4 . Cottage Foivls. 



"It becomes/' says Miss Harriet Martineau, " an interest- 

 ing wonder every year why the rural cottagers of the United 

 Kingdom do not rear fowls almost universally, seeing how 

 little the cost would be and how great the demand. We 

 import many millions of eggs annually. Why should we 

 import any ? Wherever there is a cottage family living 

 on potatoes or better fare, and grass growing anywhere 

 near them, it would be worth while to nail up a little pent- 

 house, and make nests of clean straw, and go in for a 

 speculation in eggs and chickens. Seeds, worms, and 

 insects go a great way in feeding poultry in such places ; 

 and then there are the small and refuse potatoes from the 

 heap, and the outside cabbage leaves, and the scraps of all 

 sorts. Very small purchases of broken rice (which is 

 extremely cheap), inferior grain, and mixed meal, would do 

 all else that is necessary. There would be probably larger 

 losses from vermin than in better guarded places ; but these 

 could be well afforded as a mere deduction from considerable 

 gains. It is understood that the keeping of poultry is 

 largely on the increase in the country generally, and even 

 among cottagers ; but the prevailing idea is of competition 

 as to races and specimens for the poultry-yard, rather than 

 of meeting the demand for eggs and fowls for the table." 



With the exception of prizes for Dorkings, which are 

 chiefly bred for market, our poultry-shows have always 

 looked upon fowls as if they were merely ornamental birds, 

 and have framed their standards of excellence accordingly, 

 and not with any regard to the production of profitable 

 poultry, which is much to be regretted. 



Martin Doyle, the cottage economist of Ireland, in his 

 "Hints to Small Holders," observes that " a few cocks and 

 hens, if they be prevented from scratching in the garden, 

 are a useful and appropriate stock about a cottage, the 

 warmth of which causes them to lay eggs in winter no 

 trifling advantage to the children when milk is scarce. The 

 French, who are extremely fond of eggs, and contrive to 

 have them in great abundance, feed the fowls so well on 

 curds and buckwheat, and keep them so warm, that they 

 have plenty of eggs even in winter. Now, in our country 



