BEEEDING.] 



POULTRY. 



[INTEEBEEEDII70. 



layers, and the grey or chequered hens, more 

 particularly those with light-coloured legs, the 

 best sitters. 



When a hen is anxious to sit, she intimates 

 her desire by a peculiar kind of cluck, which 

 she continues, even after hatching, and until 

 ber brood no longer require her motherly care. 

 At this period the heat of her body is mate- 

 rially increased, which, no doubt, generates an 

 uneasy feeling, should it not be drawn off, 

 either by the gratification of natural desire, or 

 by artificial means. Should she not be desired 

 to sit, a common practice for allaying this heat 

 is immersion in cold water ; but to place her 

 in her coop, in some cool, quiet spot, where she 

 may look out upon the grass, is a much more 

 humane method of proceeding. 



Should doubts be entertained as to the 

 steadiness of the hen required to sit, she 

 should be tried for three or four days, by 

 having her placed on several eggs of little or 

 no value. If chickens are desired to be hatched 

 by some particular time, and there are no hens 

 cluclcing^ or ready to sit, the desire of incuba- 

 tion may be excited by stimulating food, such 

 as oatmeal porridge well boiled, seasoned with 

 Cayenne pepper ; toast, or dry bread, steeped 

 in good ale, or hard-boiled eggs, and fresh raw 

 meat cut small. The practice of plucking the 

 feathers, or using nettles, is a bad one, and far 

 less efficacious than cruel. 



There are some hens as constant in their 

 sitting as those we have been describing are 

 the reverse ; and birds possessing this tem- 

 perament will frequently sit until they half- 

 starve themselves, if not prevented. Mr. 

 Lawrence says, that he has had hens which, 

 under these circumstances, reduced themselves 

 to such a pitch of weakness as even to faint ; 

 and, after the chickens were hatched, to be so 

 weak as to be scarcely able to attend to them. 

 Quoting Mr. Eickardson, in a previous page, 

 we have observed, that the great point of 

 selection is the breed which it shall be deter- 

 mined to keep, and that this must be mainly 

 decided by circumstances; that the wealthy 

 amateur may do as he pleases, but that a 

 different rule must be the guide of those 

 who make poultry-keeping a matter of busi- 

 ness. This should always be borne in mind. 

 We recommend the farmer to coufiue his 

 stock to some one a2)proved hreed. 

 850 



INTERBREEDING. 



Whilst remarking on the selection of the 

 breed, we would observe, that in poultry, as well 

 as in all other classes of animals, an infusion of 

 different blood, so to speak, is necessary to 

 improve or prevent a degeneracy in the stock. 



For exhibition purposes, it has been allowed 

 that cross-breeding is of no avail ; but holding 

 the opinion that the exhibition of birds is only 

 a secondary consideration, when compared with 

 their commercial utility, a good primd facie 

 case may be made out how cross-breeding is 

 likely to be advantageously and profitably 

 pursued without interfering, in the slightest 

 degree, with those whose tastes confine them 

 to the production of pure-bred birds. 



The two great points to be desired in poultry, 

 are the increased production of eggs, and its own 

 improvement for the table. These are, perhaps, 

 the only legitimate grounds on which we can 

 justify ourselves in entering upon cross-breed- 

 ing. If either one or the other of these can be 

 obtained, it follows, as a matter of course, that 

 a great benefit will be conferred, especially 

 upon those who keep poultry when the latter 

 may be made to help to keep them. That 

 judicious cross-breeding does materially im- 

 prove the value — that is, the marketable value 

 — of many animals, is a well-established fact. 

 For example, a pure Southdown or Leicester 

 sheep is exceedingly valuable, but a cross 

 between the two is more valuable still : the 

 meat not only brings more per pound in the 

 market, but the quality of the wool is mate- 

 rially improved ; vrhile hardihood and early 

 maturity are not to be forgotten as important 

 considerations arising from this excellent cross. 

 Besides this argument, the cross will live and 

 fatten, where the pure-bred will starve and die. 

 The same argument holds good with cattle. 

 Many of the cross-breeds make what is called 

 "the best butchers' " beasts. If such is the 

 case, why may not poultry, judiciously crossed, 

 produce the most profitable varieties ? And 

 that they will do so we have not the smallest 

 doubt. 



To combine quality with size, of course, is 

 the great desideratum in table poultry. From 

 observation in such matters, the best birds to 

 start ivith are, perhaps, a cross between Co- 

 chins and Dorkings. A good cock of the first 



