40 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



and in Massachusetts. I had to begin forty years ago, at ten 

 dollars a month and my board. I had to save my money, 

 little by little, until I got enough to buy a farm. So these 

 young men, when they come out of college, do not cofae out 

 with a fortune ; they must go to work somewhere, and save 

 the cents and the dollars, and by-and-by they can buy a farm. 

 They do not all come out of school or college the owners of 

 farms : they have got to earn farms. Tliat is the way my 

 boys have to do, and what I had to do. 

 Adjourned to 2 p. m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The Convention was called to order at 2 o'clock, and the 

 President introduced as the first speaker, Miss Mary H. 

 Reed, of Amenia, N. Y. 



OUR EXPERIENCE WITH CHICKENS ; OR PRACTICAL 

 LESSONS IN POULTRY RAISING. 



By Miss Mary H. Reed, Amenia, N. Y. 



"From the shell to chicken-pie, or from the cradle to the grave," 

 is the subject of this paper ; and it is intended for beginners in 

 the poultry business, who need to know the details of the work, 

 who have already small flocks of common fowls and wish to im- 

 prove them, or who intend to purchase and " try their luck." 

 This is not to be a recital of " great profit," or' "great success," 

 from fancy prices for thorough-breds, but a simple account of 

 what has been done with ordinary stock, and good care, for a 

 series of years, by one who has had at the same time many 

 household duties. 



It is a disputed point among philosophers which was first, the 

 hen or the egg. But is it not quite plain to this audience that the 

 hen must have been first — else how could the egg have been 

 hatched ? By an incubator — some of you may reply — but unless 

 Eve was a Frenchwoman we doubt if she had such troublesome 

 apparatus in her garden. 



As in this advanced age of the world we can buy either eggs or 



