CHAP, v.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 127 



of which they may occasionally drink, affords 

 the hest food that can be desired for your 

 infant brood of chickens. 



"As they grow older, they may be occasion- 

 ally fed with boiled grains of barley or shelled 

 oats. Within seventy days a chicken will be 

 in a fit condition to be carried to market. 

 During five weeks of this time, it will be able 

 to pick up part of its own food, without trouble 

 or cost to you. I have in fact found that 

 three pounds of meal, flour, or grain, of such 

 a sort as does not cost more than a penny a 

 pound — 'Or to the farmer or cottager each not 

 so much — with water, and with what other 

 fare the little creature can find for itself, will 

 feed and fatten a chicken suiBciently, from 

 the time of its bursting the shell till that of 

 its being at a growth and in a condition 

 suitable for its being carried to market. An- 

 other penny is a sufficient allowance for the 

 attention and labour its rearing requires. The 

 prime cost of the egg might be one halfpenny. 

 Thus, even in the vicinity of any great town, 

 a chicken which shall bring 2d. or rather Is. 

 in the market, and is, in comparison with 

 other things, worth as much for the use of 



