76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



made a failure of about everything that they have ever under- 

 taken, who think they will try their luck at poultry keeping, 

 and some who from ill health or some other cause seek in car- 

 rying on the poultry business a change and outdoor life or 

 something of that sort. 



Now do you know that a woman can always talk better if 

 she can talk back, and if you will do as you did this afternoon, 

 ask questions, I am sure it will be more interesting. The 

 ground has been pretty thoroughly covered as to diflferent 

 methods of keeping and feeding poultry, and I am left to cover 

 only such points as I can recall that have not been already 

 touched upon, so that anything I say that is different from 

 what you have heard this afternoon, why you must simply take 

 your choice. 



Poultry keeping is naturally divided into three branches, 

 the rearing of poultry, and the housing, and the feeding. All 

 of those three branches have been touched upon. But there is 

 another thing besides those three branches that you will need 

 to consider, and that is whether you are keeping poultry for 

 market, or whether you would keep poultry from fancy, and 

 that is the standard of excellence of your fowls. For myself, 

 I have never kept market poultry. I do not know much about 

 that branch of it, except in a very small and imperfect way, 

 but fancy poultry I have kept and enjoyed, and I do my own 

 work entirely out-of-doors in all its branches, so I could not 

 keep enough fowls, you see, to carry on a proper market 

 business. I never was able to boss one man, but in keeping 

 fancy poultry I can run them to suit myself. 



Now in regard to the rearing of chickens, if I should 

 tell you all I knew about incubating chickens it would be very 

 small, because I am not hatching chickens. A man that can 

 hatch fifty per cent, is a perfect marvel to me. I do not know 

 how he does it. I cannot take them out of the shell and make 

 them live as other people can. As to the raising of chickens I 

 do not lose many. The percentage is very small that I lose. Of 

 course, I do not use many sitting hens. My variety is not 

 the sitting variety. They are laying breeds. Very often I 

 would like to have one of them sit, for if she would sit it would 

 put her in a very nice condition by fall when I want to show 

 her. Then too, I am told by old poultrymen that chickens that 

 are reared by hens take something from the mother, absorb 

 something that went to make up beauty, grace and attractive 

 appearances, that they did not get from the incubator. 



