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334 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
The use of fumigation for driving away vermin may be successful in 
a building such as we have described, but cannot be relied on as the 
best means under all circumstances. Whitewash for walls, perches, 
nests, &c., will always be found useful; and probably the best for pro- 
tection against insects is that in which an ounce of earbolic acid is used 
with each four quarts of lime-water. This recipe, it is claimed, is cer- 
tain death to parasites. A solution of one part of acid to sixty parts of 
warm water may be used then thoroughly wet with it on all parts of the 
body, and afterward as a wash for fowls, the mixture being cooled before 
use, and the fowls placed on dry, clean straw and dried in the sun. A 
soap for washing fowls, also, may be made by dissolving four pounds of 
eommon bar-soap in hot water, and adding one to two ounces of carbolie 
acid, according to the desired strength, and then letting it cool and 
become hard again. 
COST AND PROFIT OF POULTRY-KEEPING. 
The cost and profit of poultry-keeping on alarge scale can only be 
approximately estimated from the preceding example, except as com- 
puted proportionately from more limited ventures. Small flocks, receiv- 
ing special care more easily and punctually bestowed, are almost always 
found profitable, especially on farms and where little room ean be de- 
voted to their keeping in villages. The cost and profits vary, of course, 
with the conditions, such as the breed of poultry kept, care bestowed, 
suitability of quarters, and excellence and location of markets; so that 
reliably reported examples from various sources and localities will best 
demonstrate the utility of poultry-keeping. 
Mr. Nelson Ritter, of Syracuse, New York, in the first three months 
of 1869 received eggs from fifty-six hens as follows: In January, 868; 
February, 891; March, 984; with fourteen of the hens sitting from about 
the middle of the month. The eggs were sold for $66 98; the expense 
of keeping was $26 13; the profit on eggs for the three months was 
$40 85. The hens were across of Brahmas with several other breeds. 
A gentleman of Waverley, New Jersey, reports the account kept with 
twelve common yellow hens and one cock during January and February, 
1870: Expenses, except for care, $3 25; receipts, 472 eggs, which sold 
for $15 02; profit, $11 17. His hens had a clea®, warm house, with 
plenty of out-door range, and were well supplied with food, pounded 
oyster-shells, ashes, &c. | 
Mrs. BE. A. Lawrence, of Brooklyn, New York, makes a statement 
of her account with ninety hens and eleven cocks: for the year ending 
March 4, 1870.. She sold and used 115 fowls, of the increase, and had 
127 hens and 23 young chickens at the close of the year, and the 
eggs produced numbered 8,001. The total credit was $390 70; 
expenses, $152 21; leaving a profit of $208 49. The fowls were 
Brahma, White Leghorn, Bolton Gray, and some unnamed varie- 
ties, and they were allowed to mingle freely. The flock was well fed 
with wheat screenings, oats, buckwheat, rye, pork scraps, and potatoes 
boiled and mashed in bran, and in cold weather chopped cabbage was 
given. Mrs. L. derived most profit from eggs, which sold for prices 
averaging nearly 23 cents each, while the average price received for 
fowls was 79 cents. . 
Dr. I. P. Trimble, of Newark, New Jersey, kept for six fnonths, end- 
ing July 1, 1870, an average of eighteen hens and two cocks. The 
fowls were kept in an inclosure 20 by 20 feet, were fed on corn, scraps 
from the house, and, for green food, clippings from the lawn and salad, 
which they relished very much. In the winter and spring they also had 
