HOME SURROUNDINGS. l69 



one inch apart ; this will allow necessary ventilation and 

 yet be tight enough to prevent the inroads of marauding 

 skunks and 'possums, both of which are sufficiently bold 

 and numerous to render precaution desirable. Balked of 

 their prey by other means, they will even condescend to 

 "grub" for it, and if bottom boards are not sunk a few 

 inches in the ground, will dig below the slats and effect an 

 entrance. But with the precautions named and a tight 

 roof, not an open one as some of the old natives will con- 

 tend for, you may snap your fingers at the four footed ene- 

 mies of your feathered property ; and, if there be any near 

 neighbors of the "colored persuasion," whose love for 

 chickens is proverbial, a padlock will put an effectual stop 

 to their nocturnal depredations. 



Fowls of all kinds, and almost all breeds, do well in 

 Florida, and there is very little sickness among them. 

 More on this subject anon. 



Hawks make sad havoc sometimes among young broods 

 that are allowed to have free range ; but if kept in a small 

 yard made for that purpose and Avith strings running across 

 it here and there, high enough not to interfere with any 

 one walking there, no haw^k will make way with the young 

 chicks. It is a singular fact that a hawk will not fly down 

 below a string. In our own experience we lost dozens of 

 our downy little pets until, learning of this device, we 

 adopted it, and thenceforth not a single hawk swooped 

 down into the chicken-yard. The chicks were kept there, 

 protected by the strings, until about three months old, 

 when they were turned out upon the world big enough and 

 strong enough to take care of themselves. 



And now for the present we are done rambling out of 

 doors, and shall proceed to look around inside and discuss 

 the question so perplexing to settlers, "Of what to bring, 

 and what not to bring " for household and for personal use. 



