50 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



LESSONS FROM A DECADE'S EXPERIENCE IN 

 POULTRY KEEPING. 



BY UR. JAS. P.. PAJOE, AMHKRST, MASS. 



Few people fully realize the importance of poultry culture 

 as a factor of our American agricultural system. The ordi- 

 nary barnyard fowl is too often regarded as a necessary nui- 

 sance on the general New England farm, rather than a source 

 of large income and profit, as well as of maintenance for the 

 farmer and his family. 



I well remember the little flock of hens kept on the farm of 

 my boyhood days. In sunnner they were expected to care 

 for themselves, in winter provided with a roosting place in 

 the northwest corner of the barn cellar, over the hog pen, fed 

 a meager allowance of shelled corn each day, they were ex- 

 pected to provide sufficient eggs for the family. They were 

 objects of contemj)t, despised and disliked by every member 

 of the family, to be ruthlessly driven from the barn if they 

 dared to venture therein in jjursuit of a toothsome cricket 

 or grasshopper at haying time, or to be stoned by all and 

 chased by the dog if perchance they happened to trespass 

 on the garden ; and killed for the table, if company came 

 unexpectedly, when other meat was not in the house. Poorly 

 housed, underfed, despised and disliked by all, they were 

 expected, nevertheless, to contribute their portion to the in- 

 come from the farm. 



Such, in brief, are my early recollections of the poultry 

 ke])t upon my father's farm. From a more intimate and 

 friendly association with fowls in recent years I have come 

 to regard them in an entirely different light, and to consider 

 them one of the most profitable of domestic animals that it 

 is possible for the farmer of the present day to keep. Kept 



