HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 269 



through at that rate for five years, nor four, 

 nor three. Maybe somebody has done it for 

 two years, but I've never heard of him; have 

 you? Be careful, now! Did you ever know of 

 a flock of 2,500 hens that had been bred and 

 reared in two years' time from one original 

 mother? You'll have to show me! 



What's the answer? If that program is 

 practicable for one year, why isn't it just as 

 practicable for two years, or for three? We 

 came to Happy Hollow with two dozen or 

 more hens six years ago fine, strong stock, 

 as good as the best. Why isn't the Fayette- 

 ville country literally overrun by their in- 

 crease? How does it happen that there isn't 

 some time, somewhere, a freak exhibition of 

 the possibilities of that indisputable capacity 

 for increase? If it is theoretically possible in 

 six years for one little old hen to produce 15,- 

 625,000,000 female descendants, wouldn't you 

 think that all the hens in the country, working 

 all together for century after century, might 

 arrive at something like that grand total after 

 awhile? 



Now that we're started on the arithmetic of 

 it and are talking about logical conclusions, we 



