192 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



just hens enough for his own use, will find the Black Spanish 

 suited for his use. The flesh is very excellent and the eggs 

 very delicate. Their size is more favorable to him who eats 

 them at his own table than for market. When eggs are sold 

 by the dozen, as they usually are in the States, a large egg is no 

 advantage. 



The Bolton Grays came from Bolton, in Lancashire, England, 

 and are the crack breed of their vicinity. The color of the 

 genuine kind is invariably pure white about the neck, the body 

 white, thickly spotted with bright black, with one or more 

 black bars at the extremity of the tail. They are very constant 

 layers, but perhaps not quite so good for the table. Among the 

 three breeds we have named — and the three best in the opinion 

 of your Committee — this last variety is the least inclined to set. 



After procuring a flock of hens the first object is to make 

 them lay. The question is often propounded, " Why hens 

 cannot be made to lay in the winter as well as in the summer ? " 

 Our answer is, that they can to a very great extent. But to do 

 this there are certain conditions that must be complied with. 

 They must be provided with loarm and comfortable lodgings. 

 They must have clean apartments. They must be supplied with 

 a plenty and a variety of food, consisting of grain^ vegetables 

 and animal food. They must have pure water, and gravel, lime 

 and sand to roll and bask in. For grain feeding, corn is well 

 enough. Oats or wheat will supply its place if they are more 

 readily procured. The vegetable feeding should be on boiled 

 potatoes, turnips, carrots or parsnips. The animal food, when 

 worms are not to be procured, should be the flesh of any animals. 

 When a sheep has died, skin him and chop him up in quarters 

 or less, and throw him in your hen-yard, either in winter or 

 summer. Take your axe and chop out a quarter or more of a 

 dead cow, or ox, or horse, and put it within reach of your fowls. 

 They will know exactly how to dispose of it. They must have 

 calcareous matter to form the shell of their eggs. In winter, 

 when the ground is covered with snow, they cannot find this 

 necessary element. Then you must pound up the bones from 

 your table and give them. Tliey will eat it most greedily. In 

 the summer hens find many of these requisites without your 

 aid. Buffon says that a hen well fed and attended will produce 

 one hundred and fifty eggs in a year and two broods of chickens. 



