Choice of Breed. 75 



CHAPTER VIII. 



STOCK, BREEDING, AND CROSSING. 



KEEP only good, healthy, vigorous, well-bred fowls, 

 whether you keep them to produce eggs or chickens, or 

 both. The ill-bred mongrel fowls which are so commonly 

 kept, are the most voracious, and consume larger quan- 

 tities of food, without turning it to any account ; while 

 well-bred fowls eat less, and quickly convert that into fat, 

 flesh, and eggs. "Large, well-bred fowls," says Mr. 

 Edwards, " do not consume more food than ravenous, 

 mongrel breeds. It is the same with fowls as with other 

 stock. I have at this moment two store pigs, one highly 

 bred, the other a rough, ill-bred animal. They have, 

 since they left their mothers, been fed together and upon 

 the same food. The former, I am confident (from observa- 

 tion), ate considerably less than the latter, which was parti- 

 cularly ravenous. The former pig, however, is in excellent 

 condition, kind, and in a measure fat ; whereas the latter 

 looks hard, starved, and thin, and I am sure she will require 

 one-third more food to make bacon of." 



For the amateur who is content with eggs and chickens, 

 and does not long for prize cups, excellent birds possessing 

 nearly all the best characteristics of their breeds, but ren- 

 dered imperfect by a few blemishes, may be purchased at 

 a small cost, and will be as good layers or chicken-pro- 

 ducers, and answer his purpose as well as the most expensive 

 that can be bought. 



The choice of breed must depend upon the object for 

 which the fowls are kept, whether chiefly for eggs or to 

 produce chickens, or for both; the climate, soil, and 

 situation ; the space that can be allotted to them ; and the 

 amount of attention that can be devoted to their care. It' 

 fowls are to be bred for exhibition, you must be guided by 



