298 
GENERAL MANAGEMENT 
Weekly Journal), " called at our office, and presented 
us with two eggs laid the same morning. The first egg, 
which was of the ordinary size for his fowls, measured six 
inches and one -eighth round the oval, and five inches and 
one-eighth round the girt, and weighed two ounces and 
three-quarters, thus averaging six eggs to the pound. But 
the monster egg measured seven inches and seven-eighths 
round the oval, six inches and one-eighth round the girt, 
and weighed over three ounces and three-quarters. Last 
season he had three of these monster eggs, with single yolks, 
the largest of which measured over eight inches round the 
oval, six inches and a half round the girt, and weighed over 
a quarter of a pound. His fowls are bred between the 
Spanish and Dorking, and have supplied him and his family 
with new-laid eggs for breakfast since the beginning of 
December last. He recommends all who are keeping fowls 
for profit, to take advantage of the present season, if pos- 
sible, and breed their chickens between the Spanish and 
Dorking, as they are excellent layers, and a fine fowl for the 
table. Still, he says, it must be borne in mind that the 
height of economy in fowl-keeping is to see them daily well 
fed ; for it is a fact beyond all dispute, that the more sub- 
stance they consume, the more regularly will they lay." 
Pigeons and Farm Birds in general. 
As to the various birds that feed upon the farm (with the 
exception of pigeons of all kinds), I have not one word to 
say against them, but quite the contrary ; for 1 believe, 
that where they rob the farmer of one grain they repay 
him infinitely more than a hundred fold, by devouring 
myriads of grubs, caterpillars, and insects that would other- 
wise eat out the hearts both of grains and plants. But as to 
the pigeon tribe, with the exception of the little service they 
may render in the autumn by helping to clear the ground of 
the scattered grain after the harvest, I believe them to be 
most destructive creatures, in carrying away turnip seeds, &c., 
in their crops by hundreds and thousands at a time ; and they 
never touch either snail, slug, worm, grub, or insect. Where- 
as, on the contrary, fowls will not only devour all they can 
catch, but will hunt out every hole and corner to find them ; 
and what, perhaps, is not generally known, is the fact that 
