POULTRY AND EGGS. 225 



much pleasure as any other page of the farm accounts. You 

 will always find a ready market for fresh oggs and fat chick- 

 ens at good prices. There Avill be no fear of glutting the 

 fresh-egg market, as this country docs not produce enough 

 to nearly supply its wants. Millions of dozens of eggs are 

 imported annually to our shores, the American hen being 

 compelled to compete, unprotected by tariff, with the " pau- 

 per" hen of Europe, and the "heathen" hen of China. It 

 has been estimated that the cash value of the poultry and 

 eggs consumed in the United States exceeds ($600,000,000) 

 six hundred millions of dollars annually, a greater value than 

 is credited to any otJier single product of the country, whether 

 cotton, corn, wheat or beef. When, therefore, we speak of 

 poultry and eggs we deal with no small matter, but one that 

 is worthy of our best consideration. I have read of certain 

 breeders who claimed that they made a net profit of from 

 $3 to $6 per hen ; but I have never classed myself among 

 such clever poultry men as these, and I have believed that 

 there was a screw loose in their accounts. Possibly they 

 borrowed the grain from their fathers' corn l)ins, or sold him 

 their eggs at fifty cents per dozen, and chickens at the price 

 of gilt-edged butter per pound. ^ 



I do not pretend that I can show the average fiirraer how 

 he can attain to these extravagant profits, but I propose to 

 explain how every suitably located farm of twenty to one 

 hundred and fifty acres can carry from one hundred to two 

 thousand laying fowls at a net profit of $2 per hen annually, 

 raising enough chickens every year to keep the number of 

 layers full. The first necessity on such a fiirm will be a 

 suitable building; still, there are many farmers that could fit 

 up sheds, or a dry barn cellar, that they now have, that 

 would answer the purpose for a limited number of fowls. 

 For the benefit of those who have not such buildings at their 

 command, I will explain the erection of a plain, practical 

 building, to accommodate one hundred hens. This building 

 can be built by any farmer who is handy with tools. It 

 should be shed roof, eighty feet long, twelve feet wide, 

 facing south ; and if it stands on a south-eastern slope all 

 the better. For a foundation, use chestnut or cedar posts 

 seven inches in diameter^ set three feet in the ground, and 



