72 
Farm FouUrij. 
If chickens lilust be confined, it is mucli better to pat each dOop 
into a temporary run made by unrolling a coil of wire-work ; 
this can be shifted every day on to fresh ground, a proceeding 
of very great advantage. Under these conditions the chickens 
are out in the early morning sun, instead of being shut up in the 
close air of a fowl-coop for some hours after they are awake, as 
is usually the case where the hen is confined. 
The practice of tethering hens by one leg, which is frequently 
adopted by gamekeepers who rear pheasants, is one that may 
advantageously be introduced into poultry keeping. At the 
present time the custom is largely followed of giving chickens 
artificial food, which is often of very highly spiced and stimu- 
lating character. In my opinion no practice can be more 
objectionable. No dried animal food can equal the natural diet 
obtained by the hen for her chicks if she is allowed liberty, 
and highly spiced substances are neither natural nor desirable as 
food for chickens. The utilisation of the waste house scraps is 
most valuable. Bread soaked in milk, potatoes from the table, 
&c., and very small quantities of meat may be given. Care 
should be taken not to give fowls at any age too much animal 
fat ; this is especially important as regards laying hens. 
The temporary runs that I have recommended can be placed 
anywhere about the farm buildings, or still more advantageously 
in a garden where the young chickens can wander at will, and 
find much wholesome food without doing any damage. An 
orchard is also an exceedingly useful place for the coops or 
runs, as well as for the older fowls. The advantage of placing 
fowls in an orchard is twofold. They destroy large numbers of 
injurious insects, and at the same time fertilise the ground 
with their droppings. If an orchard is divided into two 
parts, one of which is used for fowl keeping and the other 
not, it will be found that the former is much more productive 
than the latter, the circumstances being equal. The late Mr. 
Mechi, of Tiptree Hall, used to allow his fowls to roam freely in 
his cornfields, and he always maintained that they did so with 
great advantage to themselves and with no injury to the corn. 
In determining the most profitable breeds for a small fanner 
or cottage proprietor, we have first of all to consider whether 
eggs or market poultry are the more important consideration. 
In some places eggs pay much better than table fowls, and in 
others the reverse. If eggs are wanted, a non-incubating breed 
should be kept, as these lay a much larger number of eggs than 
hens that habitually sit. Formerly Spanish were largely used 
for this purpose, but their value, as before stated, has been 
utterly destroyed by their being solely cultivated as white-faced 
