VALUE OF PEPPERS TO FOWLS. 223 



select the mineral substances which they require. Hence an artificial 

 supply becomes necessary. How shall this be given? By placing 

 the articles within their reach, so that they may take, voluntarily, 

 just the quantity to which they are prompted by nature. Place 

 slacked lime, broken into pieces the size of peas, on shelves, where 

 the fowls can readily pick it up. By slacking lime in a vessel, in 

 considerable water, so that it will form a paste, and letting it dry, it 

 can readily be pounded into the desired form, to suit the fowls best. 

 Ex. 



During the last season, Mr. Joseph Wilcox, of this town, having 

 occasion to administer lime watev to a sick horse, inadvertently left a 

 pail of the preparation in his barn, which remained there for some 

 months, serving as a favorite drink for his hens. He soon afterwards 

 found that the laying of his hens was apparently increased to a con- 

 siderable extent. Being convinced of the importance of the (to him) 

 new discovery, he has, during the present season, kept his hens con- 

 stantly supplied with lime water, placed in troughs within their con- 

 venient access, and the result was an increase in eggs of nearly four 

 fold, as compared with previous experience. 



He 'is willing to share the benefit of the experiment with hia 

 neighbors, if they choose to try it, and hence this publication. The 

 newness of the discovery, (though it may not now be new to all,) is 

 claimed only as applicable to the mode of imparting the lime in this 

 case ; its use in another form for the same purpose, having been pre- 

 viously understood by many. Wayne Sentinel. 



There is no evidence that the lime caused the hens to lay, in 

 the above case. I think that lime furnished in old mortar is 

 sufficient, taken from walls that are being removed. 



VALUE OF RED PEPPERS TO POULTRY. 



The value of red peppers in the food of poultry, occasionally, 

 does not admit of a doubt. The following is clipped from one 

 of the journals of the day : 



I do a small business in raising and putting up garden seeds. One 

 year ago last fall, as I was clearing out some red pepper seeds in my 

 back yard, I threw the shucks and chaff promiscuously about. I 

 soon observed my hens picking them up and swallowing them with 

 great avidity. They soon commenced laying eggs, though they had 

 laid none for a month. I fed them regularly two or three times a 

 week, since then, with red pepper, and they have never stopped 

 laying, summer or winter, spring or fall, except while they were 

 hatching 'their chickens ; and I am confident, from more than a year's 

 experience, that by this method, hens may be made to lay the year 

 round. 



