Who Should Keep Hens? 117 



fruit farm. After a time such yards become sa foul that even plowing 

 and growing pasture crops will not relieve them. The upper surface is 

 scraped off and carried out to be used as manure, and fresh sand is brought 

 back to take its place. Plum and pear ti"ees are grown in the yards, giving 

 considerable fruit. Mr. Johnson makes the most of the hen manure by 

 mixing it with chemicals. It is kept hard and dry by dusting plaster under 

 the perches. Twice a week the manure is removed and carried to a dry 

 shed. In the Spring the hard chunks are spread out on a cement fioor and 

 pounded fine with a maul or heavy spade. It is then sifted, the coarse 

 pieces being crushed again. Mr. Johnson mixes 400 pounds of sifted hen 

 manure, 200 pounds dissolved bone black, 100 pounds muriate of potash 

 and 150 pounds of plaster, and has a fertilizer which gives good results on 

 his heavy and naturally rich soil. He uses large quantities of stable 

 manure in addition, and this -should be remembered by those who mix 

 chemicals with hen manure. For most garden and fruit crops it would 

 be necessary to use 200 pounds of nitrate of soda with the other chemicals. 

 Mr. Johnson selected the Leghorn type of hen for his foundation stock 

 because they are the best for laying large white eggs, which his market 

 demands. He kept at first both Whites and Browns. The latter laid more 

 eggs than the Whites, but the eggs were small. As an experiment Mr. 

 Johnson began crossing the two breeds, and obtained chicks of all sorts of 

 colors. Some of these cross-bred chicks were coal black, and as he liked 

 their appearance Mr. Johnson saved the pullets and bred them to a pure 

 Black Minorca rooster. As a result he has developed a strain of large 

 black birds which are excellent layers. He has used a Black Minorca 

 rooster most years and a Brown Leghorn twice without greatly changing 

 the type of his hens. One flock of 270 hens averaged 160 eggs per year. 

 Mr. Johnson had no desire to breed purebred poultry. He was simply 

 after the hen that would lay the most eggs in Winter, for he has little time 

 to give them in Summer. As is the case with all who develop a good 

 flock, these black hens made such a reputation in the market that people 

 wanted eggs for hatching. The pullets and even the young roosters are 

 in demand for breeding stock. Strange to say, Mr. Johnson makes little 

 use of incubators. These black hens will "sit," but they are poor nurses, 

 and the little chicks are raised in brooders. The hens are marked with 

 a toe punch which makes a hole on the web of the foot. One mark is 

 made for each year of the hen's age. Two-year-old hens are used for 

 breeders^about fifteen being put in a pen with a lively young cockerel. 

 Mr. Johnson plans to use always purebred males. The three-year-old 

 hens are fattened and sold, for Mr. Johnson thinks a hen yields like a 

 strawberry plant. The best production is in the first year, but it is usually 

 wise to fit up the hen and the berry field so as to run it another year. 

 I have known a number of people to start out with the idea of imi- 



