rOULTRY AND EGGS. 233 



piece of 1:111(1 that had been neglected and cropped for years 

 without fertilization. Other pieces of land on the same 

 farm, that have been cultivated and manured within two or 

 three years, produced hardly enough grass to sustain the 

 grasshop[)ers that had flocked to them as a feeding ground. 



If the first flock of chicks have had abundance of nutritious 

 food, the young cocks arc ready for broilers by June 10, 

 when they will dress five "pounds to the pair, and, at the usual 

 market price at that season, will sell at 40 cents per pound, 

 or $1 each. The cost of feedinnj them to this aije has not 

 exceeded 25 cents each, which leaves a net profit of 75 cents 

 for every chicken. The later broods will not sell as tiivora- 

 bly, but will bring 25 to 35 cents per pound, until at Thanks- 

 giving they will sell at 20 cents per pound. Still at this 

 latter price there is profit in raising them, as they can bo 

 raised to six months old for 6 cents per pound, live 

 weii[ht. 



The pullets hatched April 1 will begin to show their red 

 combs and start laying about the 1st of October, while the 

 old hens have taken in their signs till after the holidays. 

 The pullets must be taken to their winter quarters before the 

 cold winds of November come on, as they will lay earlier 

 and better for it. The old hens should be killed oft\ or there 

 must be new quarters prepared for the .young pullets. Hens 

 may be kept through two winters with profit, though we 

 must rely on those April pullets for eggs to make the Thanks- 

 giving puddings and pies. 



Don't crowd over thirty hens or pullets into each of the 

 apartments in the henhouse, as you will receive more esr^'s 

 from twenty-five to thirty than from forty to fifty in the same 

 room. Remember this. It is one of the important points in 

 keeping fowls for a profit. It has caused more disastrous 

 failures and has discouraged more poultrymen than any 

 other one thing, excepting incubators. Many people have 

 an idea that one hundred hens will give four times as much 

 profit as twenty-five. Well they will, but they must be 

 kept under as favorable conditions. They must have four 

 times the room, be kept in four flocks, given four times the 

 care and food, and then they will pay you in the same pro- 

 portion as the smaller number. If you desire to keep more 



