Breeding. — Those intended for breeders should be com- pact, vigorous, and large, without being long-legged. They should be daily, yet lightly, fed, through the winter, on grain and Toots, and some animal food is always acceptable and beneficial to them. They are small^eaters, and without caution will soon get too fat. One vigorous male will suffice for a flock of ten or twelve hens, and a single connection is sufficient for each. They begin to lay on approach of warm weather, laying once a day, or every other day, till they have completed their clutch, which, in the young or indifferently fed, may be ten or twelve, and, in the older ones, sometimes reaches twenty. The hen is sly in secreting its nest, but usually selects a dry, well protected place. She is an inveterate sitter, and carefully hatches most of her eggs. The young may be allowed to remain for twenty-four hours without eating, then fed with hard boiled eggs, made fine, or crumbs of wheat bread. Boiled milk, curds, buttermilk, etc., are food for them. As they get older, oats or barley meal is suitable, but Indian meal, uncooked, is hurtful to them when quite young. They are very tender, 9^i will be^ neither ^9ld nor wet, and }X is of qQursQ ii^c^ssarjr POULTRY. 271 to confine the old one for the first few weeks. When able to shift for themselves, they may wander over the fields at pleas- ure; and, from their great fond\*ess for insects, they will rid the meadows from innumerable grassnoppers, etc., which often do incalculable damage to the farmer. Early chickens are suffic- iently grown to fatten the latter part of autumn or the begin- ning of winter, which is easily done on any of the grains or boiled roots. The grain is better for cooking. They require a higher roosting place than hens, and are impatient of too close confinement, preferring the ridge of a barn, or a lofty tree, to the circumscribed limits of the ordinary poultry house. When rightly managed and fed, turkeys are subject to few maladies, and even these careful attention will soon remove. The Peacock and Guinea Hen. — The peacock is undoubt- edly the most showy of the feathered race. It is a native of the southern part of Asia, and is still found wild in the islands of Java and Ceylon, and some parts of the interior of Africa. They are an ornament to the farm premises, and are useful in destroying reptiles, insects and garbage, but they are quarrel- some in the poultry yard and destructive in the garden. Their flesh is coarse and dark, and they are worthless as layers. The brilliant silvery green, and their ever-varying colors give place to an entire white in one of the varieties. The Guinea hen is a native of Africa and the southern part of Asia, where it abounds in its wild state. Most of them are beautifully and uniformly speckled, but occasionally they are white on the breast, like the Pintados of the West India Islands, and some are entirely white. They are unceasingly garrulous, and their excessively pugnacious character renders them uncomfortable inmates with the other poultry. Their flesh, though high colored, is delicate pnd palatable, but, like the peacock, they are indifferent layers. Both are natives oi a warm climate, and the young are tender and rather difficult to rear. Neither of these birds is a general favorite, and we omit further notice of them.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Breeding. — Those intended for breeders should be compact, vigorous, and large, without being long-legged. They should be daily, yet lightly, fed, through the winter, on grain and roots, and some animal food is always acceptable and beneficial to them. They are small eaters, and without caution will soon get too fat. One vigorous male will suffice for a flock of ten or twelve hens, and a single connection is sufficient for each. They begin to lay on approach of warm weather, laying once a day, or every other day, till they have completed their clutch, which, in the young or indifferently fed, may be ten or twelve, and, in the older ones, sometimes reaches twenty. The hen is sly in secreting its nest, but usually selects a dry, well protected place. She is an inveterate sitter, and carefully hatches most of her eggs. The young may be allowed to remain for twenty-four hours without eating, then fed with hard boiled eggs, made fine, or crumbs of wheat bread. Boiled milk, curds, buttermilk, etc., are food for them. As they get older, oats or barley meal is suitable, but Indian meal, uncooked, is hurtful to them when quite young. They are very tender, and will be neither cold nor wet, and it is of course necessary to confine the old one for the first few weeks. When able to shift for themselves, they may wander over the fields at pleasure; and, from their great fondness for insects, they will rid the meadows from innumerable grasshoppers, etc., which often do incalculable damage to the farmer. Early chickens are sufficiently grown to fatten the latter part of autumn or the beginning of winter, which is easily done on any of the grains or boiled roots. The grain is better for cooking. They require a higher roosting place than hens, and are impatient of too close confinement, preferring the ridge of a barn, or a lofty tree, to the circumscribed limits of the ordinary poultry house. When rightly managed and fed, turkeys are subject to few maladies, and even these careful attention will soon remove. The Peacock and Guinea Hen. — The peacock is undoubtedly the most showy of the feathered race. It is a native of the southern part of Asia, and is still found wild in the islands of Java and Ceylon, and some parts of the interior of Africa. They are an ornament to the farm premises, and are useful in destroying reptiles, insects and garbage, but they are quarrelsome in the poultry yard and destructive in the garden. Their flesh is coarse and dark, and they are worthless as layers. The brilliant silvery green, and their ever-varying colors give place to an entire white in one of the varieties. The Guinea hen is a native of Africa and the southern part of Asia, where it abounds in its wild state. Most of them are beautifully and uniformly speckled, but occasionally they are white on the breast, like the Pintados of the West India Islands, and some are entirely white. They are unceasingly garrulous, and their excessively pugnacious character renders them uncomfortable inmates with the other poultry. Their flesh, though high colored, is delicate pnd palatable, but, like the peacock, they are indifferent layers. Both are natives oi a warm climate, and the young are tender and rather difficult to rear. Neither of these birds is a general favorite, and we omit further notice of them.

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