90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



way of scraps, and then just shut your eyes and put in the rest. 

 Hens need a liberal ration, and a ration which contains all of 

 the egg-producing elements. Unless they have that, they will 

 not do as well as you expect. 



I would like to know how you introduce new blood through 

 your flocks here. For a great many years I did not get along 

 very fast. I did not seem to get anywhere. I w^ould buy birds 

 to breed from but I never seemed to get anywhere. I finally 

 made up my mind that the principle I was working on was all 

 wrong. I had been buying male birds and raising male birds 

 to mate with my hens. Finally I made up my mind to buy 

 some hens and see if I could not raise some chickens to mate 

 with my birds. I thought I w^ould try it that way instead of 

 getting male birds. I think I paid ten dollars for one hen. I 

 was careful to get in this hen things that I did not have in my 

 own flock, and I had a pretty fair flock too. In Black Minor- 

 cas the color counts for a good deal. This hen was a beauty. 

 I never found this hen on a nest, but I did not pay particular 

 attention to that because sometimes they will drop their eggs 

 in the dust bath. I have found a few eggs around in that way. 

 I never got an egg all through the breeding season. Finally, 

 I took her and put her in a shed by herself, and she never laid 

 an egg. For a long time I could not make up my mind whether 

 she was a layer or a liar. The fact was though she never laid 

 an egg on my place. Where you buy hens intending to use 

 their eggs as a means of raising chickens to mate with your 

 fowls you have got to guard against just the experience that I 

 had in this case. Of course, different people take different 

 methods for keeping their flocks in strong condition, but with 

 my experimenting I must have been put back some four or 

 five years. I gave up ever buying male birds, and I have 

 learned since to introduce new blood, and to introduce it fre- 

 quently by raising new chicks. 



