220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



for a portion of the table luxuries? Broilers for breakfast, 

 roasts for dinner, salads for supper, turkey for special feast 

 days, goose for Christmas, ducks when we can afTord them, 

 and eggs all the year round is the bill of fare our poultry 

 offers. In the past, and, I venture to offer, in the present, 

 the chicken and the egg have been the ever ready means of 

 barter which has secured the ever needful tea, coffee, and 

 their sweetening. What necessaries that could not otherwise 

 be bought from the income on the staple crops has the house- 

 wife not purchased with her pin money furnished by the hen? 

 Until the last few years, when a comparatively few men, 

 envious of sharing with the farmers' wives part of the untold 

 millions donated by hens to the public wealth, have com- 

 menced keeping poultry in spite of the derision of their 

 neighbors, the poultry business, being despised as being be- 

 neath the dignity of a farmer's attention, has been wholly in 

 the hands of the already overworked housewife, and carried 

 on with the investment of a gift of a setting of eggs, an un- 

 used corner in some shed, some scraps from the table, and a 

 little grain that has scattered or never would be missed from 

 the granary. 



If farm poultry produces the wealth it does under these 

 conditions, with the slight attention it now receives, may we 

 not reasonably expect that with some forethought the pro- 

 duction may be doubled, trebled, or even quadrupled without 

 perceptibly adding to the burdens of the farm? On w^hat 

 farm could not the food and shelter capacity be increased to 

 accommodate double the number now on it? 



Ancient fable tells us that the hen that laid the golden egg 

 was killed in the lust of the owner for more gold. In seeking 

 to double the amount produced, the suggestion arises as to 

 whether the market, the demand, would be such that prices 

 would not fall below profitable production. With beef con- 

 tinually going higher, with its prices controlled by the Chi- 

 cago market, some substitute that can be cheaply produced 

 within the reach of the working people must be supplied. 

 The albuminous constituent of our daily ration is indispensa- 

 ble, and if not provided in one form must be sought in an- 

 other. The smaller animals, sheep, swine, and poultry, are 

 destined to take the lead. If the farmer cannot supply the 

 want, the villager, using the grains produced on the farm. 



