222 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



that quality which makes successful men, comes from the 

 regular attentions which growing animals must have; and 

 love, patience, and fidelity to the dumb creatures which give 

 up their lives for their owner's comfort will surely make 

 a deep impress on their growing characters for the better. 

 The boy's profits will help to clothe or educate him, or pos- 

 sibly be laid aside for the future successful business life that 

 the poultry business has trained him into. What man among 

 us has not had a touch of the " chicken fever"? The boys' 

 turn has come. Let them improve it. 



Being a man, I naturally speak of the boy's chance first. 

 The boys need letting into the business; the girls have always 

 been in. If we encourage the boys by giving them a start, 

 in houses, land, and well-appointed outfit, should we not give 

 the girls the same chance? We must remember that the girls 

 and their mothers have built up the business on no capital. 

 What success will they not have when they are permitted to 

 turn back a portion of their earnings as capital? Can not a 

 portion of the funds ordinarily devoted to starting the boys 

 in lines already overcrowded be loaned them for a time? 

 They will pay it back. Can not the hired man be spared to 

 them at regular intervals to do the heavy work? Would not 

 a successful poultry plant make the daughter independent 

 and keep her from trying to crowd into one of the many 

 lines now overcrowded by her sisters should the occasion un- 

 fortunately require? Will she not be the better fitted by the 

 business details of poultry keeping fof the housewife's duties? 



The enormous reproductive powers of the hen as com- 

 pared with those of the other domesticated animals renders 

 the stocking of a poultry plant comparatively easy and in- 

 expensive. The number of young and adults that can be 

 cared for with the housing and labor at hand determine the 

 size of the poultry plant. The food supply of the farm is 

 usually a secondary matter. There is sufficient stock now 

 on our farms to increase the numbers to any desirable capacity 

 should all eggs be saved and the usual proportion hatched, 

 but, remembering that better quality must be gained to en- 

 large and hold the market, there may be some delay in im- 

 proving it. There is also sufficient thoroughbred stock in 

 breeders' hands to allow of any moderate expansion that may 

 reasonably be expected. 



