No. 4.] FARM ECONOMICS. 37] 



there is in no field such neglect of the principles of economy 

 as here. Men forget that breeds are simply the result of 

 the painstaking care and skill of individual enthusiasts, and 

 that, unless held to the level of large production by the well- 

 defined purpose of the breeder, they revert rapidly to their 

 natural state. The experiment lately made at the Maine 

 Experiment Station reveals the situation facing every grower. 

 By careful supervision it was found that, while the best layer 

 in a flock of ten produced over two hundred eggs in a year, 

 the worst loafer produced but thirty-six. This suggests that 

 fifty per cent of the flocks, save perhaps the Leghorns and 

 Minorcas, might be wiped out of existence, and greater 

 profit realized by the State. We carry altogether too much 

 dead wood in our poultry yards. From the close of the 

 hatching season until it opens again, males are a positive 

 injury in the flock. Their sole value lies in their power to 

 fertilize eggs, and fertilized eggs, outside of the hatching 

 season, are an abomination. Consumers want fresh eg-ars, 

 and as decay commences in the dead germ, the importance 

 of non-fertilized e«;gs for the market must be realized. Es'ofs 



oo oo 



from hens running free from males will, if cared for, keep 

 fresh nearly twice as long as the same eggs fertilized. 

 Poultry should be made to play a more important part in 

 fertilizing the crops, and by floorings under the roosts and 

 the sweeping of the droppings daily into a pail or basket, 

 where they can be carried to a dry storeroom and mixed 

 with dry earth, muck or plaster, a most valuable fertilizer 

 will be obtained. 



No hen should be kept after two years old unless wanted 

 solely as a breeder, and it is better to send to market at the 

 close of the first year's hvying season. A sharp distinction 

 may well be made between keeping a flock from which to 

 breed and one simply to produce eggs for the market. 

 In the multiplicity of breeds there is danger of losing rather 

 than gaining, all depending upon the appreciation by the 

 individual breeder. We have reached a point where pro- 

 duction in good-sized flocks should exceed twelve dozen per 

 head yearly. This can be realized only by a sharp weed- 

 ing out of the one-hundred-egg hens. It practically costs 



