284 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



removed to the main quarters to console themselves as best 

 they might for the unnatural conduct of their children. 



And now, about Leghorns, of whose adaptability to 

 Florida we can speak very favorably. The Leghorns, 

 both white, brown, Dominique, and black, are excellent 

 chickens, especially if the chief object desired is the great- 

 est quantity of fair-sized eggs. 



The white Leghorns, especially, are great layers, from 

 one hundred and fifty to two hundred eggs per annum be- 

 ing their allotted number, nine being required to make a 

 pound. 



The Leghorns mature early, usually in from four to five 

 months ; not having so far to go in size and v/eight, as the 

 Bramahs or Houdans, they naturally finish their growing 

 journey a little earlier. 



Hamburgs, Polish, and Black Spanish are good layers; 

 but the chicks are delicate, and their points of excellence 

 are so fully equaled by the other breeds named, that have 

 likewise superior hardiness and size, that it does not pay to 

 raise them for profit. 



A great deal has been said during the last few years of 

 the comparatively new breed, Plymouth Rock, which is a 

 cross between the old-fashioned Dominique and the Black 

 Java, a breed now almost extinct in the United States ; it 

 has the gray color of the Dominique Avith the single comb 

 and yellow legs of the Java. 



The good points of the Plymouth Rocks are these : they 

 are hardy, they are of good size, the cocks weighing from 

 eight to nine pounds, the hens from five to eight pounds ; 

 their flesh is short-grained, juicy, and tender. 



The hens are good setters, albeit happily they do not 

 "take a notion" to set so frequently as many other breeds ; 

 good mothers are they also, but not equal to the Bramahs ; 

 of eggs they lay from one hundred to one hundred and 



