The antiquated idea that fowls on a farm did mischief to the crops has been proved to be false; for if the grain is sown as deeply as it should be, they cannot reach it by scratching; and, besides, they greatly prefer worms and insects. Mr. Mechi says, "commend me to poultry as the farmer's best friend," and considers the value of fowls, in destroying the vast number of worms, grubs, flies, beetles, insects, larvae, &c., which they devour, as incalculable; and the same may be said as to their destruction of the seeds of weeds. They also consume large quantities of kitchen and table refuse, which is generally otherwise wasted, and often allowed to decay and become a source of disease, or at least of impurity. The enormous prices paid at the poultry shows of 1852 and 1853 for fancy fowls gave a new impulse to poultry-keeping; and many persons who formerly thought the management of poultry beneath their attention, now superintend their yards. Mrs. Ferguson Blair, now the Hon. Mrs. Arbuthnot, the authoress of the "Henwife," whose experience may be judged by the fact that she gained in four years upwards of 460 prizes in England and Scotland, and personally superintended the management of forty separate yards, in which above 1,000 chickens were hatched annually, says:-- "I began to breed poultry for amusement only, then for exhibition, and lastly, was glad to take the trouble to make it pay, and do not like my poultry-yard less because it is not a loss. It is impossible to imagine any occupation more suited to a lady, living in the country, than that of poultry rearing. If she has any superfluous affection to bestow, let it be on her chicken-kind and it will be returned cent. per cent. Are you a lover of nature? come with me and view, with delighted gaze, her chosen dyes. Are you a utilitarian? rejoice in such an increase of the people's food. Are you a philanthropist? be grateful that yours has been the privilege to afford a _possible_ pleasure to the poor man, to whom so many are _impossible_. Such we often find fond of poultry--no mean judges of it, and frequently successful in exhibition. A poor man's pleasure in victory is, at least, as great as that of his richer brother. Let him, then, have the field whereon to fight for it. Encourage village poultry-shows, not only by your patronage, but also by your presence. A taste for such may save many from dissipation and much evil; no man can win poultry honours and haunt the taproom too." For those who desire to encourage a taste for poultry keeping in young people, and their humbler neighbours, we would recommend our smaller work on the subject as a suitable present.[1]