240 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Question. Will you state how 3'^ou cover your house ? 



Mr. Hawkins. It is covered with tarred paper on the 

 back and sides, and the front is battened, so that the e£r£fs 

 will not freeze. 



Mr. Beebe. I have about eighty hens that I have bred from 

 the old dunghill stock, without any crossing whatever, for 

 twenty-seven 3'"cars. They are good layers, they come to 

 maturity quicker and are a great deal handsomer than the 

 fancy breeds. I have plum trees about my henneries. My 

 hens have the free run of a thousand acres, and there are no 

 fowls nearer my flock than a mile, so I don't think they have 

 been crossed. My plum trees bear fine fruit. 



Question. How do you break up sitters ? 



Mr. Hawkins. I have a room in the centre of each of 

 my long buildings with no nests, and when a hen wants to 

 sit she is carried to this room, and in four or five days she 

 has got over her disposition and will go to laying again. 



Question. Do you leave those hens alone or put cocks 

 with them ? 



Mr. Hawkins. I advise having a cock in the room with 

 them. 



The Chairman. I see in the audience this morning a 

 distinguished agriculturist, — one who has imparted informa- 

 tion of the greatest value to the agricultural community, — 

 formerly from Massachusetts, now the distinguished Direc- 

 tor of the New York Experiment Station, Dr. Sturtevant. 

 I shall be very glad to introduce him to this audience. 



Dr. E. T. Sturtevant. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, 

 — I did not come here prepared to speak, but there are a 

 great many subjects I can talk about. A person who has 

 many assistants under him, furnishing him facts all the time, 

 necessarily becomes acquainted with a very large field in 

 agriculture. If the audience will indicate some subject they 

 would like to have me talk about, if I know anything about 

 it I will talk about it ; if not, I will ask for another. 



The Chairman. Dr. Sturtevant has given great atten- 

 tion to the raising of corn, and I will ask him to state the 

 effect of selecting the earliest ripened ears. 



Dr. Sturtevant. I come with the greatest modesty to 

 talk upon this question. You will find an essay of mine in 



