146 SPANGLED POLAND FOWLS. 



dred per cent on the capital invested, and may be easily secured by 

 any family living in the open country. A dozen hens may run at large, 

 except in seeding and harvest time, if well fed, without doing much 

 damage. Experience proves that this kind of fowl are able to supply 

 themselves with what they require for constant laying, except food, if 

 allowed their liberty on broken ground; but if confined, they must 

 be furnished with all they can consume of grain, water, lime, gravel, 

 and a little meat or fat, once a day to do well. 



W. 



The following is selected from one of the Agricultural jour- 

 nals : 



"My fowls are of the Poland variety, full-blooded, jet black, except 

 the top-knot, and sometimes two partly white feathers in the tail of 

 the cock. I have eight hens. They have laid between six and seven 

 hundred eggs, from March 1st to September, and raised twenty-four 

 chickens. Being engaged in building an addition to my house, my 

 poultry record was lost for a time in August, so I cannot give the 

 exact mimber of eggs. But it will be within the bounds of truth, to 

 say that the seven hens, laid six hundred eggs between March and 

 September, and raised twenty-four chickens. The early chickens 

 commenced laying in November, and have continued to lay until the 

 present time, with the exception of about five weeks in the coldest 

 weather. Early chickens, at maturity, make much larger fowls than 

 late ones. 



" The cost of keeping my hens has been forty cents per year, each. 

 Living in a village, I keep them housed until four o'clock in the after- 

 noon, when they have the run of a yard, and are shut up at night. I 

 usually feed screenings, at twenty five cents per bushel, and corn at 

 forty-five to fifty cents. My early spring chickens weigh from three 

 to three and a half pounds in the fall, when dressed. I have now 

 twenty-four hens, and expect to revel in fat eggs all the year." 



SPANGLED POLAND FOWLS. 



This is a beautiful variety of ornamental fowls. Richardson 

 speaks of them as follows : 



"The Spangled Polands are a bird of extraordinary beauty, 

 extremely scarce, and very difficult to be procured. This fowl presents 

 a symmetrical and regular combination of the following colors, viz: 

 A bright orange, a clear white, a brilliant green, and a jetty black, 

 softened down with a rich and pure brown, every feather being tipped 

 with white, so as to produce the effect whence has been derived the 

 term of SPANGLED. The color of the hen is a prevailing golden yellow, 

 with white spangles, like the cock. In the cock, the thighs are black, 

 and are, likewise, though in a less degree, marked and spangled with 

 black, and golden yellow. The hinder end of the body is furnished 

 with green and orange-brown hackles, and the tail is carried well up. 



