239 

 Lack of Place for Hen to Call Her Own. 



(Prof. C. A. Rogers, Ithaca, N. Y.) 



One of the greatest handicaps to the successful raising of poultry 

 on tin. 1 farm is a condition of circumstances. The horse, the cow and 

 the pig are each given a place in which to live and practically com- 

 pelled In live there. The hen is usually given some kind of a place 

 in which to roost, but the fences are not tight enough to keep her 

 within her domain, nor the house made attractive enough to entice 

 her to return to it for eating, laying and sleeping. Consequently, the 

 hen roosts on the machinery, steals her nest, and in other w r ays annoys 

 the farmer. By making the henhouse, whether it be a separate 

 building or a part of the barn basement, cleaner, brighter and more 

 wholesome, the fowl will be attracted to return to it for food, shelter 

 and to lay, although she may and should roam over the neighboring 

 fields all day. Under such conditions the farmer is brought in closer 

 touch with his flock, with the result that he gives it better care and 

 feed and obtains greater returns from it. 



You have put a difficult proposition for us, and I do not wish you 

 to interpret my reply as being my expression of the greatest fault 

 with the average farmer's way of raising poultry. I really do not 

 know what I do think to be the greatest fault, but I have men- 

 tioned several of the greatest ones, in my opinion. 



A Question of " Don't Care" and Neglect. 



(Prof. James Dryden, Corvallis, Ore.) 



I think the greatest fault with the average farmer's and poultry- 

 man's way of raising poultry is neglect. Most of them know better 

 but they don't care enough. It is a question of "don't care." To 

 remedy this state of affairs, an interest should be awakened among 

 farmers in better poultry culture and to get them to think along that 

 line. If they would do a little independent thinking there would 

 soon be a great clearing away of misconceptions in regard to better 

 methods. The great fault, I think, after all, Avith the farmer and 

 poultry keeper is that they don't think enough for themselves. They 

 should read all the best literature they can get on the subject, includ- 

 ing poultry papers, farm papers, poultry books and experiment sta- 

 tion bulletins, but then after they have done that they should sit 

 down and think it out for themselves. Nobody else can and should 

 be permitted to do their own thinking. This is especially true in the 

 field of poultry husbandry. There are so many different opinions 

 and ideas in regard to what constitutes the most profitable methods 

 of raising poultry. They need to get away from the habit of slavishly 

 following any man or set of men's views, ridding themselves of all 

 prejudice and weigh the evidence as it comes to them from the best 

 sources. And that reminds me, that prejudice is a great stumbling 

 block in the average poultry yard. 



