50 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



ing "from the correspondence of the Western BuraV^: " What a 

 Woman has done. In the year 1880 there were sold from thirty 

 hens 3,500 eggs, an average of 116 apiece. Besides this fifteen 

 fowls were added to the stock and thirty-three were marketed. 

 No account was made of the fowls and eggs consumed by a family 

 of four, of the eggs given to five calves and four cats, nor of those 

 which were set." And this omission to keep the record of eggs 

 set, and of those used in the family, we see almost daily in the 

 reports of would-be statisticians. 



If the four persons ate three eggs a day, which is a moderate 

 estimate, — as our family of five eat four and a half daily, — they 

 must have consumed 1,095: and if each calf ate ten eggs and each 

 cat ten, — which you will agree is a very miserly allowance, — the 

 whole number was 1,185; and if that family ate seven fowls apiece 

 during the year, — which is a little less than our average, — the 

 writer must have used about 170 eggs for sitting, which makes a 

 total of 1,355 eggs, which to her mind are of "no account." This 

 would make the number of eggs laid by those thirty hens 4,85$, 

 or 161| each, which is a much larger average than falls to most 

 poultry keepers. 



Another difSculty is the trouble of measuring the food furnished 

 by the farm; but we did it repeatedly until we found a fair aver- 

 age. In our records no account is kept of the value of the 

 manure; but if it had been it would greatly increase the apparent 

 net profits. Some think this about pays for cost of food, but we 

 doubt if it would pay more than half. 



We keep an account of every egg laid, set, hatched, sold, eaten, 

 or given away, and reckon all used in the family at the average 

 selling price. Also of the chickens: the book shows the number 

 hatched, lost, raised, sold, eaten, or given away, with the average 

 market price of all used for home consumption. 



In 1866 we find only the record of eggs laid, which was 3,168, 

 but the number of hens is not given. In 1867 we have the follow- 

 ing entry: 3,584 eggs laid, about forty hens, — that is, forty hens 

 on the first of April, — and the number was gradually reduced to 

 about twenty by the first of November, and ' increased again by 

 pullets during the winter to the original number. 



In 1868 the total number of eggs was 3,082; in 1869, 2,110; 

 1870 to 1873 no record at all; in 1873, 2,464; 1874, 3,778. 



The year ending March 31, 1875, total value of eggs, $69.32; 



