GENERAL TREATMENT. 49 



previous season, should be mated with hens two 

 years old, and vice versd. 



The strongest chickens are to be obtained from 

 old hens, with a cockerel. Broods, however, from 

 these will be deficient in pullets ; such, at least, 

 has been my experience. 



Avoid breeding from fowls related to each 

 other. It is a baneful system, and results in 

 small, delicate ofi"spring, which easily falls a prey 

 to roup, leg weakness, and all the ills that 

 chickenhood is heir to. 



The cost of poultry keep may be considerably 

 lessened by the proceeds of an annual sale by auc- 

 tion, early in the year, before the breeding season, 

 and also by the disposal of single birds or matched 

 pens for exhibition at high prices. If the owner 

 is known as a prize-winner, the fowls will pro- 

 bably average L.l apiece at the sale, and are, con- 

 sequently, too valuable for the stock-can, which, 

 otherwise, must be the destination of all that 

 have passed chickenhood, and yet are unlikely to 

 prove prize-takers, or desirable to breed from. 



Aspic de voUaile, and even cock's combs, when 

 judiciously combined with oysters, trufQes, &c., 



D 



