GRASS-RANGES FOR FOWLS. 129 



these matters, the better. If to shut up fowls is a stern 

 necessity, then supply them with fresh ranges of grass every 

 two or three weeks, if possible. A dollar or two spent in this 

 cheap fencing will be repaid many times before the end of 

 the season. 



In conclusion, we would thank all who contributed to 

 make our department a success. To farmers we would say, 

 by all means encourage the love of poultry in your boys and 

 girls. It will add to the charm of the old homestead, it will 

 educate their aesthetic taste, it will make them better fitted 

 to enjoy the healthful and innocent pursuits of country life 

 hereafter. It will make the boys better farmers, better 

 breeders of stock, and will multiply in many ways their 

 sources of enjoyment and profit. 



Edmund Rodman, Chairman. 



WORCESTER WEST. 



[FrotQ the Report of the Committee.] 



Your Committee expected to see an improvement in keep- 

 ing with the good judgment of the progressive farmers of 

 this part of Worcester County ; but those of them who had 

 been familiar with the exhibitions for many years were not 

 prepared to see such a vast increase in numbers and quality, 

 or so much interest manifested by the general public, who 

 pay their gate-money to see the fair. Much of the time it' 

 was difficult to move about among the crowd of eager ques- 

 tioners. 



Some farmers and their families have known for years of 

 the profit of well-cared-for poultry ; but until periodicals 

 came to be published treating of poultry-raising and its 

 profits especially, and a few secretaries of agricultural socie- 

 ties devoted a share of their official time to the subject, the 

 knowledge was very limited. It is a well-authenticated fact, 

 that the poultry interest is one of the foremost of the farm- 

 er's interests ; and though within a few years many wise ones 

 have predicted that " the fever " was about burnt out, &c., 

 still there is no branch of the farmer's business that is in- 

 creasing so rapidly, or that has more room to continue its 

 17 



