No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 42$ 



for the purpose of buying them. He also made an offer, of the same 

 average price for twenty-five more, which would have been |178.95 

 each, or |4,473.75 for the twenty-five; this, with the former sale, 

 would have given him for fortj^-four birds, $7,873.75. Now where 

 is the high price for cows? There are thousands of birds sold yearly 

 for from $5 to |50, each, and thousands of dozens of eggs at from 

 |2 to |10. I have sold them at |15 per setting of thirteen. 



I am not advocating farmers taking up the breeding of fancy 

 fowls as a farming product, nor would I have them believe that if 

 they did they would sell them at the prices just named. I would, 

 however, urge them to breed purebred fowls of some one of the 

 many varieties we now have, knowing they would receive far 

 more profit from them than they could from so-called barnyard 

 fowls. We all admire the beautiful in form and color, and when both 

 are combined in one object, be in cow or chicken, it is especially to 

 be admired. It is said, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever;" this being 

 so, the farmer, fortunate enough to possess a flock of beautiful 

 fowls, would be kept in everlasting ecstacies. A flock of fowls, uni- 

 form in color and shape, are attractive, of whatever variety or color 

 they may be. 



False ideas as to the income to be derived from poultry is too 

 often exploited in our poultry papers. These writers would lead 

 us to believe that all we had. to do would be to get a few hundred 

 hens and our fortune would be made. It would be a misfortune 

 for any one having a business that was returning him a fair income 

 to quit it and take up poultry as a single means of making a living, 

 unless he had studied the hen and kept them in sufficient quanti- 

 ties to assure him to a reasonable extent that it would be a success; 

 without this knowledge he would be about as he would be in taking 

 up a trade that he knew nothing about. The keeping of large flocks 

 of fowls in comparatively limited quarters, requires the utmost care 

 and strict attention to every detail. It is the last business a lazy 

 man should undertake, for in this eternal vigilance is the price of 

 success. 



The profits derived from poultry is governed largely by the care 

 and proper housing given it, as it would be that from any other 

 live stock. Does poultry receive the same care and attention given 

 other stock on the farm? We fear not; at least, not by the aver- 

 age farmer. Poultry allowed to shift for itself, left to roost in 

 the trees and on the fences, or, what is worse, in houses full of 

 cracks, that admit of draughts, and with leaky roofs, and cleaned 

 but once or twice a year; and, if fed and watered at all, only at 

 irregular times and in uncertain quantities, cannot be expected to 

 produce eggs in satisfactory numbers. As well ought we expect a 

 cow to keep in good condition and give a paying return in milk and 

 butter when allowed only the shelter of a straw stack and fed on 

 corn stalks. It requires us to give our best attention to any busi- 

 ness to make it a success. 



Dairying and stock raising is considered by the majority the best 

 and surest way of permanently maintaining the fertility of the 

 farm. This may be and, no doubt, is true in many cases, and it 

 is often the only profit worth speaking of that they derive from 

 the dairy, and it might be considered no small profit, if by it they 



