POULTRY. 



POULTEY. 



99 



At the present time it seems hardly necessary to 

 occupy much space in the annual report with remarks 

 upon poultry. The time was, when the Shanghai fever 

 raged ; our journals were filled in discussing the merits 

 or demerits of each favorite kind or breed. Enoriii.ius 

 prices were paid ; fowls were transported from place to 

 place, and even imported from Europe and Asia. Con- 

 ventions were called of fowl breeders, dealers, importers, 

 and the whole community at large, who in their eager- 

 ness to see the wonderful birds, came together by 

 hundreds and thousands ; but this was fancy, not profit. 

 Our Yankee people usually, before entering upon any 

 enterprise, ask, will it pay ? In this instance they were 

 carried away by popular excitement, but when they 

 found it an unpaying business, they soon settled back 

 to the old standard, will it pay ? 



Now the question is, what fowls are the most profita- 

 ble? The answer is this: those which lay the most 

 eggs, and whose carcass is the most profitable in the 

 market. Some of these appear to be the old Native 

 breed, or crossed with the Cochin-china, White Dorkins, 

 Jersey Blues, &c., which are all yellow-meated fowls, 

 fatten easy, and lay well, 



I will say here that I provide my hens with pounded^ 

 unburned bone, with different kinds of grain, and dry 

 dirt or ashes to wallow in, and for the past ten years 

 they have never failed to lay in mid-winter. There is 

 usually a short time in the forepart of winter that my 

 hens do not lay, but by this treatment I .can start them. 

 I started them, in the above manner last January and 



