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dinary price, after supplying your own table with the best 

 you have, then I should say, select any one of the ap- 

 proved breeds of Asiatic fowls, and in most instances, a 

 cross between these and the Plymouth Rock or Leghorn 

 will improve them both. I have found the best results by 

 crossing the Light Brahma with the Plymouth Rock, real- 

 izing more pounds of eggs and poultry, and of a better 

 quality, than from any other breeds. These fowls are more 

 easily housed and yarded, are good growers, and usually 

 are very hardy and healthy. 



We should advise you to raise your chickens in the nat- 

 ural way. While the modern incubator and brooder is a 

 success in the hands of an expert who has plenty of time 

 and a natural taste for that business, the practical farmer 

 or the working mechanic has no business with them unless 

 he wishes to experiment with them at great cost of time 

 and temper, to say nothing of money. 



The best time to hatch your chickens is in March or 

 April. It is a great mistake to suppose that chickens 

 leaving the egg in June or July will do better than earlier 

 in the season. We have found that chickens hatched in 

 March or April are more hardy and free from vermin than 

 those that come later in the season, and besides this, your 

 chickens will mature earlier in the season, realizing a good 

 price for all the male birds you may wish to dispose of, 

 leaving your pullets all ready to drop their first egg in 

 September, when by judicious feeding, you can keep them 

 laying until New Year's day, covering just the time when 

 eggs bring the highest price. Then they will commence 

 laying again about the middle of February to give you 

 eggs for hatching. 



The best feed for poultry is grain of all kinds, supple- 

 mented by meat scraps, ground bone and sea shells. Fish 

 waste is excellent for a change. You should not permit 



