CHAPTER XXXVIII 
SPRING OF 97 
Sam began to make up his breeding pens in 
January. He selected 150 of his favorites, divided 
them into 10 flocks of 15, added a fine cockerel 
to each pen (we do not allow cocks or cockerels 
to run with the laying hens), and then began to 
set the incubator house in order. 
He filled the first incubator on Saturday, 
January 30, and from that day until late in 
April he was able to start a fresh machine about 
every six days. Sam reports the total hatch for 
the year as 1917 chicks, out of which number he 
had, when he separated them in the early autumn, 
678 pullets to put in the runs for laying hens, 
and 653 cockerels to go to the fattening pens. 
These figures show that Sam was a first-class 
chicken man. 
We secured 300 tons of ice at the side of the 
lake for $98, having to pay a little more that 
year than the last, on account of the heavy fall 
of snow. 
The wood-house was replenished, although there 
was still a good deal of last year’s cut on hand. 
We did not fell any trees, for there was still a 
considerable quantity of dead wood on the ground 
217 
