THE BROWN LEGHORNS. 75 



to find out what the trouble was. In Vermont, I used to live 

 on a gravelly soil, and when I came here I went on to a heavy 

 loam, and until I covered my ground four inches deep with 

 gravel I could not raise chickens, and my wife could not raise 

 them, so I made up my mind that they could not be raised. 

 Hence I think it is necessary to know what the nature of our 

 ground is, as we want to know what our foundation is before 

 we begin to build. Chicken-coops should always have board 

 bottoms. 



Then there is another point. It has been suggested that 

 we dig into a hill somewhere in a pasture and make a place 

 in which to keep our chickens. There is no doubt that such 

 a place would be like the Irishman's woollen shirts, very cool 

 in summer and warm in winter ; but most hills will be damp 

 in winter, and that is what everybody wants to avoid. I 

 think, therefore, that it is absolutely necessary that a hen- 

 house should be built on top of the ground. 



I am very glad to hear the subject of in-and-in breeding 

 discussed. I have had a little experience in breeding cattle, 

 and I know that those who have had the best luck in breeding 

 Shorthorns, to say the least, are those who have stuck to their 

 own animals, to the exclusion of all others. There is plenty 

 of evidence on that point. Twenty-six or twenty-seven years 

 ago, I commenced breeding Brown Leghorns, and during all 

 that time there has not been one drop of strange blood put 

 into the strain. I have known what I have been about, and 

 that strain has proved a very profitable and pleasant strain to 

 keep. Other strains I have crossed in various ways, but 

 every time I have lost by it. I started with the idea that I 

 would make those fowls lay almost every day, and I am 

 happy to say, that, although I have not been able quite to 

 accomplish that, I can show you the record of one hen, nine 

 years and a half old, that has laid over two thousand eggs, 

 has just returned from the Centennial, and is in good condi- 

 tion yet, and she has never had any strange blood in her. I 

 have bred from her, and the hens of that strain of blood 

 always lay more eggs by half than the hens of other strains 

 that I have got by crossing. I always lose whenever I make 

 a cross. I breed in close confinement, and when I get birds 

 from outside, I get birds that have been bred on farms, and 



