52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



neighbors, who advised me to go away from home and to go 

 where there was more money to be made. At one time I thought 

 of doing so. Bujt as I looked over the situation I could not see 

 much money coming in in the future, and I knew that I worked 

 hard enough for anyone. After thinking the matter all over, 

 however, I concluded to try a little experiment on my own ac- 

 count, that of raising chickens. I guess the first year I had 

 about seventy-five, and I put them in flour barrels. That was 

 the best coop that my finances could afford at that time. That 

 fall and winter I went in to teach school so as to raise a little 

 revenue in order to build m.e a few coops. I think I built two 

 the first year, six by nine. These happened to succeed pretty 

 well, for I did not know anything about the business, and I 

 had some good luck the next year. I increased my flocks, and 

 the flour barrels gave place to more pretentious shoe boxes for 

 chicken-coops. 1 used to take shoe boxes that cost five cents, 

 and take a couple of boards off the top, and nail one each side 

 in such a way as to give them a little pitch, and put those out. 

 I found that they answered reasonably well. Afterwards, 

 having fairly good luck, I began to increase somewhat, and 

 built a little better form of coop, so that at the present time I 

 have about sixty houses scattered over my plant, the whole 

 thing being run on the colony plan, including about one hun- 

 dred and seventy-five coops. I do not know whether any of you 

 are familiar with farm poultry. This is a picture of my coops. 

 It is a two pitched coop, about two feet and a half to three 

 feet square, with a window in front and a window light in 

 each end. And these coops are scattered over the field. I 

 find that my chickens grow pretty well. I feel very delicate 

 about speaking at all, especially in the presence of Dr. Wood, 

 because he is an authority on this subject. He has made 

 poultry diseases and poultry culture a study, while I have 

 blundered along imperfectly, and have had to try a thing to 

 find out whether it was good or not before I adopted it. I 

 carry on my business about in this way. I still use hens for 

 hatching nearly altogether, although I have two or three 

 machines, but I still depend principally upon the old hen. We, 

 in our neighborhood, plan to hatch our chicks either about the 

 last half of March, or during April, and perhaps into May, if 

 we have to get out a required number. I hatch, myself, about 

 three thousand, or a trifle better, with the idea v/holly, you 



