82 ^OOD. 



plenty of lime and mortar rubbish in your yards, small stonei, 

 and so on, your fowls, even in confinement, ■will be able to 

 digest a small portion of grain each, day. I am well aware that 

 many poultry-fanciers say cook all food, but I am certain that too 

 much moistened food is not altogether good. I can only sjjeak 

 from my own experience, and I never found the creatures tmder 

 my care suffer from eating small whole uncooked grain once a 

 day. 



The gizzard is a most powerful grinding-mlll, being composed 

 of very thick muscles, and lined with a tough insensible coria- 

 ceous men^brane. The two largest muscles which form the 

 grinding, apparatus are placed opposite each other, face to face, 

 just like two millstones', and they working on esioh other grind 

 to a pulp the food which Is subjected to their action and break 

 ,it down until it is in a fit state to be acted upon by the gastric 

 juice, which softens the graip. Until, however, it has gone 

 through Nature's grinding-mill the gastric juicers have no power 

 upon it to render it solvent. By giving food constantly which 

 does not require the action of this apparatus upon it to render it 

 wholesome we run the risk of injuring it by inaction : this surely 

 stands to reason. In the case of chickens even a little very 

 : small grain should be given, that while the gizzard is growing 

 it may have something to act upon, and no grain is.so good for 

 ,this purpose as the tailings of wheat before-mentioned. 



It is a bad practice to underfeed poultry, or, in fact, any 

 young stock ; but, on the contrary, do not waste food ; scatter it 

 for them, and when they cease to run after it stop feeding them, 

 is a fairly good rule to go by. It is said that one full-grown 

 bird will eat h3,lf-a-pint of ^ain each day, because, though it 

 may not positively consume that amount of grain— what with 

 meal-scraps, green stuff, &c. — ^it consumes food to< about that 

 value. 



