274 
PAET III. 
SOME PEOFITABLE HINTS ON THE BREEDING, FEEDING^, AND 
GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. 
Having so far disposed of the destructive vermin of the 
farm, allow me to give the ladies a few friendly hints on the 
Management of the Poultry Yard ; and the first question to 
be asked is, Which is the most profitable to farmers, the 
feeding of cattle or of poultry 1 
Some time ago, a poultry breeder inserted an article in 
the public papers, stating that it takes five years to raise an 
ox for the market, and that he will undertake to feed the 
same weight of poultry for the market in three months, and 
at half the expense. That is to say, if the ox weighs half a 
ton, he will feed double that weight, namely a ton of 
poultry for the table, in three months, for the same expense 
as the ox has cost for victuals during the five years. The 
consequence would be, were they both to start feeding 
together, that at the end of five years, where the farmer 
would have made one pound profit, the poultry feeder would 
have made forty ; or, where the farmer would have cleared 
five guineas, the poultry feeder would have cleared two 
hundred. Here it is clearly shown how much more 
profitable it is to breed poultry than cattle, if proper pains 
be taken. 
I am sorry to say that, in the great majority of cases, 
farmers' wives and daughters do not manage the poultry 
yard properly ; that is to say, they do not manage the 
breeding as they ought to do. For instance, they seldom or 
never think of introducing new blood among them ; but 
let fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers, grandchildren too, 
all live and breed together as they like ; and as the old cocks 
die away, their sons take their place, and so they go on breeding 
