INTRODUCTION. 



19 



we are as ignorant as we are of the law of at- 

 traction that causes the magnetic needle to 

 point to the pole of the north. We know it 

 is so we know it must be so, from the tens of 

 thousands of cases in which it has been demon- 

 strated ; but this is all we know, or all we can 

 know on the subject. 



The object of this work is to recommend the 

 breeding and rearing of domestic poultry as one 

 of the branches of rural economy ; and this we 

 shall do by setting forth, as well as our abilities 

 will permit, the benefits to be derived from the 

 poultry-yard. This will embrace three distinct 

 objects. The first, that of rearing poultry for 

 amusement and to supply the table of the owner; 

 the second, doing the same thing with a view to 

 profit; and the third, the benignant influences 

 that will arise from it to the various residents 

 of the contiguous mansion, both old and young, 

 male and female particularly the youthful and 

 female members of the family. 



It is believed that we shall be able to satis- 

 fy the reader that the culture of poultry is of 

 much more importance than has generally been 

 imagined ; and consequently it should become 

 one of the first objects of attention with every 

 family in the country. 



Every one should be made acquainted with 

 the fact that some kinds of domestic fowls are 

 more prolific and hardy than others; that some 

 are of greater size ; and that the flesh and eggs 

 of some species or varieties are much superior in 

 richness and flavor to others. The many sup- 

 pose that a " pullet is a pullet, and an egg an 

 egg, and that's an end of it ;" not so, however, 

 those gastronomes, the old Romans, according 

 to Horace. The epicures were particular in the 

 variety of their fowls cooked, or that produced 

 their eggs, and even went so far as to distin- 

 guish between eggs that were supposed to pro- 

 duce males and females, as will be seen by the 

 following lines : 



" Long be your eggs, far better than round ; 

 Cock eggs they are, more nourishing and sound." 

 Let it be supposed that there are in this 

 country three millions of families that possess 

 all the conveniences for keeping poultry more 

 or less. The number is doubtless greater ; for 

 there is no animal that breathes in the service 



of man which has such powers of self-multipli- 

 cation or productiveness as fowls. Then let it 

 be supposed that to each of the families belong 

 ten hens surely a moderate allowance! yet this 

 will make thirty millions for the entire coun- 

 try, which, at thirty cents each, constitutes an 

 entire investment of nine millions of dollars. 

 Four chickens to each hen are probably raised 

 for the table, making one hundred and twen- 

 ty millions of chickens raised every year for 

 that purpose ; which, at the same price, will be 

 thirty-six millions of dollars, or forty million? 

 of dollars for both. Again, if each of the stock 

 hens lays only twelve dozens of eggs in the year 

 less than one dozen in four weeks there 

 will be a product of eggs in the entire country 

 of three hundred and sixty millions of dozens. 

 These eggs are worth at least two dollars for each 

 hen. But allowing one half to go for feeding 

 them, there will be left a net profit from the eggs 

 of twenty-four millions of dollars annually; mak- 

 ing a net profit of sixty millions of dollars from 

 the combined production of eggs and chickens. 

 Let this result be placed with some of the 

 leading staples of the country. The value of 

 the flour of the country in 1847 has been set 

 down at $140,000,000.* If one half of this is 

 deducted for cost of production, and that is not 

 enough, the value of the poultry is worth more 

 to the country than our wheat crop. And tak- 

 ing similar data for comparison, it is worth dou- 

 ble our oat crop, double our potato crop, double 

 our cotton crop, and is equal to our crop of hay. 

 Indeed, taking the statistics of our agricultural 

 productions that year as a guide, there is but 

 one of them that yielded, according to the most 

 favorable calculation, so large a net profit as 

 the poultry. Or if the poultry did not yield 

 as much as supposed, it is because the poultry- 

 yard is unduly neglected, and its products un- 

 der-estimated. It is affirmed that, with the ex- 

 ception of prime cows, there is not on the farm 

 a single article of produce, whether animal or 

 vegetable, according to the value of the origin- 

 al investment, and to the expense and labor 

 of production, which yields so much clear prof- 

 it as will come from the poultry-yard, if prop- 

 erly regulated. This assertion is made with 

 confidence, because it is sustained by our own 



