184 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



use, we prefer to let it go on living and growing for a while, 

 and take an old fowl for the table, which, roasted if fat and 

 not too old, or boiled or friccaseed if it has reached an 

 uncertain age of probable toughness, nevertheless makes 

 capital soup, at any rate, and probably a very tender, savory 

 dish besides, if well cooked. There is a time every autumn 

 when the market is nearly bare of poultry, and then plump 

 old hens, not over two years old, nicely dressed, sell very 

 well ; and, if buyers know how to treat them, recognizing 

 the fact that they are " no chickens," there will be no hard 

 feelings towards either breeder or poulterer. 



It is hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that 

 chickens are of two sexes ; nevertheless, in most farm-^^ards, 

 and indeed in most poultry yards, they are treated as if they 

 were of the neuter gender. 



This is a mistake. As soon as chickens make the dis- 

 covery themselves, the cockerels ought to be separated, 

 given a coop with a large, roomy yard, and well fed. The 

 time is indicated with sufficient accuracy by their getting 

 their voice, crowing no longer in the hoarse way of ambi- 

 tious chicks, but with the tone and ringing accent of " bold 

 chanticlere." 



Such cockerels, as soon as they get their- full plumage, 

 fatten readily, though they grow rapidly, and do not become 

 really very fiit before they nearly gain their full growth. 

 They make, when well fattened, the so-called " virgin 

 cocks," so much prized by epicures, and really worthy to be 

 ranked as equal to capons, or fat pullets, of the late winter 

 and spring. 



If the cockerels kept by themselves will bring a higher 

 price at Christmas, or before, it will certainly pay to coop 

 them, for the rest of the flock do much better for their 

 absence. The separation will occur when the hens are get- 

 ting through their moulting, when, if well fed and not 

 fattened, they will soon begin to lay, and pullets often fol- 

 low suit. 



It does not pay to market pullets while there are plenty 

 of cockerels in the market, for they are much smaller and 

 no fatter, and most buyers take them for small hens ; hence 

 it is best to give them the same kind of food as the laying 



