KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



333 



part of " tutor." Even at this tender age, 

 their little throats will be found full of 

 music ! They begin quite piano, their early 

 notes being called " recording." Like the 

 mind of a child, they are open to the earliest 

 impressions, and readily copy, or imitate, 

 whatever they hear. Hence, the great im- 

 portance of putting them out to a good 

 V preparatory school." Train them up in 

 the way they should go, and you will find 

 that the saying of the " Wise Man " applies 

 even to the feathered race. We are indeed 

 amazed to think, how very ignorant we re- 

 main in things that ought now to be univer- 

 sally understood ! 



( To be Continued.} 



POULTRY. 



The Dorking Fowl. 



However reluctant those concerned with 

 poultry may be to acknowledge the fact, it is 

 not the less true that most old women who live 

 in cottages, know better how to rear chickens 

 than any other persons'; they are more successful, 

 and ic may be traced to the fact, that they keep 

 but few fowls, that these fowls are allowed to 

 run freely in the house, to roll in the ashes, to 

 approach the fire, and to pick up any crumbs or 

 eatable morsels they may find on the ground, 

 and are nursed with the greatest care and 

 indulgence. 



I believe the grey or speckled Dorking to be 

 the best fowl there is for the table; and, as the 

 first^ consideration is the breeding stock, I would 

 advise, in an ordinary farm-yard, to begin with 

 twelve hens and two cocks; the latter should 

 agree well together. 



Too much pains cannot be taken in selecting 

 the breeding fowls ; they should not only be of 

 the best breed, but the best of the breed. I 

 would choose them with small heads, taper necks, 

 broad shoulders, square bodies, white legs, and 

 well-defined five claws on each foot. Touch- 

 ing the claws, I would remark, it will sometimes 

 happen that breeding from cock and pullet, each 

 five-clawed, chickens will come, lacking that 

 distinctive mark ; it does not follow there is any 

 fault in the breed, as the produce of these 

 chickens will probably be five-clawed, but I 

 would only tolerate it in home-bred chickens; 

 in buying for stock, I would insist not only on 

 the presence of the five claws but on every other 

 characteristic of the breed being prominent. 



It may be well here to state why the speckled, 

 or grey, are to be preferred to the white dorking. 

 They are larger, hardier, and fat more readily ; 

 and although it may appear anomalous, it is not 

 less true that white-feathered poultry has a ten- 

 dency to yellowness in the flesh and fat. 



Having the stock, the next point will be breed- 

 ing. I am a great advocate for choosing young 

 birds for this purpose, and with that view would 

 advise that perfect early pullets be selected every 

 year for stock the following season, and put with 

 two-year old cocks ; for instance, pullets hatched 

 in May, they attain their growth and become 

 perfect in shape, size, and health, before the 



chills of winter. They should be put with cocks 

 of two years old, when they will lay on the first 

 appearance of mild weather, and their produce 

 has the same advantage as these have had before 

 them. I do not advocate having young stock 

 fowls so much on account of their laying early as 

 I do for the superiority of their breeding. 

 Neither do I approve of breeding from fowls all 

 the same age, i. e., all chickens. I would put a 

 cock, for his first season, with two-year old hens. 

 A pullet, such as I describe, will often begin to 

 lay directly after Christmas, but I would not 

 allow her to sit her first eggs; they seldom pro- 

 duce good chickens, and if the weather (as fre- 

 quently happens) prove unfavorable, many of 

 the eggs fail to hatch. The second sitting, pro- 

 bably, brings the best fowls. The pullet will 

 ever breed. It is well to introduce fresh cocks, 

 of pure breed, into the yard every second year, 

 or third at the latest ; this prevents degeneracy, 

 and, for the same reason, no cock should be kept 

 more than three seasons, nor hen more than four, 

 if it is intended to keep them in the highest pos- 

 sible perfection and efficiency. 



Of hatching I will say very little, as the hen 

 will do that naturally, and, consequently, well. 

 A hen will cover and hatch fifteen eggs ; all nests 

 should be on the ground, and the hens should be 

 watched, else, when a sitting hen has left her 

 nest for a short time, another will steal in and 

 lay among the eggs already set on ; this is an 

 evil, as it causes irregular and imperfect hatch- 

 ing; it unsettles the hen, and the chickens are 

 not properly attended to by her. It is a very 

 common thing for a hen to steal her nest in a 

 hedge, or other protected spot ; if she choose a 

 secure place, she should not be disturbed, as these 

 hens often bring out the best broods. 



Coops, in which to put hens with chickens, 

 are so common it will be unnecessary to say any- 

 thing of them. The hen should be kept in the 

 coop, or rather under it, at least three weeks, and 

 in the winter the longer she is under it the 

 better; the coops should be often moved, to give 

 the young brood the advantage of as much sun as 

 possible, as this promotes their growth, and also 

 prevents the ground from becoming tainted. I 

 would always advise, where space will permit, 

 that fresh ground be chosen for the different 

 broods during the breeding season; thus, one 

 part in April, another in May, and so on. — John 

 Bailey. 



WIDOWS! 



Fuller says in his " Holy State," that 

 " the good widow's grief for her husband, 

 though real, is moderate ;" and it is our 

 object to illustrate the old divine's text by 

 two famous and most ancient stories ; but we 

 would in the first place oifer a few remarks 

 upon the species widow. 



If widow be derived from the Latin viduus, 

 void, then Mr. W T eller the elder's pronun- 

 ciation, vidder, is the most etymological. 

 We are, however, far from sharing that gen- 

 tleman's feelings towards those ladies, cle- 

 verest of their class. We love widows ! 



