224 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



be kept to. Then the breeder must apjjly 

 himself to improve the species, bearing in 

 mind that all hens will nut la_\- from one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred and eighty 

 eggs, as the advertisers endeavor to make us 

 think, and also that out of every five hundred 

 eggs half will produce cocks. On large poultry 



young and old. It is composed of shell, skin, 

 white of egg, and )dlk, the latter a fatty, j'ellow 

 substance. As human food an egg does not 

 contain (as often stated) as much nourishment 

 as half a pound of meat ; it would take si.x or 

 seven eggs for that. The white contains eighty- 

 five per cent of water, the yolk fifty-one per 



Plymouth Rocks 



farms where different breeds are kept it is 

 usual to divide their yard with wire netting, 

 giving to each species a run of its own. 



Hens are raised for their eggs. The egg 

 that the fowl produces, from which a fowl 

 issues in turn, is, next to milk, man's best 

 food, the most strengthening, the purest, the 

 most unadulterable, the most healthful for 



cent of water and thirt)--one per cent of fat. 

 A hen's egg, analyzed chemically, contains in 

 addition thirteen per cent of albumen, twelve 

 per cent of fat, and no hydrate of carbon, 

 which sufficiently proves that it could never 

 serve exclusively for human food. 



The shell is composed of phosphoric acid, 

 chalk, iron, sulphur, and gluten. It is proper 



