CHAP. VI.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 151 



more meal and saccharine matter than oats. 

 But we must observe that the advice given by 

 all our writers to give the best barley to our 

 poultry is ill-judged ; for the " best barley," 

 being used for malting, always bears a high 

 price, whereas that which is discoloured, and 

 unfit for malt, is far cheaper, although con- 

 taining an equal quantity of nutriment. 



Supposing barley to be the food, we have 

 seen, according to the experiments of M. de 

 Reaumur, that a full-grown fowl, of the 

 largest ordinary size, will not eat daily more 

 than a quarter of a pint of any sort of corn. 

 In fact, his whole stock, consisting of 300 

 head of every sort — fowls, turkeys, ducks, and 

 geese, were only allowed at that rate per day ; 

 and he states that if confined to fowls only, 

 that quantity would have been fully sufficient 

 for 360. Indeed Mr. Holland, of Aberdeen, 

 whose poultry-yard we have described, esti- 

 mates the quantity of corn for the annual 

 supply of 130 fowls at only 15 quarters of 

 oats, which is not quite a bushel each ; and 

 we know, from other sources, that it is consi- 

 dered an ample allowance, if accompanied with 

 the run of a stable-yard and a paddock. 



