Poultry's Place, in a Rotation. 97 



well adapted to hen-manure, and the trimmings and waste are 

 all useful for hen-food. This was his plan, and he stuck to it 

 so well that in 1 890 after 1 2 years of careful work he sold the 

 following lot of produce (an accurate cash record of every 

 cent spent or received and every egg laid has been kept for a 

 dozen years) : 



Eggs $776 65 



Potatoes - 314 15 



Strawberries 2,601 22 



Chickens 25 oo 



Onions 90 oo 



Pears and other fruits 99 96 



Milk 107 24 



Rye ano straw 76 40 



Cow 47 oo 



Total $4,137 62 



There is not a single loo-acre farmer near him that sells 

 anywhere near half of this amount. The hens "carry the 

 farm on their backs," that is to say, their eggs give winter 

 profit while their manure furnishes the basis for the fertilizer 

 that keeps up the farm. We have no space here to describe 

 the methods employed in potato and strawberry-culture. We 

 merely discuss the livestock the hens which sustain the 

 farm's prosperity. The day the writer visited the farm was 

 cold and blustering one of the coldest of the winter. A re- 

 spectable hen might have been excused for going " on a strike " ' 

 in such weather, yet on that day the 380 odd hens presented 

 their owner with 225 eggs, which were worth then about three 

 cents each. 



The birds were housed with great care. They had not seen 

 the outside of the house since Thanksgiving. We brought 

 some snow in on our boots and the hens rushed for it greedily. 

 That was the only chance they ever had of knowing what 

 snow was like. From 60 to 75 hens are kept in each house. 

 For 50 hens a house 12x24 feet is about right, provided it is 

 kept thoroughly clean. That means that each hen should 

 have about six square feet, if kept in the house all winter. Mr. 

 7 



