successful series of Institutes conducted by the Society 

 during the winter. He also read several very complimen- 

 tary letters concerning the recently published transactions 

 ■of the Society from parties outside of the state as well as 

 in the state. The subject for the afternoon was " Poul- 

 try," to be opened by Mr. T. C. Durkee of Peabody, but 

 on account of his unavoidable absence, President Ware 

 called upon O. S. Butler of Georgetown. The speaker 

 said before spending one dollar on poultry, make up your 

 mind what you want to do, whether to raise spring chick- 

 ens for an early market or raise eggs. 



To obtain these different results one should work dif- 

 ferently and with different breeds ; the eggs that are pro- 

 duced nearest to market bring the best prices. All these 

 eggs that go into market would not find such ready pur- 

 chasers if the customers knew their history. In the large 

 poultry yards it is customary to examine the eggs in an 

 incubator after seven or eight days, and to take out those 

 that are infertile (they can be distinguished by that 

 time), and send them into market. As long as eggs are 

 sold by the dozen and one is raising them for the market, 

 the Leghorn fowl is the variety to keep, but if one is 

 raising eggs by the pound, the gray necked Brahma is 

 better. For a good all around fowl the Plymouth Rock 

 stands well. They are fair layers, and the fowl makes 

 the best for the table ; he would keep the same breed all 

 the time but would change cockerels every year ; he 

 would advise any one engaging in the business to com- 

 mence in a small way and work up. If he starts on a 

 large scale and gets disease among them it is hard to 

 eradicate it without quite a loss. A great mistake is 

 made in overfeeding chickens. He rarely fed them 

 until they were two or three days old, and then he gave 

 them a little finely powdered cracker, boiled eggs or 

 skimmed milk. In the winter he fed cabbage and onions 

 to his fowls, and they ate it with a relish. In the winter 

 the speaker keeps about six inches of sand on the floor of 



