TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 31 



SECTION V. 



Feeding Chickens — -an Exposition of the unreasonable and exorbitant Prices 

 of Poultry at St. Helena, in 1811. 



" It is stated by Mr. Jackson, in the sixth volume of the Com- 

 mercial, Agricultural, and Manufacturer's Magazine, that he has 

 found that three pounds of meal, flour, or grain, of such a sort 

 as does not cost more than one penny a pound, or to the farmer 

 and cottager not even so much, with water, and what other fare 

 the little creature can find for itself, will feed and fatten a chicken 

 sufficiently from the time of its bursting the shell, until that of its 

 being of a growth, and in a condition, suitable for its being car- 

 ried to market. And that the allowance of another penny is 

 sufficient for the attention and labour which its rearing requires. 

 The prime cost of the egg may be one halfpenny. Thus he con- 

 ceives that even in the vicinity of any great town, a chicken that 

 shall bring ninepence, or rather one shilling, in the market, and 

 is, in comparison with other tilings, worth as much for the use of 

 your own table, whether you be a rich or poor man, may be pro- 

 duced and reared at the expense of fourpence halfpenny." 



The above is an Extract from Mr. Dickson's Complete Body 

 of Agriculture, page 1209, and may be deserving the attention of 

 those Avho are in the habits of rearing poultry in this island. — It 

 will also serve to shew that 15 to 20 shillings for a middle sized 

 fowl, and 25 shillings for a duck, where grain is about twopence 

 per pound, must be a pretty profitable trade. 



27th June, 1811. 



