FOWLS, TABLE AND MARKET. 183 



or Plymouth Rock hens, with Asiatic cocks and game cocks, 

 on the cross-bred pullets of the first or second generation, 

 make capital broilers, and could be depended upon, with 

 care in raising and marketing, to build up the reputation of 

 any farm. 



Broilers are usually marketed alive. The best shipping 

 crate has close sides, the bottom slatted, and a full inch in 

 the clear above the ground, the sides descending past the 

 slat bottom so that the crate rests on them. Thus the 

 ordure falls through, and, if a chicken's leg gets through, it 

 will not be hurt. They should not be crowded overmuch, 

 should have water supplied by one or two old fruit cans in 

 the corners, and a broad slat having thin laths on each 

 side of it may form a sort of pan on the top for feed. 

 They soon learn to crane their necks and eat out of it. If 

 bred solely for the table, that is, not for sale, the more 

 game blood on the hen's side the better ; and for the cock 

 one may choose between the French breeds and the Dork- 

 ings. 



I would put a good large game cock at the head of a flock 

 of common hens one year ; the next year I would breed him 

 to his own daughters, for thus I would secure the greatest 

 degree of prepotency. Then, — though the next cross would 

 no doubt give better results, — I would set off a flock for 

 raising broilers, and would use, say, a pure gray or white 

 Dorking of large size, with the grade game hens and pullets 

 produced as described. I have raised such birds. They 

 are large, or at least above medium size, small-boned, 

 heavy, full-breasted, built like a partridge, thrifty, great 

 feeders, easy keepers, always ready to be taken up for the 

 table, though perhaps not fat, and as broilers the best, by 

 far, that I ever picked the bones of. 



I have no doubt that, for market, a crossing of larger 

 breeds may make more profitable returns, unless, as I have 

 already intimated, a very discriminating market has been 

 formed or found. 



*'rALL CHICKENS." 



There is a period in the life of a chicken when it is too big 

 to broil and not fat enough to roast ; when, for our own 



