224 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



who owns cnongli laud for a poultry yard, should uot have a 

 flock of poultry, aud make it profitable. The capital necessary 

 to start with, is within the reach of almost every one, and in 

 almost every family there is enough refuse food to feed a flock 

 of twenty fowls. The rearing would not only be a source of 

 profit and pleasure to the family, but would place at their 

 command a most desirable dish in warm weather, viz. : a tender 

 chicken, and be one of the best means, in our judgment, of 

 elevating themselves and families in the social scale. For the 

 benefit of this class of people, and all others who may wish 

 to enter upon the business of rearing poultry, we propose 

 briefly, to give a method of feeding and management, ■which 

 we think will insure success, provided the person who under- 

 takes it possesses a reasonable amount of intelligence and 

 common sense. 



1. It is essential that poultry should have pure air. Too 

 many should not be kept together, and the hen-house should be 

 well ventilated; having a southern exposure, if convenient; 

 and there should be as many windows as possible in the south 

 side, for the admission of the sun in winter. There should 

 also be a large yard connected with the house, where the fowls 

 should always be permitted to go in moderate weather. 



2. Pure water should be accessible to them at all times ; the 

 inside of the house should be kept well white-washed ; the floor — 

 which should always be ground — should be spread frequently 

 with a coating of loam or meadow muck ; and ashes or sand 

 should be furnished at all seasons of the year for the fowls to 

 wallow in. 



3. Avoid breeding in and in, and do not keep fowls that 

 are more than two years of age, except for the purpose of 

 rearing chickens. 



4. In rearing early chickens and turkeys, be careful to guard 

 them from exposure to cold and wet when young. 



5. The feed of poultry is a matter of great importance, and 

 much might be said in relation to it, but we shall be obliged to 

 touch upon it very lightly, as this report is already much too 

 long. 



We would say, first, give them the potato peelings, crumbs, 

 &c., from the table, and, in fact, all the refuse food, that 

 is usually thrown to the hogs. In addition to the above. 



