The Roaster and the Broiler. 69 



and the market is full of broilers ; and the price, which during 

 the winter and early spring months had been from 10 to 15 

 cents per pound in favor of broilers, is gradually changed, 

 until by the first or middle of June the discrepancy is in 

 favor of roasters. During the past June the price of roasters 

 has varied from 401044 cents in the Boston market; while 

 that of broilers has been from 30 to 35 cents, having sunk 

 even as low as 25 cents, and this discrepancy was greater still 

 before the close of July. 



This is a state of things that the poultry-grower should take 

 advantage of and cater for. He should arrange to get out his 

 chicks during January, force them for all they are worth, and 

 so be able to put them on the market during May and June at 

 the weight of from five to seven pounds each. The Leghorn 

 tribe and all the small varieties are worse than useless, as they 

 never attain the required weight. I have tried all the different 

 varieties of the larger breeds, and find that the Light Brahma 

 will take on more flesh in a given time than any other breed, 

 unless it is the Dark Brahma : but the color of their feathers 

 is a little against them. The greatest trouble the grower will 

 have to contend with at first is to obtain an abundant supply 

 of good, fertile eggs in the dead of winter ; and what he must 

 aim at eventually is to produce his own eggs, as he can do it 

 not only much cheaper than he can buy them, but he can in a 

 great measure control their fertility, which is of greater im- 

 portance than all the rest. This great question of the fertility 

 of the eggs in the dead of winter when fowls are necessarily 

 confined, is rather an obscure one to most people and would 

 require a long chapter of itself ; but after years of experiment 

 I am more than ever satisfied that it is under control. Most 

 poultry-growers know from bitter experience that the welfare, 

 thrift and precocity, as well as the mortality of their chicks, 

 depend largely upon the condition in which they are intro- 

 duced into the world. With some machines no amount of pet- 

 ting and coaxing can induce the chicks to live : with others they 

 seem to be bound to live at all hazards until the knife ends 



