98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



there is many a farm back upon the New England hills which 

 ought to be saved, and that is being saved by the hen, and 

 which could not be held and would not be held for society, for 

 country, and for the nation, were it not for the success of the 

 owners in keeping chickens. You know that is so. There 

 are men and women in this house who know of cases away 

 back upon the hills where through the efforts of the humble 

 hen, our little frtend, prosperity has been brought to many a 

 farmer, and glory to many a New England hill farm. There- 

 fore, I say I do love the hen. I have no apology to make. I do 

 love the hen for what she has done for New England and for 

 what she is doing for me, and for all of us, because I know that 

 she is one of the best friends that we have. She goes about her 

 business and does it in her quiet effective way. She saves 

 many a New England farmer from being ruined by the compe- 

 tition of the west, she supplies many a table and furnishes the 

 housewife with many a little item. She takes care of the 

 orchards well. I have many on my farm, and I know how 

 valuable the hen is when at large in the orchard. I am getting 

 so that I do not think so much of a Leghorn because it takes a 

 seven-foot fence to keep them in whereas if one of you have 

 got some Wyandottes they will stay right inside of a four or 

 five-foot fence and attend to business. You put a hen of that 

 kind in there and she stays right at home. She doesn't want to 

 wander. She will stay there and be keeping those insects 

 down. I know that where you put a fence around the orchard 

 and where you follow that up by getting a good flock of 

 Wyandottes and give them plenty of water, they will stay there 

 and attend to their business well, and take care of our orchards 

 and take care of our homes, better than ninety-nine per cent, 

 of human beings. That is one reason why I love the hen. It 

 is no disgrace then to stand up and say that I believe in taking 

 care of the hen because the hen contributes much to help take 

 care of us. 



What is the hen? There is no use in talking about what 

 she teaches us. I have just come back from a long trip up 

 and down through Iowa. I had not been out there before for 

 a good while. Some of those men that I met out there were 

 commiserating you poor people who had to stay back in New 

 England. Why, they said, how do you make a living? How 

 can you live ? You cannot raise steers and hogs and turn them 



