1907. J MY FRIEND THE HEN. IO3 



practicable to raise grain in Connecticut for home consump- 

 tion, I, perhaps, would not make this strong appeal. I could 

 not believe that I could raise corn on my farm, on one of these 

 poor, old, broken-down pastures that had not been plowed for 

 years until the experiment was actually tried. The production 

 from some of these little fine varieties of corn was the greatest 

 I ever had, and the possibilities of those old pasture lands to 

 produce grain, and in that way enable us to feed our little 

 friend, the business hen, and our stock, is very great. You 

 farmers of Connecticut must consider this. The west is reach- 

 ing its limit in the production of grain. The far-sighted 

 farmers in the west already recognize that fact and admit it. 

 In a great many cases they are beginning to use fertilizer. In 

 some cases they are beginning already to use wood ashes, and 

 when a farmer begins to use fertilizer in the west you can 

 make up your mind that he has got some good reason. That 

 means that they are recognizing the signs of soil exhaustion, 

 and in that state of affairs it is up to us who dwell in the east, 

 and up to every friend of the hen, and especially to you New 

 England people who are going to prove worthy of the brain 

 and gumption of your ancestors, to raise more corn on your 

 farms in order to feed this hen. 



I do not want to talk too long, but there are two or three 

 things that I do want to speak of. 



The possibility of corn breeding in Connecticut is one of 

 them. That is one of the great questions of the day, in my 

 judgment. I hope that you will organize a corn breeders' 

 association in Connecticut, the same as they have done in Iowa, 

 and I think in Illinois. 



Now what does this little friend of ours, the hen, teach us 

 in a social way ? I had a man say to me the other day that he 

 was glad that we had taken an active part in the campaign to 

 defeat for re-election Congressman Wadsworth of our state. 

 As some of you may know, his opponent received thirteen thou- 

 sand majority this year, and that was because the farmers went 

 out against him and beat him. This man came to me and he 

 said that we deserved some credit for that. I said, " Oh no. 

 I did not do it." But do you know, friends, that if I was to 

 place most of the credit I would give it to an old Wyandotte 

 hen that I have on my farm. After that campaign had been 

 in progress for a few weeks it seemed to me impossible to 



