EXPERIMENTS. 



77 



BENJAMIN SAFFORD'S STATEMENT. 



KEEPING POULTRY. 



1 offer for the consideration of the Committee the 

 following statement of an experiment in "keeping 

 poultry," which I entered for a premium. 



I kept two old hens, thirteen pullets and one rooster, 

 sixteen fowls in all, separate from all other poultry, from 

 January 1 to April 1 ; fed them dry corn and barley as 

 much as they would eat, kept by them all the time, and 

 an occasional mess of hot dough of corn meal, with a 

 liberal springling of cayenne pepper; kept old house 

 plastering pounded, by them all the time. They chose 

 corn in preference to barley ; would eat eight quarts of 

 corn to two quarts of barley ; consumed an average of 

 ten quarts per week of grain, including the meal. 



They laid 50 doz. eggs. Having other hens in 

 another barn, I sold all the eggs, except 31 doz. saved 

 to set, for $10,20, an average of 22 cents per doz. 



The fowls were a cross of the Chitagong and Dorking 

 breeds, and were worth at least as much at the close of 

 the experiment as at the commencement. The drop- 

 pings abundantly paid for all labor in the care of the 

 hens, and marketing the eggs. 



Income, 50 doz. eggs, at 22 cents per doz., $11,00 



Expense, 13 times 10 quarts, equal 4^ bushels 



grain, at $1,00 per bushel, - - 4,06 



Profit, . - - - $6,94 



