IN THE POULTRY YARD. 149 
from the eggs of my best hens, yet I was able to get several very 
fine broods in April and May. 
It is a well known fact that a hen that gets her comb or wattles 
frozen, will cease to lay until the sores are healed. I found that 
fowls with rose-combs, as they are called, were much less liable to 
freezing than those with large single combs, and one of my greatest 
objections to the Brown Leghorns, is their enormous combs, which 
are not only long, but very thick and-fleshy. But I found that a 
young bird that had been “ dubbed,” as the cock-fighters call it, 
stood the frost much better than even the: rose-comb. After the 
first winter, therefore, I “dubbed” all my fowls—that is to say, I 
cut the combs and wattles off with a pair of shears. The pain can- 
not.be very: great—not nearly.so much as the large sores caused 
by ,being frost-bitten, and the operation is easily and quickly per- 
formed. A single cut removes the entire comb, and the wound is 
then dusted, with a powder made by roasting one part of sulphate 
of iron, and three parts of alum in an old -pot. This mixture is 
then reduced to a-fine powder, and kept in a closely corked bot- 
tle. A little is put in-a small -box, and used as wanted. It is an 
old and famous styptic (a: medicine for stopping bleeding), and was 
in great request amongst the warriors -of old, who were often com- 
pelled to be their own surgeons. Care must be taken that it does 
not get into the eyes of the birds, or bad results will follow. 
While hens frequently stop laying in very cold weather, it was 
long ago proved by Reaumur that mere warmth will not induce a 
hen to keep on laying during winter. In laying, as in all similar 
physiological processes, a period of rest is needed, and without this 
ordinary breeds of hens cannot lay. Knight proved this law, even 
in regard to plants, and showed that if we want to force plants 
successfully, we must first give them a season of rest, and this may 
be done by shading, cold and dryness. I have always thought 
that a large part of my success in getting eggs the first winter, was 
due tothe fact that the hens stopped laying after I got them, and 
hence had their needed rest at that time. 
That cold alone ctoes not prevent hens from laying was clearly 
shown this spring. In February and March the weather was 
