POULTRY-HOUSES. 



VIEW OF QUEEN VICTOKIA'8 rOULTBY-HOUSr. 



CHAPTER II. 



POULTRY-HOUSES. 



"EVERY householder," said the late A. J. 

 Downing, " knows the value of good fresh eggs, 

 and an abundance of good fat poultry, the year 

 round. But few know how to obtain them with- 

 out having them cost twice as much as they are 

 worth. A hen is much like a fire-brand a 

 very fine thing in the right place. Like the 

 harpies of old, they are sure to defile all they 

 do not destroy. But with proper conveniences 

 for managing them, they are among the most 

 agreeable, profitable, and useful objects in coun- 

 try life. To children especially, fowls are ob- 

 jects of exceeding interest, and form an almost 

 necessary part of the means of developing the 

 moral and industrial energies of a country house- 

 hold. See that little fellow toppling along with 

 his cap full of eggs for ' Mamma,' or patting his 

 favorite chicken on its back. There is a whole 



' California' in the little fellow's heart show- 

 ing out through his eyes, and evinced in every 

 motion of his little body. He who will educate 

 a boy in the country without a 'chicken,' is al- 

 ready a semi-barbarian ; and he who leaves his 

 chickens to make a hen-roost of all things sa- 

 cred and profane, visible and invisible, is still 

 worse; to say nothing of the good housewife's 

 flower-patch in the garden, the very mention of 

 which excites no small fear of a shower of oven- 

 brooms and brickbats, while the whole welkin 

 rings again with the discordant 'shew-there!' 

 ' shew-there !' " 



Whether fowls are suffered to run at large, 

 or are confined, there should always be a poul- 

 try-house and yard where they can be regularly 

 fed. Previous, therefore, to getting a stock of 

 poultry, a place should be provided for them. 



