148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



the last census shows a greater number of dollars and cents 

 in poultry and its products in that State than in pork. 



The question was asked just as we were adjourning this 

 morning, if we knew of any woman who had been successful 

 in the cultivation of poultry. This same census states the fact 

 that five millions and six hundred thousand farms reported the 

 growing of poultry. We all are familiar with the fact that the 

 largest amount of poultry grown upon the farms, is grown by 

 the women, and if the lords of creation ever reach that point 

 where they will permit every dollar which comes from poultry 

 grown by women to go to them rather than appropriating it 

 themselves, the next census would show seven or eight hun- 

 dred millions of dollars credited to poultry grown by women. 

 Women are most successful in the business. The Board of 

 Trade and Commerce, of New York, credited five hundred 

 and twenty millions of dollars last year to poultry and its 

 products, and more than one-half of all this has been produced 

 by the hand and physical labor of women and children through- 

 out the country. Poultry is a product that any child over ten 

 years of age can produce, and a product which our old grand- 

 fathers and grandmothers can indulge in to their profit. 



Two conditions of poultry are observed. We discussed 

 this morning the utility side of poultry. In dealing with the 

 utility side of poultry, as generally spoken of, people say that 

 it is the expectation that a hen will lay more than enough eggs 

 to pay for its feed and keep. But that is not the whole story. 

 Where would our Short-horn cattle, our Herefords, our De- 

 vons, and our Plymouth Rocks be if it had not been for the 

 fanciers who follow the show-room? Fanciers whose effort 

 has been constant all the while to increase the quality of the 

 stock, and who have increased the quantity of the product 

 from about twenty-five or thirty eggs to a hen thirty years 

 ago to a point, according to the last census, of over seventy. 

 The only difference between the utility hen that lays eggs and 

 the show-room hen is the same difference that exists between 

 our daughters and our wives at home doing their work and 

 when they are dressed up to go to church. Then they are on 

 dress parade. Poultry in the show-room must be in the finest 

 condition in order to win prizes. Let me cite to you what J 

 know of one -Wyandotte hen, in her seventh year, a hen which 

 has won dozens of prizes in the show room. She is a celebrated 



