us 



in fattening. Potatoes mixed with Indian meal we have 

 found to be good, and all the bits of bread, boiled vege- 

 tables, etc., from the kitchen, are acceptable. 



Give Meat. — The avidity with which poultry devour 

 worms and insects, is a matter of common observation. 

 Mr. Reaumur, the distinguished French experimenter, 

 fed a hen entirely on worms for a fortnight, and she 

 seemed pleased with her fare, and grew fat. At first she 

 eat a pint a day, then increased to a quart, and then to 

 nearly three pints. In the winter, or when the fowls 

 are confined, and such food cannot be had, they should 

 be supplied with bits of meat, fish, or fat, to supply the 

 drain on their system of constant laying. They will eat 

 meat, either raw or cooked, without much preference. 

 Fresh fish scalded may be easily cut up for their use, 

 and will be eagerly eaten. They are fond of blood, and 

 when a companion is wounded, will peck at the wound 

 to procure the blood, and even when wounded them- 

 selves, will drink their own blood, if they can reach it. 



All salted food should be carefully avoided, and also 

 the throwing of bits of salt from the table into the 

 coop, which may prove fatal, and is a frequent cause of 

 sickness. 



Feed constantly. — The crop and stomach of poultry 

 are so formed that it will answer to feed tlieni once, 

 twice, or three times, a day, but it is better to keep food 

 before them ail the time. They should at all events have 

 a chance to fill their crops be/ore going to roost for the 

 night. If food, say a mixture of oats, barley and corn, 

 is kept before them all the time, in a feeder so contrived 

 that they cannot waste it, they will not eat much in the 

 early part of the day, but will fill their crops just at 

 night. Fowls are not such greedy eaters as might be 



