April 21, 1881.] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
325 
Pat stock are selling at very low prices, but for lean cattle there is a 
fair demand at satisfactory rates. Breeders of store stock will be 
interested, but not pleased, to learn that there is every prospect of 
large importations of Canadian and United States cattle during the 
coming season. An extensive English firm of salesmen state that 
they know for a fact that the shipments of Canadian and American 
cattle will be unprecedentedly large, especially in the early summer 
months .—(Irish Farmers' Gazette.) 
-Among French farmers it is considered much better to give 
Beet or Mangold Wurtzel pulp to sheep and cattle for production of 
meat than for milk. Horses will not eat it readily. The daily 
rations of pulp given to sheep and cattle vary, but the amount gene¬ 
rally considered most favourable are about 5 lbs. per head for sheep 
and 50 lbs. for cattle, in admixture with hay, seed cake, corn meal, 
or other food. The pulp is stored for preservation in trenches or silos, 
and for this purpose it is mixed with about 1 per cent, its weight 
of salt to prevent it from entering into putrefactive fermentation. 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
"We are now at what may be called the turn of the season, and a 
few hints as to general management may not be out of place. 
First as to the old stock. Fanciers who have any intention of 
exhibiting at the summer shows will do well now to take a general 
look through their stock and select the most likely birds for the 
purpose. The breeding season is practically over, and the hens 
intended for show should be separated from the cocks. If in conse¬ 
quence of bad hatching, results which we fear have been too common 
this season, it is still necessary to set a few eggs from the best hens; 
their plumage can be protected from damage by merely allowing 
them to run with their mate for an hour each morning, and keeping 
them separate the rest of the day. With light-col mred birds and 
such of the darker ones as become tanned by exposure to the sun 
care must be taken that they are placed in the most shady houses. 
Any tendency to broodiness in the exhibition hens of the sitting 
varieties must be promptly checked, as the plumage becomes 
damaged and brittle by lying on the nest. Imprisoning the hens 
under an open wire coop placed on bare earth and giving an abun¬ 
dant supply of food are the best means of checking the clucking 
fever. If there be several cluckers, putting them all together will 
accelerate the cure. 
In preparing Asiatics for exhibition at this season it is necessary 
to be cautious that the food given be not over-stimulating. Many a 
fine bird apparently in robust health one hour has been found dead 
the next from apoplexy, and any excess of stimulant acclerates, if 
it does not actually cause, attacks of this nature. 
Next as to the chickens. Those who are fortunate enough to have a 
number of January chicks may now with advantage begin the process 
of weeding out the worthless birds. We cannot give any general 
directions as to this subject. Very much depends upon the breed and 
something also upon the strain, so that each young fancier must 
either call in the assistance of a more experienced friend or learn 
from experience which birds may with safety be disposed of. If 
space be at all limited mercy in the weeding process is a mistake. 
It is better to kill one or two valuable birds than to run any risk of 
stunting all through overcrowding. Frequent changes of run, and 
if possible a move to a perfectly fresh run, do much to keep young 
birds in health and to stimulate growlh. Where space will not 
allow of this, the frequent turning over of the soil and a liberal 
supply of green food will do something to replace the freedom of 
larger runs. 
In the Spanish and Dorking breeds some of the chicks will now 
be at a critical period, when the rapid growth of feather causes a 
heavy drain upon their natural resources. In such cases the feed¬ 
ing will require special attention, and the addition of a little stimu¬ 
lant, such as bread soaked in ale, often has a most beneficial effect. 
The older chickens must not be neglected for the younger, nor 
should they be all fed together, as this does not give the older birds 
sufficient time to get an appetite. The length of time between the 
meals must be gradually extended until birds which were fed every 
two hours at a fortnight old are reduced to four meals a day at the 
age of three months. 
Lastly, a thorough weeding-out of the old birds must now be made, 
all those which are not likely to be wanted for breeding next season 
being cleared out to make room for the youngsters. It is a bad 
time for selling, but it is better to take a smaller price now and get 
the birds out of the way than to keep them six months on the 
chance of getting a better offer, Beginners would do wed to 
remember that a bad selling time is a good one for buying. Good 
birds which their owners would not sell except at very high prices 
early in the season may now be had at very moderate rates I n 
this way a fair start without too heavy an expenditure may bo 
made on the suitability of a breed tentatively ascertained before 
actually taking it up. 
FOOD FOR CHICKENS. 
This subject, like that of coops, is no new one, and we do not 
pretend to have discovered any new recipe for rearing every 
chick without fail. While, however, our system is old many of 
our readers are, we believe, young, or at least young in poultry 
breeding, and so at the risk of some repetition we will again give 
a few rules for the systematic management of chickens. To begin 
with, a chicken requires no food for from twenty-four to thirty- 
six hours after it emerges from the shell. Nature requires perfect 
rest for it under the hen, for during this time the development of 
some of its organs continues, and just before it bursts the shell 
enough yolk has passed into its stomach to provide temporary 
nourishment. 
Novices sometimes cram young chickens, and thereby do much 
harm to them. Little or no trouble need be taken to make them 
eat, beyond giving them light and crumbly food that they can 
swallow and digest. For the first week or ten days chickens can 
hardly be fed too often, provided nothing is left about after each 
meal. Sour and trampled food disgusts them, and does more 
harm than a moderate amount of starving. The question is, What 
should this food be to begin with ? Nothing is so light as chopped 
hard-boiled egg and bread crumbs, but if the weather is not 
severe we prefer dispensing with the egg. When chickens have 
such dainties there is always a difficulty in weaning them from 
them, and therefore, except in special cases, we always prefer at 
once beginning with what is to be their general diet. In our 
yards the staple of this is oatmeal. We were always struck with 
the vigour and hardihood of Highland children reared almost 
entirely on oatmeal, and so we adopted it for our chickens. Good 
Scotch oatmeal is boiled into porridge. That it should be properly 
boiled is most important. If too much is put to the amount of 
water, or if it is not properly stirred, good food can never be 
made from it; there will be heavy sticky lumps. The porridge 
should be made in the same way and with the same care as for 
human beings ; kept in a cool place it will then be good for two 
days. As much as is required for each meal should be mixed 
with Indian meal, coarse barley meal, or occasionally bran, into a 
nice light crumbly food. This no chickens will refuse if given 
fresh and fresh, and on it our own have never failed to thrive. If 
the season be cold or inclement, instead of the plain oatmeal equal 
quantities of oatmeal and Spratt’s food should be boiled together. 
Stimulants are sometimes necessary, but as a rule we find chickens 
fed on them, especially if there be meat in their composition, gain 
flesh at the expense of their bone and muscular strength. For the 
same reasons we suppose that human beings fed much on meat in 
their early days generally have bad teeth. 
There is a constant controversy between those who give water 
to chickens and those who withhold it. After many experiments 
we have come to the conclusion that in winter they are better 
without it for a week or ten days, but then we give them bread 
and milk twice a day. Milk is a great bone-maker, and strengthens 
the constitutions of chickens amazingly. There are many appa¬ 
rently trifling cases which make much difference to the little 
creatures, among them is this—viz., that the bread and milk be 
properly made. The bread must first be thoroughly scalded in 
boiling water, the water strained off, and the milk poured on to 
it; they will then eat it with the utmost greediness^and drink the 
milk as readily as kittens. For summer and late spring, chickens 
must from the first have more to drink, at least our own ex¬ 
perience is that they soon droop if they have not. Milk left in 
the sun soon turns sour, so pure water is preferable, but a morning 
meal of bread and milk should be continued. 
We are constantly asked, “ How many times a day must young 
chickens be fed?” This depends on many things. In winter 
and the early spring when there is snow and frost and little or 
nothing to be picked up they should be fed six times a day, say 
twice with bread and milk, three times with oatmeal, and once 
with chopped house scraps, if such there are ; the latter feed, 
even if it be but a minute one daily, makes a great difference in 
the progress of early chickens. At such a time of year they 
require all day to be kept in a state of repletion to make up 
