282 
GENERAL MANAGEMENT 
drop some into every hole they can find; nor do they ever go 
to work v/ithout taking some in a bottle with a spoon ; 
but should they happen to forget, they'll sing out from the 
other end of the field for Uncle James's pills, for that is the 
name they have given them. And now, sir, I do not think 
there is such a thing as a rat or a mouse upon the whole 
farm ; and as for cats, the instant one comes about the place 
my sons shoot it. The consequence is, sir, that we seldom or 
never lose a chicken, or, indeed, anything else ; and thus are 
-we enabled to live both comfortably and happily." 
Au7it Jane's Management of Poultry. 
Aunt Jane had a splendid stock of Spanish Dorking fowls ; 
but they were more for quality than quantity. In her 
management of them she always scrupulously observed four 
cardinal points, namely, extreme cleanliness ; proper food, 
according to the season, and regular feeding ; pure air ; and 
plenty of pure water. 
Her hen-house was made of wood, with a boarded flooring 
and a tile roof There were openings in the tiles, but so 
constructed as to keep out the rain. There were four trap- 
doors, one on each side of the house, four feet square ; that is 
to say, four feet from corner to corner, which could be 
opened and shut at pleasin^e by pulley-ropes inside. These 
she regulated according to the weather ; thus could she have 
a thorough current of air through the place for any time she 
pleased. In summer she would leave one open all night, 
because it was beyond the reach of foxes, and in winter she 
kept them perfectly close and air-tight. On one side of the 
house she had a shed, in which there was a cart-load of old 
mortar and rubbish, taken from the pulling down of an old 
house, and beaten fine. In this the fowls would scratch and 
roll for the hour together, to work the dust in among their 
feathers. It is the finest thing known, to cleanse the bodies 
of birds from all kinds of vermin. In the nest holes she 
had sliding boxes, for the convenience of changing and lime- 
washing. The perches were very thick and round, and so 
arranged that the roosting fowls could not soil each other. 
She always did the work herself, or saw it done ; " and 
then," to use her own words, she knew it was done pro- 
