CHAP, in.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 83 



ever, as an acknowledged breed, we shall 

 say, that the hardiest are of a middle size, 

 with short, white, silvery legs, and the cock 

 should be chosen of the darkest mottled 

 plumage, as nearly as possible like that of 

 the game-breed, and without any mixture 

 of white. The feebleness of constitution 

 which the white is supposed to denote in the 

 cock is not, however, a just objection to the 

 hen ; for chickens with white feathers are 

 generally considered more delicate in point 

 of flesh than those of darker plumage, and 

 we should not hesitate to breed from a hen 

 of good form, let her colour be what it might ; 

 for there are good and bad sitters of all 

 colours, which can be only known by ex- 

 perience. 



Whether the breed is pure or mongrel, 

 indeed, matters not, for they are more hardy 

 than other fowls and less dainty in their 

 food, which they industriously search for in 

 the farm-yard, the dung-heap, and the field ; 

 they are also more easily supported, thousands 

 of them being fed and fattened in Ireland 

 without any other given food than potatoes. 

 They produce more eggs than most other 



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