No. 6. 



Management of Hens. 



175 



until then nearly destitute. Most of you 

 are doubtless familiar with instances of the 

 efficacy of capital applied in like manner. 



When it is considered tliat labour becomes 

 cheap, or what is the same thing, more pro- 

 ductive, exactly in proportion to good tillage 

 and the richness of tije land combined, cither 

 naturally or by force of the manure applied, 

 is it not self-evident that if the owner of 

 unproductive land cannot otherwise com- 

 mand the requisite capital, he had better 

 sell oft" one half for the means of improving 

 the remainder, rather than retain the whole 

 in a state of paralysis, that he may vainly 

 boast, "I am monarch of all I survey," even 

 though it be but a barren waste. No spider 

 in the midst of his web, is more circumspect 

 of whatever approaclies, than is the capitalist 

 in the midst of his strong boxes; and if the 

 farmer, whose all is in land, cannot by force 

 of his character for economy and intelligent 

 management, command the requisite capital, 

 and will not alienate, had he not better di- 

 vide at once among his sons, giving to each 

 if it be but .50 or 2.5 acres, with a set of 

 centre-draught ploughs, together with a sub- 

 soiler, a pair of mules, or a span of New 

 England-like oxen, and a drag-log; and 

 thus instead of running riot for want of em- 

 ployment, or going to seek through a life of 

 exposure and hardship a precarious liveli- 

 hood on the frontiers, his children would 

 cluster around him, constituting, as well in 

 the vigor of manhood as in his declining 

 years, his safest friends and most delightful 

 companions. Not a week since, having the 

 pleasure to pass a delightful day, in company 

 with the enlightened, liberal, and zealous 

 editor of the New England Farmer, and 

 other gentlemen distinguished for intelli- 

 gence and character, at Indian Hill Farm, 

 the residence of Col. Benjamin Poore — 

 Poore in name, but rich in all the qualities 

 that "give assurance of a man"' — I heard 

 him remark that, as a young man, beginning 

 life, to make his way by industry, and with- 

 out capital, he would sooner commence on 

 one acre than on one hundred. You may 

 estimate the weight of his authority when 

 I add, that he took the premium for not only 

 the best managed farm in the State, but for 

 the best specimen of under draining on a 

 large scale, and for the best system of keep- 

 ing farm accounts! There were among 

 other proofs of uncommon energy and skill, 

 about forty acres of originally worthless 

 waste land, which he had so reclaimed as 

 to produce two and a half tons of the finest 

 hay to the acre, while his own flourishing 

 plantation of forest trees, concealed and or- 

 namented rocky precipices inaccessible to 

 the plougii. 



Management of Hens. 



The Kennebec, Me., Agricultural Society 

 having offered premiums for the best man- 

 agement of fowls, two competitors gave 

 statements of their mode, and as they con- 

 tain useful hints we copy that of Mr. Child, 

 so far as relates to management. — Boston 

 Cultivator. 



From the statement of James L. Child: — 



My hens laid nearly as well during the 

 winter as in the warm weather. Their 

 habitation was warm, and so constructed as 

 to bring them to the ground, where they 

 found at all times a good supply of old plas- 

 tering, ashes, pulverized oyster shells, char- 

 coal, fresh water, once or twice a week, beef 

 liver, or some other kind of meat. I feed 

 chiefly upon baked or boiled potatoes, giving 

 the'r food to them uarm in the morning and 

 at night, occasionally dealing to them a little 

 corn or oats, and giving them all the crumbs, 

 and skins, and fragments of the cooked ve- 

 getables. To prevent their being infested 

 with lice, about once a fortnight I mixed in 

 dough, so as to discolour it, a quantity of 

 flour of brimstone, which is a sure preven- 

 tive as well as remedy, and may be safely 

 given in small quantities to young chickens, 

 for the same purpose. 



It will be seen from my mode of keeping 

 my hens, which average about twenty-five 

 and three roosters, through the winter, that 

 I cannot give the precise cost of keeping, 

 but I am satisfied that potatoes may be given, 

 as a general food, and fowls kept cheaper in 

 this mode than in any other — and they will 

 always be ready for the spit, if not stinted 

 in quantity. I rind my fowls fat at all sea- 

 sons. 



I estimate that my hens afford me from 

 their eggs, without regard to their meat, a 

 clear profit of .50 per cent. I confine them 

 to their yard, hen-house, and barn cellar, 

 during gardening, and to their house and 

 cellar in the wmter, and think with that 

 degree of confinement, they lay better than 

 they do when allowed to wander at large. 

 Hen houses and roosts should be kept neat, 

 and often whitewashed, and their nests 

 should always have half an inch or more of 

 ashes or lime on the bottom, under the hay. 

 Broken or rotten eggs should never be al- 

 lowed to remain in the nests. Dirty water 

 should not be given them. To do well, they 

 require pure water, and all their food fresh 

 and uninjured from taint or fermentatif n. I 

 estimate that during the year, — deducting 

 the time of their moulting, and inclination 

 to set, — I have got daily, one half as many 

 egffs as I have had laying hens. 



Every family can, with a very little trou- 



