MOULTING. 41 



cure, by Thomas Young, a publication replete with 

 good things, on the interesting subjects of eating, 

 wines, spirits, beer, cider, planting, &c. It is written 

 with haut gout. 



Every succeeding year after the third, the hen 

 continues to MOULT later in the season, and laying 

 fewer or no eggs during the moulting period, which 

 is sometimes protracted to two or three months. It 

 should seem that old hens are seldom to be depended 

 upon for eggs in the winter, such being scarcely full 

 of feather until Christmas ; and then, probably, may 

 not begin to lay till April, producing at last not 

 more than twenty or thirty eggs. In general, it is 

 most profitable to dispose of hens whilst they are 

 yet eatable, or saleable for that purpose, which is in 

 the spring of the third year. Nor do delicate white 

 hens lay so many eggs in the cold season, as the more 

 hardy coloured varieties, the former requiring warmth 

 and shelter, particularly by night. MOULTING, or the 

 casting and renewal of feathers, lasts, with its effects, 

 from one to three months, according to the age and 

 strength of the bird. Whilst under this natural course, 

 poultry are unfit for the table, as well as for breed- 

 ing. It is the same with respect to young poultry, 

 whilst shedding their feathers in the spring. The 

 regular moulting of full-grown fowls begins in the 

 autumn. 



Attention during Incubation. 



There is this DISTINCTION in the hen : in some, 

 the desire of sitting or incubation is predominant, 

 which they will repeat to the fifth or sixth time in 



