88 THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUM, REPORT OF THE 



Dairyman. — When did you change your mind? 



Mr. Van Dresser. — Now, this is a busy earth. In order to be suc- 

 cessful in the poultry business you must secure a hen that is busy with 

 a laying conformation. It is impossible to be successful in the poultry 

 business without having a hen for the purpose, having a hen of the 

 dairy type. It is as necessary as it is to have a cow of the dairy type. 

 Select a hen of the right shape. She wants to be long from the neck to 

 the back; built in that way she has room for the ovaries. I have seen a 

 lot of hens three years of age that never had laid an egg. In the old 

 days I thought, as many farmers do to-day, that the hen was beneath 

 our dignity. I had an idea it took something as large as a cow to make 

 a dollar out of labor, but it does not; a hen can earn a dollar as quickly 

 and as easily as a cow. And then another thin'g, we did not gather 

 the eggs, we thought that was beneath our dignity too, and then once 

 in a while our wives would call our attention to the eggs, and we 

 would put our basket on our arm and go down into the field and in 

 the meadow and likely as not find a hen setting (we did not use to 

 set our hens, we let them set themselves), and we would shoo her off, 

 take the eggs and go to the grocery store, but we never knew what 

 we had got in the basket we carried; sometimes we had eggs and 

 sometimes we had chickens, and sometimes we had something else. 

 The grocer took that into consideration and the prices were accordingly. 

 We did not get a pittance for the eggs, and now eggs are fifty cents a 

 dozen in New York every day. I think there is great dignity in labor; 

 labor develops all the good there is in a man, and if you want to be on 

 top you have got to be up and doing all the time. 



Dairyman. — What do you feed your hens? 



Mr. Van Dresser. — In the morning peas and oats in a litter of straw 

 four inches deep on the floor; at noon a mash composed of 100 pounds 

 of corn meal; 100 pounds of wheat middlings; 50 pounds of wheat bran; 

 30 pounds of alfalfa; "25 pounds of meat scraps, mix that ah together 

 with skim milk and bring it to a boil. In the evening their feed is 

 buckwheat or corn meal. It is a very easy matter, if we just think we 

 will know what to feed. Sevuity-l'our per cent, of the whole egg is 

 water. See the great necessity of good water all the time — nice, fresh, 

 clean water. Fourteen per cent, of the egg is albumen. How often 

 does a housewife in breaking an egg hold it up and find the white is 

 water, the yolk is pale. What is the matter? There is a lack of 

 protein in the food. Peas and oats are the best thing for a laying hen 

 that we have ever fed. Oats have got the vim; oats will make a hen lay. 

 Then 12j/£ per cent, of an egg is fat. We must feed something rich in 

 fat; corn or buckwheat. 



Q. How many hens would you keep together? 



A. Fifty hens in a pen. 



Q. Which is the best breed? 

 A. We keep White Leghorn, single comb. She wants to be feminine 

 in her make up. She carries her egg basket right with her, and if 

 you abuse a hen she will hold up her milk as much as a dairy cow. 



