POULTRY AND EGGS. 229 



one o'clock, when the fowls may be given all they will eat, 

 which will be considerable after they are used to it. At the 

 same time give them a light feed of wheat and cracked corn, 

 which should be strewn among leaves or some kind of litter 

 that the fowls may get plenty of exercise in scratching for 

 their food. It is very important tliat they should indulge in 

 this afternoon exercise during the cold weather, as it is con- 

 ducive to their health and productiveness. Just before 

 dark, feed all the whole corn the fowls will eat, that they 

 may go to roost Avith well-filled crops of such food as will 

 digest slowly and last them well into the long winter nights. 

 The fowls should have constantly before them clean, fresh 

 water or milk, ground oyster-shells, and green food, such as 

 cabbages or raw turnips. With the above bill of fare and 

 regularly cleaned and ventilated quarters, the farmer will be 

 rewarded with a full egg-basket every night during the win- 

 ter. 



When the warm weather comes and the fowls are naturally 

 more vigorous, they will need feeding only twice daily, 

 morning and afternoon, and if they are allowed the range of 

 the farm, will need no supply of green food or vegetables; 

 but if at any time they are confined in yards or buildings, 

 these articles should fio^ure in their reijular diet. 



It is believed by many that if fowls are confined in yards 

 and supplied with green food, that their eggs will hatch as 

 well as when running at large ; but after repeated experi- 

 ments on this point, I find that eggs hatch much better and 

 that the chickens are much stron^-er when the brecdins:- 

 stock is allowed unlimited range. When the fowls are 

 given this privilege, the egg is constructed of such material 

 as nature intended it should be, and the nearer to nature we 

 can give our stock at this very important time the stronger 

 and more natural will be the germ in the egg. It is neces- 

 sary, in order that we may be successful in any business, that 

 we should start right and lay a proper foundation to build 

 upon. If the fowl is deprived of nature's food at the time 

 of breeding, the constituents of the egg will be difierent 

 from what they should be as food to nourish the embryo 

 chick in the shell. If the chick has been nourished l)y im- 

 perfect food during this early stage of its existence, it starts 



