18 N. H. Agr. Experiment Station [Bulletin 256 



than $600 at present prices. This figure included his saving on house 

 rent and on wood for fuel. 



About one-third of the farms had central heating plants in the houses 

 and milking machines in the barns, and a greater number had bath 

 rooms, Hush toilets, hot water and electric lights in the home, and 

 trucks for transportation of farm products. Over half had oil stoves 

 for cooking and two-thirds had radios and refrigerators. Two farms 

 out of three had automobiles. Nine-tenths had running water for both 

 house and barn and this was supplied to six out of every ten by gravity. 



Four hundred and four of the farms maintained a total of 1,124 horses, 

 or 2.8 horses per farm. The average age of each horse was 13.7 years. 

 The majority of them ranged from 7.6 years of age to 20.8 years. Thir- 

 teen averaged 2.7 years of age and 34 more than 25 years old. Only 

 233 averaged less than 12 years. 



The farmers interviewed for this study lived in the towns of Leb- 

 anon, Enfield, Hanover, Canaan, Lyme, Orford. Piermont, Haverhill. 

 Bath, Landaff, Monroe, Lyman, Lisbon, Franconia, Littleton, and 

 Bethlehem in Grafton county and in Dalton in Coos county. With 

 few exceptions the major enterprise on these farms was the sale of 

 whole milk to local milk stations supplying the Boston market, {Pur- 

 nell Fund) 



Poultry Farm Study 



The average flock of Rhode-Island-Rcd pullets produces big mar- 

 ketable eggs after reaching the age of 50 weeks, according to a de- 

 tailed study of management and financial records on 26 commercial 

 poultry farms in southern New Hampshire. Frank Reed had charge 

 of the investigation. 



Twenty-two flocks of Rhode-Island-Red pullets were covered by the 

 study. The pullets in each flock were of uniform age. A sample of 

 100 eggs was taken from each flock at weekly intervals and each egg 

 was weighed individually. The 50th week practically all the eggs had 

 reached their maximum size, 82 per cent of them averaging 24 ounces 

 or more per dozen and 18 per cent 20 to 23 per dozen. 



On the basis of egg size alone and not considering other factors, the 

 advantage of early hatching is evident. January-hatched Red pullets 

 should begin laying maximum-sized eggs in November or December 

 and February pullets in December or January while May pullets would 

 not be laying large eggs until the next March or April. 



Eighty-seven per cent of the eggs from the three best flocks weighed 

 24 or more ounces per dozen when the pullets were 50 weeks of age, 

 while onfy 61.7 per cent of the eggs from the three poorest Hocks car- 

 ried that weight. The number of 24-ounce eggs from the best flocks 

 was 14 to 24 per cent greater during the whole period. {Purnell Fund) 



Poultry Thrives on Cafeteria System 



Left to themselves in a pen with a hopper full of grain and a hop- 

 per full of mash, chickens will pick and choose what their needs re- 

 quire, and not grow over-fat, a fact which is contrary to a popular 

 belief Of poultrvnien. This was learned from a series of feeding tests 

 conducted by T. B. Charles and H. O. Stuart. 



