpetually. My Hens lay 

 all winter, and each from seventy to one hundred Eggs in suc- 

 cession. If the above plan were generally followed, Eggs would 

 be just as plentiful in winter as in summer. The only reason 

 why Hens do not lay in winter as freely as in summer, is the 

 want of animal food, which they get in summer in the form of 

 insects. I have for several winters reduced my theory into 

 practice, and proved its entire correctness." 



No allowance is here made for the different laying and in- 

 cubating capabilities of different breeds of Fowls; and the 

 reader will be wise in hesitating before he consents to banish 

 Cocks from his poultry-yard and Nest-eggs from his hen-house. 

 The act of laying is not voluntary on the part of a Hen, but 

 is dependent upon her age, constitution, and diet. If she be 

 young, healthy, and well-fed, lay she must; if she be aged 

 and half-starved, lay she cannot. All that is left to her own 

 choice is, where she shall deposit her Egg, and she is some- 

 times so completely taken by surprise, as not to have her own 

 way even in that. The poultry-keeper, therefore, has only to 

 decide which is the more convenient ; that his Hens should 

 lay here and there, as it may happen, about his premises, or in 

 certain determinate places, indicated to the Hens by Nest-eggs. 

 It is quite a mistake to suppose that the presence of a Nest- 

 egg causes a Hen to sit earlier than she otherwise would. The 

 sight of twenty Nest-eggs will not bring on the hatching fever ; 



