20 FANCIERS’ 
JOURNAL AND POULTRY > BH XOOGHIAN G KK. 

put her in with the cock once a day, and only allow her to 
remain five or ten minutes. I have always found the eggs 
to hatch better this way than when the birds had a large 
yard together. Another advantage in this plan is this: if 
you want to establish a pedigree you know just what you are 
doing, because you know which hen lays the eggs and what 
cock she was mated with. Some may object to this method, 
thinking it too much trouble. To such I would say, no one 
should undertake to breed prize fowls unless they have a 
genuine love for them; the attempt will only end in disap- 
pointment and disgust. To one who really loves his fowls, 
nothing will be a trouble that will add to the beauty or com- 
fort of his pets. "With regard to feeding I would recom- 
mend soft food in the morning, mixed into a stiff mass; it 
should be thoroughly wet, but not made in a thin batter. I 
think it advisable to change their food as often as possible, 
by feeding corn meal one morning, wheat middlings the 
next, corn and oats ground together the next, and at noon 
give grain of some kind; at night I think the feed should 
consist of whole corn. I usually vary the noonday meal in 
the following manner: oats one day, buckwheat the next, 
wheat the next, &c., in rotation. I think wheat at two dol- 
lars per bushel is cheaper than screenings at fifty cents per 
bushel for laying hens. 
Never stint your fowls in feed. Remember egg-making is 
hard work, and if you expect your fowls to produce many 
you must supply them with abundant material ; but be care- 
ful not to give them more at one time than they will pick up 
clean. They should have an unlimited supply of green food 
given to them once a day, of which grass, chopped into chaff 
with a hatchet, is the best; if grass cannot be had, cabbage 
is good, or raw potatoes chopped fine. Give plenty of gravel, 
pounded oyster shells, ground bone, and plenty of fresh 
water. 
W. E. Flower. 
SHOEMAKERTOWN, Pa. 
Norr.—The small pens mentioned above are very useful 
after the laying season for the purpose of keeping a hen and 
chickens; and still later are just the thing for young cocks, 
or for keeping the breeding cocks of the year which are to 
be carried over. (See article on ‘“‘ What Fowls Pay the 
Best.’’ No. 3.) 

CLEANLINESS. 
AMATEURS US. DEALERS. 
A VERY mistaken idea exists in the minds of many young 
fanciers (young in the fancy if not in years) in regard to the 
scrupulous cleanliness which they suppose must be preserved 
to keep fowls healthy, from which they sometimes have a 
very rude and abrupt awakening—as in the case occurring 
at 389 North Ninth Street, Philadelphia. Two gentlemen 
were conversing in regard to scurvy legs in fowls; one of 
them very dogmatically asserted that there was no excuse 
for this trouble, that it arose entirely from dirty pens and 
yards ; the neglect to cleanse them causing impurity of blood, 
and also inducing the disease called scurvy legs. A gentle- 
man standing by at once replied to this, saying, ‘I have 
as nice a poultry house and yard, for its cost, as could be 
found, and have plenty of spare time to properly attend to 
them. The house is swept clean and kept free from taint, 
but, in spite of all my care, my fowls are fairly rotten with 
this disease, and I have been obliged to kill a number in 
consequence,”’ 

Where fowls are kept cooped up for any length of time, 
there is no doubt but that cleanliness is imperatively neces- 
sary to keep them in a thriving condition, but where they 
have a good run on grass, it is not absolutely essential that 
the pens should be cleaned daily or even weekly. Amateurs 
with a few fowls, which are pets, may, and very often do, 
follow this practice; but there is not one dealer or profes- 
sional breeder in a hundred who cleans out his houses with 
any regularity. ; 
A gentleman, not long since, after visiting the yards of a 
well-known fancier, in conversing with a friend, said, ‘* Why 
the manure and dirt in ’s poultry house is from two to 
three inches deep on the floor.” 
I have not a doubt but that he was perfectly correct in his 
statement, as I have seen the houses to which he referred in 
a similar condition; and yet I must say that the party in 
question has not had a case of roup in his yard for years, 
has never had but one case of cholera, and has not a scurvy- 
legged fowl on his premises, excepting one cock which he 
states was purchased in that condition last spring. He fur- 
ther says that he has no regular time for cleaning his yards; 
it is done when he can get time, perhaps once in three months. 
But his floors are of plank, elevated eighteen inches above 
the ground, and are perfectly dry, and his fowls have a good- 
sized grass run. 
While the writer values cleanliness in the poultry house 
as much as any one, he does not attribute to it an undue im- 
portance; but is convinced, from both experience and ob- 
servation, that fowls can be kept healthy and thriving under 
the above circumstances. It is not any discredit to a breeder 
that he does not sweep out his houses every day or even every 
week. Many, very many, of our best and most successful 
fanciers are men of small means, who are engaged in mechani- 
cal or other daily avocations, and they cannot get the time. 
The amateur, who has a country place, and who keeps a 
gardener and possibly other help, finds it easy to instruct 
his help to sweep out the poultry house every morning. Yet 
with all his care, his fowls seem quite’as liable to disease as 
are those of his less fortunate but equally enthusiastic 
neighbor. 

A. M. Hatstep. 
Norre.—When there is not time to clean the coop as often 
and thoroughly as one could wish, we think it a good plan 
to have saved in a dry, convenient place, sandy loam, or 
ashes mixed with carbolic powder, or even hay and straw 
which is equally good. Throw a few handsful over the floor 
daily. 

GOOD ADVICE. 
WHEN you wish to be jovial and entertaining to your 
friends, and cannot say anything really witty which is to 
the point, try to say something sensible, so that you may 
not become the butt of a joke “ pointed” at yourself. 
Do not speak too emphatically of the merits of your own 
work, thus apparently forbidding suggestions for its improve- 
ment which you might find it profitable to solicit. 
WHEN you notice faults in your dependents which will 
admit of aremedy, do not waste your time in impatient re- 
marks, but kindly suggest improvements, which will benefit 
them as well as yourself, thus making instead of alienating 
friends. 
