On the Rearing and Management of Poultry. 



187 



should therefore be taken not to turn them out when there is any 

 dew on the grass. 



I have ahnost omitted to state that water must be given tbem 

 in very shallow vessels. Curds made fresh every day are a very 

 excellent thing, and are eagerly taken. 



Chickens with the diet we recommend, and with the addition of a 

 boiled potato, and the privilege of pecking grass in the plot, and 

 attention, will make surprising progress. Attention is the great 

 secret in the art of rearing chickens : too much food should never 

 be given to them at once. We will dismiss this part of our 

 subject by a quotation from Tusser : — 



" Tend such as we have, 

 Young children and chickens would ever be eating." 



At what Age should the Chickens he dejprived of their Nurse ? — 

 On this subject little can be said, much depending on the dis- 

 cretion of the person in charge. Some chickens can forage for 

 themselves when 5 weeks old, while others require maternal care 

 till they are 8 or 9 weeks old. I should say, with the advan- 

 tage of a good house and plot such as I have recommended, that 

 the hen may be taken from them at the end of 6 weeks. 



The chickens must remain in the plot 3 or 4 weeks longer : in 

 it they are less exposed to accidents than if they were allowed to 

 mix with the other stock. 



The Turkey, — ^^We may be allowed to observe that America is 

 the native country of the turkey. By whom or at what period it 

 was brought to England we have no proof. It must be upv/ards 

 of 300 years since its introduction, as Tusser, in his ' Five Hun- 

 dred Points of Good Husbandry/ published in 1573, speaks of 

 the turkey as being extensively bred. The late H. D. Richardson, 

 after duly investigating the subject, came to the conclusion that it 

 must have made its appearance in this country about 1530. 



Writers on poultry invariably give a long account of the natural 

 habits of the turkey in its native wilds. AH very good ; but surely 

 it has been long enough domesticated to enaljle the man who, 

 as he jogs along the path of life, notes down his observations on 

 the instincts, habits, and usefulness of the animals that daily 

 attend him, to give plain directions for its management, without 

 having recourse to its habits before it had been brought under 

 subjection. 



The only difference in the varieties of turkeys (the Norfolk ex- 

 cepted) is in colour. 



The Norfolk variety (the produce of a cross with the wild 

 American breed) is the largest. This at once testifies the advan- 

 tage of procuring fresh blood,'' and the ill effects of breeding 



