358 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



great improvements wanting to almost all the modern systems of fattening 

 animals are, arrangements for allowing them to take abundance of exercise 

 while they are fattening, and supplying them with a greater variety of food, 

 and especially of aromatic kinds. 



436. Poultry. — Next to the kitchen-garden, there is no accompaniment of 

 a country residence that contributes more to the comforts of its inhabitants 

 than the poultry-yard ; and, considerable as these comforts are, if the manage- 

 ment of poultry were properly understood, they might be greatly increased. 

 It is not our intention, in this article, to go at length into the subject, because 

 it would occupy more space than we can afford, and, indeed, would be less 

 useful as a guide, than some of those small popular works devoted entirely to 

 the subject, which may be readily procured. One of the latest of these is 

 entitled Ornamental and Domestic Poultry ; their History and Alanagement. 

 By the Rev. E. S. Dixon; published in 1849. In order to determine the 

 principles on which poultry-houses should be constructed, it is necessaiy to 

 bear in mind that domestic fowls are natives of different countries and 

 climates ; that some are aquatic, and, consequently, have very different 

 habits from those that naturally perch on trees or other lofty objects ; that, in 

 a state of subjection to man, they are, like other domesticated animals, liable 

 to more diseases than when they are in a wild state, and that these diseases 

 are generally incurable by art; and, finally, that they may be stimulated by 

 rich food and heat, so as to produce eggs earlier, and in greater abundance, 

 than they ever do in a wild state, or in cold seasons, in a state of domestica- 

 tion ; while, on the contrary, the season of laying may be retarded by scanty 

 food, and cold. Experience has shown that the taste of the flesh of fowls 

 depends very much on the quality of the food which they eat. Musty or 

 damaged grain, of any kind, will communicate a peculiar taste to the flesh of 

 the common fowl, the goose, the turkey, or the duck, that has been fed on it, 

 however carefully it may be dressed by the cook. All the diffei-ent species of 

 poultry are exceedingly pugnacious, not only with other species, but even 

 with their own kind ; and all fowls, except the aquatic, have the greatest 

 dislike to damp, and suffer sooner from it than from any other cause. All 

 fowls are more or less omnivorous, and thej- consequently require, not only 

 corn and green vegetables, but insects, worms, and similar vermin, or the 

 flesh of animals minutely divided, so as to serve as a substitute for these 

 objects. The most remarkable circumstance connected with the common 

 fowl is, that, though it is domesticated in every part of Europe, it is a native 

 of the warmest parts of Asia ; and from this circumstance, independently 

 of other considerations, it requires greater warmth in its lodging-place than 

 either the duck or the goose, which are natives of Europe ; or the turkey, 

 which is a native of Nox-th America. Hence, the necessity of having a 

 sepai'ate house for every kind of fowl which is to occupy the poultry-yard, 

 unless we except one or two kinds of similar natures, such as the duck and 

 the goose, which, in some cases, may lodge in the same building. 



437. The poultry-yard. — The situation of the poultry-yard should be open 

 and airy, but at the same time thoroughly sheltered from the prevailing winds 

 of the locality, and, in England, more especially, from the north, north-east, 

 and north-west. In general, the best situation is one which slopes to the 

 south-east, with the poultry-houses in the upper part, with water for the 

 aquatic fowls in the lower part, and a lofty open shed, in a central position, 



