cal kinds of food. Such, with boiled-meal, is a very fattening food. Grain is at all times best for them when ground and cooked, as they will lay more, fat quicker, and eat much less when it is fed to them in this state; and it may be thus used unground, with the same advantage to the fowls, as if first crushed, as their digestive organs are certain to extract the whole nutriment. All grain is food for them, including millet, rice, the oleaginous seeds, as the sunflower, flax, hemp, etc. It is always better to afford them a variety of grain, where they can procure them at their option, and select as their appetite craves. They are also fond of milk, and indeed scarcely any edible escapes their notice. They carefully pick up the most of the waste garbage around the premises, and glean much of their subsistence from what would otherwise become offensive, and by their destruction of innumerable insects and worms, they render great assistance to the gardener. Of course their ever busy propensity for scratching is indiscriminately indulged just after the seeds have been planted and while the plants are young, which renders it necessary that they be confined in some close yard for a time; yet this should be as capacious as possible. Their food, if cooked, is better when given to them warm, not hot; and no more fed at a time than they will pick up clean. Besides their food, hens ought to be at all times abundantly supplied with clean water, egg or pounded oyster shells, old mortar, or slaked lime. If not allowed to run at large where they can help themselves, they must also be fur- nished with gravel to assist their digestion; and a box or bed of ashes, sand and xJust, is equally essential to roll in for the purpose of ridding themselves of vermin. Hen House. — The hen house may be constructed in various ways to "suit the wishes of the owner, and, when tastefully built, it is an ornament to the premises. It should be perfectly dry throughout, properly lighted with glass windows in the roof, if possible, and capable of being made tight and warm in winter, yet afford all the ventilation desirable at any season. In this, arrange the nest in boxes on the sides in such a manner as to humor the instinct of the hen for concealment when she resorts to them. When desirable to set the hen, these nests may be so POULTRY, 269 placed as to shut out the others, yet open into another yard or beyond the enclosure, so that they can take an occasional stroll and help themselves to food, etc. This prevents other hens laying in their nests, while sitting, and may be easily managed, by having their boxes hung on the wall of the build- ing, with a movable door made to open on either side at pleas- ure. Hens will lay without a nest egg, but, when broken up, they ramble off and form new nests, if they are not confined. They will lay if kept from the cock, but it is doubtful if they will thus yield as many eggs. Hens disposed to sit at improper times, should be dismissed from the common yard, so as to be out of reach of the nests, and plentifully fed till weaned from this inclination.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

cal kinds of food. Such, with boiled-meal, is a very fattening food. Grain is at all times best for them when ground and cooked, as they will lay more, fat quicker, and eat much less when it is fed to them in this state; and it may be thus used unground, with the same advantage to the fowls, as if first crushed, as their digestive organs are certain to extract the whole nutriment. All grain is food for them, including millet, rice, the oleaginous seeds, as the sunflower, flax, hemp, etc. It is always better to afford them a variety of grain, where they can procure them at their option, and select as their appetite craves. They are also fond of milk, and indeed scarcely any edible escapes their notice. They carefully pick up the most of the waste garbage around the premises, and glean much of their subsistence from what would otherwise become offensive, and by their destruction of innumerable insects and worms, they render great assistance to the gardener. Of course their ever busy propensity for scratching is indiscriminately indulged just after the seeds have been planted and while the plants are young, which renders it necessary that they be confined in some close yard for a time; yet this should be as capacious as possible. Their food, if cooked, is better when given to them warm, not hot; and no more fed at a time than they will pick up clean. Besides their food, hens ought to be at all times abundantly supplied with clean water, egg or pounded oyster shells, old mortar, or slaked lime. If not allowed to run at large where they can help themselves, they must also be furnished with gravel to assist their digestion; and a box or bed of ashes, sand and dust, is equally essential to roll in for the purpose of ridding themselves of vermin. Hen House. — The hen house may be constructed in various ways to "suit the wishes of the owner, and, when tastefully built, it is an ornament to the premises. It should be perfectly dry throughout, properly lighted with glass windows in the roof, if possible, and capable of being made tight and warm in winter, yet afford all the ventilation desirable at any season. In this, arrange the nest in boxes on the sides in such a manner as to humor the instinct of the hen for concealment when she resorts to them. When desirable to set the hen, these nests may be so placed as to shut out the others, yet open into another yard or beyond the enclosure, so that they can take an occasional stroll and help themselves to food, etc. This prevents other hens laying in their nests, while sitting, and may be easily managed, by having their boxes hung on the wall of the building, with a movable door made to open on either side at pleasure. Hens will lay without a nest egg, but, when broken up, they ramble off and form new nests, if they are not confined. They will lay if kept from the cock, but it is doubtful if they will thus yield as many eggs. Hens disposed to sit at improper times, should be dismissed from the common yard, so as to be out of reach of the nests, and plentifully fed till weaned from this inclination.

The housekeeper's companion