100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



1^0 man who does not like a hen, who cannot see beauty or 

 excellence in a hen, and who feels like kicking her or shooing 

 her away whenever she comes near, will ever succeed as a poul- 

 try-man. He must learn to feel friendly to her, if he expects 

 her to act as a friend or helper to him. This rule will hold 

 good in every branch of animal husbandry, but in none more 

 truly than in poultrycraf t, — possibly from the fact that none 

 of our domestic creatures is more meagerly endowed with in- 

 tellect than the hen ; and for this very reason, one who would 

 best succeed through her existence must have a real interest in 

 her; he must be brains and judgment, as well as master. 

 From the first, then, let us say, if you cannot learn to like 

 and admire her, if you cannot teach her to come at your call, 

 and feel friendly to her when she gives the best her life has 

 to give for your benefit, do not attempt it, — hens will not be 

 a profitable branch on jour farm. 



Second, the Profits. — We imagine that most men would 

 place this subject first ; but our observation has been that it 

 never reaches its highest degree of perfection unless it is first 

 preceded by pleasure. What profits may accrue from a poul- 

 try plant depend upon every subject to be dealt with in this 

 address, and, like the links of a chain, one broken means 

 failure of all. The universal verdict has been that $1 per 

 year, per hen, in net profits, is fair. However, not all the real 

 profits are to be counted in cash. The hen we believe to be 

 one of the few creatures, if not the only one, that can be 

 raised profitably on a run-out farm, and, taking nothing from 

 the soil, pay all her expenses, give good profits, and build up 

 the soil at the same time. When we bought our present home, 

 a friend said: " If you are going to farm it, why not buy a 

 place where you can keep a horse without having to buy 

 hay ? " To-day we have a horse, two cows and a heifer, and 

 instead of buying are selling a little hay each season. In 

 addition, we have set out apple trees and bought orchard land 

 till we have about eight hundred apple trees, all of which we 

 are fertilizing from the hen house, though we allow the hens 

 no credit in cash for the guano. With us, where everything 

 is sold at wholesale prices, express out, we have never had the 



