Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-06-15

and around villages and cities. They are
very good fowl to lay and are extremely
hardy, and for mothers they are without a
rival. A game hen with brood Of chick
ems Is a wariko piece and will defend them
successfully against most any kind OF foe.
They have very plump forms, especially
the breast, and have been bred so as to re-
tain their warlike disposition as they were
originally found in their wild state and,
like the partridge, are devoid Of any inter
nal fat.
In the miscellaneous class we have tue
Frizzles, Silkles, Creepers, Rumples, etc,
more ornamental than useful, and the d.
minutive Bantam, great in his own estima-
ton, but to its owner more ornamental
than profitable; the only profit that can he
derived from them is in keeping the gar
den clear of many kinds Of injurious in
sects. This they will do without damaging
any of the growing plants, and for good,
ld-fashioned chicken pie they stand pre-
eminent. This long list comprises all the
varieties that we have now, and which is
the best is matter of choice left optional
to the fancier, but as far as my own choice
is concerned 1 would prefer the Asiatics
and Leghorns crossed. You take light
Brahma cock and white Leghorn hen and
you will get chick of good size, generally
pure white in color, and excellent for the
table or eggs. Also cross with the par
fridge Cochin and brown Leghorn will give
you equally as good bird and by COM
biniug two varieties of pure fowls almost
any kind may he produced, and many of
them will be elegant specimens and will be
more profitable than any simple breed.
REARING CHICKENS.
In rearing chickens it is necessary TO
have some fixed idea of what you want and
what the demands of the market are, where
you intend TO dispose of your surplus stock (;
then procure some good fowls, pure bred
are the best, aud if the hens are mongrels,
get full blooded male, even If he does
cost double or treble what mongrel can
be procured for; set the eggs and watch
for results. The process Of incubation is
very interesting, and no product of animal
life is more marvellous to the thinking
mind, and as few have more than a super
fetal idea of the operation, cannot for
bear giving it moments thought "At
the close of the third day after the hen is
set on the eggs, the lineaments of the
chicks body family appear. The heart be-
gins to beat the fourth day. At the end OF
the fifth day the wings and brain globules
show. The liver is seen on the sixth day,
when the bill appears also. On the tenth
day the feathers begin to show and on the
eleventh day the eyes appear. On the four
teenth the stomach and lungs are perfected.
On the fifteenth or sixteenth day tie bill
opens often. At the eighteenth day il
peeps aud is growing rapidly stronger, an d
breaks from its shell on the twenty-f first
day." This is the process of incubation,
and how marvellous it is that all the parts
of an animals body should be concealed
within the thin, porous shell of an egg,
which requires nothing but heat TO unfold
and mature it into active life; and the mo-
ment it is Matched, it is heavier than the
egg was before.
Young chicks require feeding OMEN, and
just what they will eat up clean, and by
| giving them fine middlings and Indian
meal mixed they will grow rapidly if KEEP
| free from lice, as these are the worst enemy
that attack them while young. 1 have sue
| ceeded in Kidding nj other and chicks by
scattering dry sulphur among the feather:
| on the breast and under side of the wing,
| of the mother after the chicks are all hatch.
| ed, and before they are removed from the
nest. This will prove eHectual for time
or until new supply is hatched, when thu
remedy must be repeated.