POULTRY. 107 



hours, and want their breakfast very early in the morning. 

 For laying fowls, animal food is a necessity. 



3. Want of lime. This in some shape should be kept always 

 at hand ; young chicks eat it freely to assist in the formation of 

 bone ; and old fowls to repair waste, and form the egg-shell. 

 Lime and sand, mixed as for plastering, and when dry broken 

 up, is perhaps the most convenient way of supplying this want. 



4. Unclean quarters — where droppings and feathers are left 

 to accumulate for years: and where the roost and walls are 

 filled with vermin. The hennery, however situated, should be 

 thoroughly cleaned out twice a year, and the roost and sides 

 whitewashed. Where the quarters are confined, fresh sand 

 should be liberally sprinkled over the floor, and the nests be 

 renewed several times in the season. A broad, shallow box of 

 dry sand and ashes for wallowing is a necessity in every hen- 

 house. 



5. Cold quarters in winter. This effectually undermines 

 health, and produces immediate as well as remote evil effects ; 

 empty nests through the winter, tardy laying in the spring, a 

 poor worthless carcass, and feeble chicks. 



6. Too many eggs under the sitting hen. In March nine, 

 in April eleven, in May thirteen, are as many as medium-sized 

 fowls can keep at the proper heat. More may hatch, but they 

 will not pay in the end. Eggs kept uniformly at the proper 

 heat will hatch a day earlier, and the brood will come to 

 maturity a month earlier. 



These hints might be elaborated indefinitely ; but it wouM be 

 out of place in a report of a Committee. 



For the Committee, J. H. Temple. 



Statement of J. H. Temple. 

 The following statement covers a period of six months, from 

 March to September. Number of fowls, twenty ; comprising 

 five full-blood white Leghorns, five Plymouth Rocks, and the 

 balance a cross between the two breeds. 



Income. 



Number of eggs laid in the 6 mos., 137 dozen. 



137 dozen, at 33 cents amount to, . . . $45 20 



Chicks sold, . . . . . . . 4 64 



30 chicks on hand at 60 cents, . . . 18 00 



$67 85 



