CHAP. X.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 221 



their sheds in a manner which would suppose 

 them to be familiar to the yeomanry, yet 

 it is only comparatively of late years that 

 they have been in anything like what we 

 should call general use, and even at this day 

 they are scarce in both Ireland and Scotland. 

 We well recollect that, forty years ago, their 

 regular price at all London poulterers was 

 half-a-guinea each, whereas now they can be 

 bought for five or six shillings : a diminution 

 certainly not arising from any objection to 

 them on the part of purchasers, but from the 

 dealers having overcome the unfounded preju- 

 dice regarding their supposed tenderness, and 

 consequently rearing them more largely. We 

 indeed doubt not that, were it not for the 

 difficulty of conquering the wildness of their 

 nature, and the trouble which it occasions, 

 they would be as plentiful in our markets 

 as any other species of our poultry ; for, so 

 far from their being constitutionally delicate, 

 they will roost throughout the winter upon 

 the highest trees, and are in fact, when full 

 grown, more hardy than the common fowl. 

 When very young, they are, indeed, rather 

 tender ; but the assertions made by a late 



