1623. The feathers of the various sorts of fowls used, are either disposed of or converted into domestic use. The following directions on sweetening and managing feathers are given by a lady of my acquaintance, who is a notable housewife; and as they very nearly accord with my own experience, I shall transcribe them in her own intelligent words. "Every one is aware that the feathers of cocks and hens are very inferior to those of geese and ducks, for the purpose of filling beds and pillows; and, consequently, it is scarcely necessary to mention, that the former should be kept separate from those of the two latter fowls. As the birds are plucked, the large feathers should be selected and placed asunder. Paper-bags are the best recipients. The pinion feathers should be stripped from the quill, and added to the other feathers; and, if great caution have not been used in plucking the birds, they should be carefully looked over, that no part of the skin has been torn and adhering to the base of the quills. The bags of feathers should be placed in the bread-oven on the day after it has been heated, and, after some hours, removed to a dry airy place; and this ought to be done every week." On this part of the subject, I may mention a less troublesome plan than the oven, where there happens to be an apartment behind the kitchen-fire, against the wall of which the bags containing the feathers may be hung up, and there the feathers will soon won. "Notwithstanding," continues our instructress, "every apparent caution shall have been used, the feathers are frequently found to be tainted, either from carelessness in plucking, or by neglecting to attend to them afterwards; and no subsequent baking or picking will be found available to restore them. In this case, the only method to render them sweet is to boil them, which is to be effected in the following manner: one or two large canvass or calico bags must be made, into which the feathers from the small paper-bags must be emptied and tied up ; a washing-copper must be nearly filled with rain-water, and made to boil. The calico-bags, then, one at a time, are to be dipped, and, by means of a stick, pushed about, and squeezed, and kneaded, for the space of four or five minutes, then lifted out and taken out of doors; and being tied together and the openings kept secure, that no feathers may escape, they must be hung over a line, and left to drain and dry. Several times a-day the bags are to be shaken up and turned over; and as soon as the feathers appear to be light and drying, which will not be the case for nearly a week, the bags must be hung up during dry weather only, and taken in every night. In about a fortnight, the feathers will become perfectly sweet and ready for use; and the water in which they were boiled will sufficiently indi

efficacious, in cleansing them from impurities which would else have rendered them useless." As an attestation of the practical efficacy of the plan, the lady adds, "having tried the method ourselves, we can assure our readers of its eligiFeathers are now efficaciously and bility."* quickly cleaned, and freed from all impurities, by the action of steam upon them.

1624. In regard to the diseases of fowls, I can say without the fear of contradiction, that, if fowls are attended to in a systematic manner, with wholesome food prepared for them every day, and their roosting place kept clean and airy, very little disease will affect them at any age. Mr Mowbray observes that "The diseases of our domestic animals kept for food are generally the result of some error in diet or management, and should either have been prevented, or are to be cured most readily and advantageously by an immediate change, and adoption of the proper regimen. When that will not succeed, any farther trouble is extremely questionable; and particularly with respect to poultry, little hope can be derived from medical attempts." I am not of the opinion that, when fowls are observed to be affected by any disease, a mere change of On the conregimen will readily effect a cure. trary, the value of the animal is lost in the time permitted the disease to develop its symptoms. The plan, therefore, that averts the greatest amount of loss in the animal itself, and of expense in the attempt to cure its disease, is to kill the animal the moment the least symptom of disease is seen to affect it. If a fowl is found "in a corner" pining away, the fault lies with those who have the charge of it; for if they fulfilled their duty in daily noticing, as they ought to have done, the state of every creature under their charge, none could stray away from the rest under the effect of disease, or any other cause, without being immediately missed, and searched for.

1625. Sniffters.-The only disease I can remember to have seen in winter is what is vulgarly called the sniffters, that is, a discharge of matter from the nose, which causes a noise in the nose like stifled breathing. It is evidently a catarrhal affection, and has most probably been superinduced by exposure to rain or cold in stormy weather. When first observed to be affected with this complaint, any fowl kept in the condition it should be may be used without scruple, which is a much better plan than tormenting the animal by pursuing the usual practice of thrusting a feather through its nostrils. If the fowl is not fit for killing, the fault lies either with the person who has charge of the poultry or with the farmer himself, who grudges the creature its food.

1626. I have seen a classified list of the

1627. Lice.-As to vermin, every fowl, like every other animal, is affected with lice. The common hen is infested by more than one pedicular inhabitant, but the most frequent is the Lipeurus variabilis, which has a narrow body, the head rounded in front, the general colour dirty white, smooth and shining, the margins with a black band, the abdomen having a brown interrupted stripe down the middle. According to Mr Denny, our principal authority on this subject, it prefers the primary and secondary feathers of the wings, among the webs of which is moves about with great celerity.

1628. Menopon pallidum is almost equally common in poultry, running over the hands of those who are plucking their feathers, and difficult to brush off from the smoothness of their bodies.

1629. The peacock has a large and very singularly formed parasite of this nature, named Goniodes falcicornis.

1630. Another, not unlike the one just mentioned in general appearance, occurs plentifully on the turkey.

1631. Geese and ducks are infested by similar foes, particularly the latter, on which the Docophorus icteroides, a species common to the whole anserine tribe, is usually very abundant.*

1632. As I have mentioned bran as an ingredient at times administered to fowls as food, it may be worth while to notice what chemists say of its nutritive properties. The proportions of water, and of oil and fat, do not vary much in pure bran. The oil varied from 5:26 to 6:53 per cent, and the water from 11.82 to 13:23 per cent, in six different cases. The albumen varies

The ash has not yet been analysed. As it appears that the nutritive matter, consisting of the albumen and oil, amounts to 24 per cent, bran should be a good ingredient to assist, at least in the feeding of pigs and other stock.†

1633. Goose fat is used for some purposes on a farm. It is useful in anointing the udders of cows in spring, should they become hard, and it has the property of evaporating slowly. It also keeps a poultice moist until it should be renewed; and, on account of this property, it constitutes a good ingredient of grease for smearing the axles of cart-wheels. This fat may be rendered in the same manner as mutton-suet and lard, and kept in a jar covered with bladder. Goose fat "is colourless, and has a peculiar taste and smell, rather agreeable. If melted, it congeals at 80° Fahr. into a granular mass, having the consistence of butter. When exposed to pressure between the folds of blotting paper at 281°, it is resolved, according to Braconnot, into

Fusible at 111°. Fusible at 1264°. Fusible at 113°.
Goose fat.
Duck fat.
Turkey fat.

1634. Professor Johnston says that the solid fat of the goose is the same as that of man, and as that in olive oil and butter, and is named margarin; and that the solid fat of cattle, the sheep, the horse, the pig, differs from that of man, and is known by the name of stearin. The elain or fluid part of fat is identical in all animals, and is exactly the same thing as the fluid part of olive oil, of the oil of almonds, of many other fruits, and as the fluid part of butter; and it exists in a larger quantity in the fat of the pig than in that of the sheep, and hence it is that lard is always softer than suet.§

1635. I have often heard it expressed as a decided opinion, that it is impossible to fatten fowls with a profit. It seems to me strange that fowls should not make a return for their keep when the other animals on a farm do; so I cannot coincide with the opinion until I have seen the experiment fairly tried by a farmer; and, so far as my own limited experience instructs me, my opinion is in the opposite direction. An Englishman has sent me a calculation by which he endeavours to prove, that the eggs alone fur

nished by good and young hens would afford a reasonable profit; and as the particulars of the calculation are very feasible, and it is evident he has thought seriously on the subject, I give the results he renders so probable. "I consider," he says, "that one man, with the occasional assistance of his wife, is sufficient to take charge of 10,000 head of poultry, as he would only have to feed them and keep the place clean, and collect the eggs, &c. I do not intend to keep a breeding stock, as I am quite aware it would be both expensive and difficult to breed 3000 chickens every year. I would fatten and sell, a little before the moulting season, about 3000 of the old hens every year, including a proportionate number of cocks, and with the same money purchase as many pullets and young cocks, so in the end it would be the same as breeding them; and I do not see why the old hens should not be eatable and saleable at about three years of age. If the pullets purchased yearly were hatched about March or April, they would begin to lay about the beginning of November, and would lay on an average at least 4 eggs a-week each, from that time to the moulting season the following year. Supposing the hens to stop in the moult 6 weeks -most good hens will get over it in a month-and begin to lay again in November, I calculate they would lay on an average about 5 eggs a week each for about 4 weeks; and from this time during 8 weeks, which would be into the winter quarter, about 4 eggs a-week each; as also from the last time during 12 weeks, which would be into spring, 5 eggs a week each; and continuing forward and during the summer for 22 weeks, until the moulting season again, eggs a-week each.

1636. "I consider 12 acres of grass land, being 50 square feet for each fowl, quite sufficient space to roam in when they have an enclosed yard, well drained, with good surface, sheds for shelter from sun and rain, and green meat given them every day to supply the place of grass.

1637. "Supposing 1 peck of barley to weigh 14 lbs. each hen would have 18 oz. a week; and, taking the average number of eggs laid in a year between a pullet and a hen at 214, and allowing 2 oz. for each egg divested of its shell, the average would be 8 oz. a-week from each hen; and as, of course, that weight of corn would be required to produce the eggs, there would be left 10 oz. of corn a-week to support the life of each hen, supply insensible perspiration, and the manure. Besides the barley, I would allow 1 oz. of oats to each hen a-day, which I would consider sufficiently high feeding.

1638. "Supposing, also, that we reckon the wholesale price of the eggs, during the summer, at 1s. per 36, and in winter 1s. per 24, and in the other parts of the year a medium between these two prices: eggs sold by retail scarcely ever exceed, in the summer, from 24 to 28 for 1s., and in winter from 12 to 15 for that sum.

1642. In regard to the right of farmers shooting pigeons, it has been decided that "The tenant was found not justified in shooting his landlord's pigeons, on the allegation that they destroyed his crops. (Easton, May 18, 1832; 10 S. D. 542.)" * This decision proves the fallacy of a common opinion, that a farmer may shoot pigeons in the act of destroying his crops, provided he does not carry them away after they are shot. If this opinion were supported by law, any tenant that had a grudge against his landlord might lure his pigeons by various means to a particular spot, and there shoot them, and let them lie: but such conduct, it is clear, could not be tolerated.

ON THE RATIONALE OF THE FEEDING OF

ANIMALS.

1643. The action of the digestive organs

the appropriation of every particular constituent part of the food by those portions of the animal system most in want of them, is now better understood by the aid of chemistry, than when the former edition of this work was written. It is therefore necessary you should be made acquainted with what has been ascertained of the nature of the food raised on farms for the use of animals, that you may be enabled the better to understand the art of feeding those animals to the best possible advantage; and the properties of their food can only be understood from a previous knowledge of the functions performed by the digestive organs of the different animals fattened on the farm.

1644. The domesticated animals of the farm are all comprehended in two of the great divisions of animated nature, namely, quadrupeds and birds. Of the quadrupeds, they are all embraced under one class, the mammalia, or those which suckle their young; and of this class they occupy two sub-classes,-one the ruminants, having compound stomachs, and the other having simple stomachs. The ox, the sheep, the goat, have compound stomachs; the horse, the pig, the ass, the mule, the dog, the cat, have simple stomachs. Of the birds, the few members of this family raised on the farm occupy both the great divisions of it, namely, land and water birds. The common fowl, the turkey, the peacock, the guinea-fowl, are the land birds; the goose and duck are the water birds.

1645. Differing as these quadrupeds and birds do in external appearance, their digestive organs are nevertheless very similarly constituted, thereby indicating that the same kind of food will maintain alike all the animals of the farm. These organs consist of the oesophagus, the stomach, and the large and small intestines, which last are divided into the duodenum, the jejunum, the ileum, the cæcum, the colon, and the rectum.

1646. The functions of these several parts are, of the oesophagus or meatpipe to convey the masticated food, mixed with a large quantity of saliva, from the mouth to the stomach. The stomach

“An

digests the food received in this state, and reduces it to a finer state of division, by means, it is supposed, of the action of a fluid which is exuded from the coats of the stomach during the process of digestion, and the fluid has been supposed to be an acid, and that the hydrochloric. But Dr R. D. Thomson doubts that digestion is effected by means of an acid. acid certainly makes its appearance in the stomach," he remarks, "when food is present; but whether this acid takes any part in the digestion or solution, is still disputed. During the digestion of vegetable food in pigs, whose stomachs bear a close resemblance to those of man, I have always found a volatile acid present in minute quantities, which corresponded with the properties of acetic acid; but it is the only acid which distils over from the liquor of the stomach at a temperature of 212°. The filtered liquid of the stomach, under such circumstances, contains no hydrochloric acid, but an acid which is either lactic, or corresponds very closely with it." After making attempts to discover the hydrochloric acid, he concludes, -"I regret, therefore, to be obliged to infer, that the commonly received view of digestion is scarcely admissible. It is perhaps safer to conclude that there is a deficiency of knowledge on this important subject; and that not only do we require to possess a few facts additional, before we can be said to understand the process, but we want an entirely new basis on which to found a theory of digestion. It seems highly probable, from my own observation, that the starch of food is converted into sugar, and that this again passes into simpler forms, as alcohol-perhaps acetic acid or lactic acid-by a kind of substitution so well explained by the theory of Dumas, and finally into gaseous forms, as carbonic acid and vapour of water, or after some such fashion as suggested by Liebig.

The most superficial observer must have noticed that digestion is something more than a mere chemical action. Does not the famished man feel refreshed after eating, and does not the pulse beat quicker when food has been swallowed? There is, therefore, a nervous action induced, the nature of which it is only wise to admit we do not as yet understand."*

The duodenum is the commencement of the small intestines, and receives the food from the stomach in the form of chyme, through the pyloric duct. In its passage through the duodenum, the food receives the pancreatic juice from the duct connected with the pancreas or sweetbread, and bile from the bile-duct of the liver. Here these fluids effect a change of the chyme into chyle-the pancreatic juice converting one portion into a white, thick, milky fluid, and the bile into a yellow pultaceous mass. The next intestine, the jejunum, conveys the reduced food onwards, acts upon it, and retains it only a certain time, and on this account is called the empty-gut. There is little difference between this intestine and the next, the ileum. Both intestines are much convoluted, in order to lessen the pace of the food through them, until the great system of absorbents connected with the mysentery, shall have extracted the nutritive portion of the food or chyle from the innutritious, and carried it to the circulating system, to be distributed over every part of the body. The small intestine, the ileum, terminates in the large intestine, the cæcum or blind-gut, by a valve which prevents the return of its contents. The large intestines, the cæcum and colon, are destined to serve as a store-house for all that portion of the food which is of no use to the system, and which is usually known under the names of dung and fæces; but a portion of the absorbents have their vessels also in these, to extract all the nourishment possible to be obtained from the food, before it finally leaves the body. The rectum or straight-gut constitutes the lower termination of the abdominal viscera, and is the receptacle for the dung before it is ejected by the anus. Both the duodenum and rectum are straight, because it is not necessary that their contents should remain in them.

1647. The œsophagus of the horse enters the stomach in a somewhat curved direction, to prevent the regurgitation of the food. The stomach is globular, has four coats, and is small, not half so large as that of the human being compared with the bulk of the body. "The successive contraction of each part of the stomach, by producing a series of folds or wrinkles, serves to agitate the alimentary mass,

and, by bringing every part of it in its time to the surface, to expose it to the influence of the gastric juice; while at the same time the whole of the contents are gradually propelled forwards, from the orifice which is connected with the œsophagus to that by which they are discharged." The duodenum in man is so named because it is twelve finger-breadths in length; in the horse it is nearly two feet in length, and is therefore misnamed. The pancreatic secretion and the bile are received into the duodenum about fivo inches from its commencement. The jejunum and ileum are very little distinguishable in the horse, the former being two-fifths, and the latter three-fifths of their united lengths, and both would contain eleven gallons of fluid. Of the large intestines, the cæcum is the first, and it is called the blind-gut because it has but one opening; and any thing that passes into it, having reached the blind or closed end, must return in order to escape. The ileum pierces it at right angles, and is furnished with a valve. It is principally the fluid part of the food which enters the cæcum. A horse will at one time drink a great deal more than his stomach will contain; and whatever quantity he drinks, does not remain in the stomach or small intestines, but passes on to the cæcum, and is there retained, as in a reservoir, to supply the wants of the system. cæcum holds four gallons. The colon forms a very large portion of the large intestines, being capable of containing twelve gallons of liquid. Along the outside of both cæcum and colon run three strong bands, each of them shorter than the intestine, thus puckering them up, and forming them into sets of cells which detain the food in them for a very long time; and in order that, during this detention, all the nutriment may be extracted, they are largely supplied with blood-vessels and absorbents. At the termination of the colon commences the rectum or straightgut, and though much smaller than the colon, is capable of containing three gallons of water. It has no bands, so that the passage of the fæces may not be retarded in it; but the sphincter muscles of the anus prevent the dropping of the dung until the horse is disposed voluntarily to expel it, which is effected by the efforts of the animal, assisted by the mus

The