47 



POULTRY. 



The Committee on Poultry, consisting of Wm. R. Putnam, 

 Thomas H. Cutter and James Flint, submit the * following 

 report : — 



They found twenty lots upon the poultry stand, yet but few 

 of the competitors complied with the request of the Society in 

 furnishing written statements of the method of keeping, and 

 the amount of eggs produced. 



It is difficult for any one who does not keep his fowls con- 

 fined all the time, to give an account of the expense of feeding. 



There was but one lot of turkies exhibited, that by Jonas 

 Holt of Andever. His statement gives us no data by wliich 

 we can form any estimate of the expense of raising turkies. 

 Our impression is, that unless we take into the account the 

 good done by them in destroying insects, they will not pay for 

 the grain consumed, to say nothing of the 'young cabbages, 

 beets and other vegetables destroyed by them ; yet we think 

 that when we take into the account the benefit received from 

 them by destroying grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects, 

 they may, on some farms, be profitably kept. It is a pleasant 

 sight to witness a flock of turkies moving with military pre- 

 cision through a field, driving or capturing every insect, and 

 thus converting them into food for man. Naturalists tell us 

 to spare the crow, for the good he does in destroying insects. 

 Is it not better economy to keep domestic fowls for this pur- 

 pose, which will not only destroy the insects,. but convert them 

 into wholesome food ? 



Of the comparative merits of the bronze turkey with the 

 other breeds, we have no practical knowledge. Mr. Holt's 

 statement shows that they have some good traits. 



There were but two lots of geese exhibited. Andrew 

 Woodbury, of Hamilton, sent a flock of ten wild geese, as 

 they were called, or the descendants of a pair that were 

 wounded, and caught as they were flying over that place a few 

 years since. They are kept in a pasture, by clipping one wing 



