POULTRY. 275 



I also beg leave to submit a statement of the produce of a 

 part of my flock of hens, (which I do not exhibit because they 

 are shedding their feathers, and do not present a fine appear- 

 ance,) from the 1st of June, together with the cost of keeping. 

 I commenced my account with nine hens of the following varie- 

 ties : Four Bolton Grays, four half Boltons, and one half-breed 

 Shanghai. On the 26th of June, one of the half-breed Boltons 

 died suddenly, reducing the number to eight, which were kept 

 shut up during the months of June and July, with the excep- 

 tion of a few moments at night. The remainder of the time 

 they have had their liberty. They have been fed on corn at 

 one dollar per bushel, and have consumed eighteen and two- 

 thirds quarts per month, worth fifty-eight and one third cents. 



Number of eggs each month : — 



June, 12 doz. and 4 ; July, 12 doz. and 7 ; August, 12 doz. 

 and 9 ; September, 13 doz. 6, (estimating five for to-day, as 

 that has been their average for the past week,) making 50 doz. 

 and 2. Sold them for 19 cents per doz., amounting to $9.72. 

 Cost of keeping at 58^ cents per month, $2.33^. Net profit, 

 $7.38|-. 



Newbury, September 30, 1857. 



HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN. 



Statement of A. C. Howland. 



I have kept the present season fifteen hens and two cocks. 

 The hens have laid from the 1st of January to the 6th of 

 October, 1,638 eggs and raised fifty chickens. I keep the 

 greater part of my hens in a yard thirty by forty feet, with a 

 good shed facing the south, wiiere they roost and have their 

 nests. I keep earthen nest eggs, wliich neither freeze nor 

 decay. I always bring in the new eggs every night, and never 

 break up the nests. If a hen desires to sit and I do not wish 

 to have her, I shut her up in an adjoining yard, about eight feet 

 square, and if convenient, shut a cock up with her, and she 

 will soon give up her sitting propensities, and then let her out 

 with the rest of the hens. In a ^qw days she will commence 

 laying again. There is no hunting for hen's nests. I have not 



