182 THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



These figures show that trifling in detail as the egg trade may seem, in the 

 aggregate it is an important business. And they suggest, also, the question, 



HOW CAN THE SUPPLY BE INCREASED? 



Unlike a great many other occupations, no one seems to make egg pro- 

 ducing a specialty, with a single eye to making a living out of it ; and yet, 

 taking the figures above quoted as trustworthy data, they point to the con- 

 clusion that there's money in the business. Some years ago we read an in- 

 teresting account of an establishment near Paris for the manufacture or 

 perhaps production would be a better word of eggs and chickens for the 

 Parisian market. It was on an immense scale, and was a great success. 

 Why cannot we have large henneries near each of our principal cities ? Or, 

 to limit the inquiry to a single case, u why cannot some enterprising person or 

 persons, for there is room for dozens, establish one or more egg manufactories 

 on the outskirts of New- York? Let us see what preliminaries would be 

 necessary for such an undertaking. 



AMOUNT OF CAPITAL TO BE INVESTED. 



A fair but not excessive amount of capital, which would be invested 

 under these two favorable circumstances, that there would be immediate re- 

 turns for the outlay, and an excellent market for the produce. 



A SUPPLY OP HENS. 



But it is not necessary that these should be of any fancy and, conse- 

 quently, high priced breed, another important consideration affecting the 

 original capital. General experience has shown that good barn-door fowls, 

 as they are termed, prove as profitable in the end as more pretentious birds. 



A PIECE OF LAND PROPORTIONATE TO THE STOCK OF HENS. 



Mr. WARREN LELAND of the Metropolitan Hotel, New-York, finds it 

 beneficial to allow an acre to every hundred hens, but rough, broken ground, 

 with some low bushes and heaps of sand, ashes and lime scattered about, 

 answers admirably. The London Field corroborates Mr. LELAND'S ex- 

 perience, while a writer in the Massachusetts Ploughman states that six 

 acres is plenty for a thousand hens. If the land is to serve in part as a feed- 

 ing ground, then the first estimate; if merely, or mostly, for exercise, the 

 latter is ample. 



A GOOD SUPPLY OF FOOD. 



This is important. "Hen-laying," says Mr. LELAND again, "is hard 

 work, and requires high feeding." This is very true, and a false economy 

 here would be fatal. But he points out also a cheap and excellent source ot 

 supply. " Much of my success," he adds, " is due to the fact that my hens 

 get all the scraps from my hotel." In a large city, like New-York, these 

 scraps could be obtained for a trifle in many cases, for the mere trouble of 

 collecting them in others. Why cannot they be gathered and transformed 



