GENERAL TREATMENT. 



57 



black legs, narrow breasts, and twisted breast- 

 bones, certainly possessing a superabundance of 

 tail, but that adornment goes for little in the 

 cook's eye. These miserable results are by no 

 means the consequence of want of food; a farm 

 yard is the paradise of poultry, and nowhere can 

 they live in greater comfort or plenty. It is just 

 because the birds want frame, on which to put 

 flesh and fat; bone is deficient; and all the lap's 

 full of oats, barley, and wheat, which the far- 

 mer's wife may filch for them from the gude- 

 man's barn, are wasted on a worthless crew. 

 Let the farmer test the merits of my advice by 

 his own practical experience, and I am not afraid 

 of an adverse opinion. Poultry ought to pay 

 him, if anybody; they have the advantage of the 

 gleanings of the stack-yard, and at times are 

 almost independent of any extra feeding. Should 

 the farmer be an exhibitor, he must, of course, 

 submit to some expense in carrying out his 

 hobby. High feeding must then be the rule. 

 Exhibition fowls require more than ordinary 

 care and trouble. Money may have been in- 

 vested in the purchase of prize pens, at enhanced 



