oo MAINE STATE SOCIETY. 



potatoes, cabljages, and sucli like vegetables cooked, are very 

 excellent for them. 



I find the Brown India goose and the African goose tp lay 

 two and sometimes three litters of c^gs in a year. The Br 

 men geese have never laid but one litter in a season with me. 



Statement of F. Crawford. 



Brama Pootras, Chicks eleve7i weeks old. This breed of 

 hens I consider superior to all others I have ever raised for 

 laying, and also for size, and being large bodies and small 

 wings, are easily fenced from the field or garden. A picket 

 fence four feet high, is ample to keep them enclosed, as they 

 cannot fly over it. The mother of tliese chicks was a last sum- 

 mer chick ; commenced laying about last Thanksgiving time, 

 and has laid almost constantly since ; she lias laid fifty-nine 

 eggs in sixty consecutive days this summer; eggs not quite as 

 large as Shanghai's. 



Mixed Breed, four and a half months old. Very fair layers j 

 first rate breeders. 



Shanghai. Good layers, large, and easily fenced. 



Bantams, tiDo years old. Fancy hens; fair layers. 



Spangled Poland. First rate layers ; seldom want to set 

 before three years old. 



Common Ducks. Large size, and flesh very delicate; good 

 kind for market. 



Feed. I find hens, like all other animals, do better on vari- 

 ety of feed, than on one kind altogether. My hens lay double 

 the eggs when fed with corn and barley, than when fed ou 

 cither alone ; oats are a good substitute when barley cannot 

 be obtained. I give my hens as often as once a week, some 

 kind of animal food, such as tallow scraps or beeves liver, and 

 find it beneficial. When fed in this way, they may be shut up 

 in a small yard, if necessary to keep them so, and they will lay 

 equally as well, as when at liberty. In fattening, they do 

 much better when shut up in a dark place ; good, clean, sweet 

 food and as much as they will eat and no more is important. 

 Boiled rice or dough, made of corn meal, is as good as any 

 thing for feed; plenty of clean water is also important. They 



