THE POULTRY YARD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 878, 7 February 1879, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE POULTRY YARD.

Ertcs TBtt Wfiot.tr Year.—Get a breed of poultry that are-non-setters. For my part, I like the white-crested black Poland* the best. They do not fly over a fence three feet high. I have had them over four years, and I do not remember that one was ever inside ray barn. Five or si.t yearsago* I had Leghorns and Hamburgs, and they would sneak in my barn every scratch around the hay, and make nasts in the straw. But this is not the eas» with my white-created black Polish. They are always contented with their nests. I have no tronbte to hunt eggs- in the grass, and in the barn, like somw ef my neighbors most if they do not want to hose half their eggs. I always get my chicks hatched in March and April. Then they wilt commence to lay in August and September and then keep on laying all winter. This year I did raiiav nicety P»ti*h clucks, and I lost only

fonr, and those by accident. I have found out that I can get my Polands to weigh as follows when I raise them early: Cocks, oilbs., and the hens, 4ilbs They are of a very tame disposition. I have some that will eat of my hand ; they are a delicately fl.tvmvd t •ble-fo»l. Li they.-ar 1577 my flock of twenty-five hens did lay 4575 eggs, or 183 eggs per hen. lam a young farmer who believes in pure-bred I poultry.—D. K". Kerns in Cincinnati ! Times.

Table Fowls.—There is considerable difference in the merits of the different breeds of fowls for the table, although taste has much to do in determining which are the best; and, while breed has something to do witli it, the age has a great claim, for some are better at certain age 3 than at others. The young immature and slow growing Bramah, for instance, is not desirable until it has nearly gained its growth, and even then it is far better when a year old, when fattened up quickly. And, in fact, a year old bird of any breed we prefer to chicken, no matter how it is cooked, though many have a weakness for broilers in the shape of young chicks. Yottng Leghorn 3, which feather up more quickly tlian do the Asiatics, and mature more rapidly, make the best broilers, and many a nice one have we helped to dissect after it had come from the hands of a skilful c >ok, although but few persons seem to know it, much of the table merits of a fowl or chick depends upon the way it is fattened, and on what it is fed, too, in a [great measure. To make a bird tender and juicy, it must be fattened quickly. The food which gives it the best flavor is undoubtedly a grain food partaking largely of corn in some of its different forms, the amount and manner of feeding depending upon circumstances.—American Poultry Journal.