228 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



or less, is a difficult matter. Here is the state of Mis- 

 sissippi, for instance, to which the census of 1900 gave an 

 average production of 43 eggs per hen. The farm price 

 of eggs in this state averaged not quite 10 cents a 

 dozen. The hen brought in about 35 cents a year. If, 

 then, it cost nothing at all to feed her, she gave a 



One Month's Product : Left, the Forty-eight-egg Hen ; Right, the Two-hun- 

 dred-fifty-egg Hen 



'profit " of about one third what the " average " hen has 

 for almost a generation, I think, been supposed to produce 

 for her owner. The South Carolina " average " hen, ac- 

 cording to the same figures, did a little less well, pro- 

 ducing, as per report, two eggs less a year than the 

 Mississippi birds. In seven states, the average was be- 

 low 45 eggs per hen for the full year. Maine hens just 

 touched 100, and two or three others nearly reached 

 this figure. But, when we average these with the hens 

 below 45, how it pulls the figure down ! It seems to me 

 that the most noticeable point in the report is the fact 

 that Maine and New Hampshire lead the United States, 

 and they are among the very worst as to atmospheric 

 conditions. Massachusetts is next in production ; all 



