CHAPTER XLVI 
THE SKIM-MILK TRUST 
Tue third quarter of the year made a better 
showing than any previous one, due chiefly to 
the sale of hogs in August. The hens did well 
up to September, when they began to make new 
clothes for themselves and could not be bothered 
with egg-making. There were a few more than 
seven hundred in the laying pens, and nearly as 
many more rapidly approaching the useful age. 
The chief advantage in early chickens is that 
they will take their places at. the nests in Octo- 
ber or November while the older ones are dress- 
making. This is important to one who looks 
for a steady income from his hens, — October 
and November being the hardest months to pro- 
vide for. A few scattered eggs in the pullet 
runs showed that the late February and early 
March chickens were beginning to have a realiz- 
ing sense of their. obligations to the world and 
to the Headman, and that they were getting into 
line to accept them. More cotton-seed meal was 
added to the morning mash for the old hens, and 
the corn meal was reduced a little and the oat- © — 
meal increased, as was also the red pepper; but 
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