68 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



The regular subject of the day, " Profits of Keeping Poultry," was then 

 taken up. 



Mr. Robinson. — Mr. S. C. Kenard, of South Newmarket, N. H., sends us 

 the following statement: On the 12th of December I bought twelve hens,, 

 paying therefor $3. I went to work and made a coop, four by eight feet, 

 and six feet high, with slats on the larger portion of the side facing the 

 sun, the other portion being closed to protect the fowls from the storms, 

 when they chose to occupy it. At the closed end I attached a box on the 

 outside, four feet by one and a half, and one and a half feet deep, and con- 

 nected to the main coop by holes of sufficient size to allow the fowls to 

 enter the box to deposit their eggs, the box being furnished with straw and 

 kept clean and dry, and having a lid to open, which I found very convenient, 

 as there was no necessity of entering the coop for the eggs. A box was 

 arranged for feed, which was always kept supplied with corn, and this, 

 with a supply of clean water, and an occasional feeding of refuse meat or 

 ofial, and a supply of pounded oyster shells, constituted their feed. At the 

 end of the year I footed up the account, and found my twelve hens had 

 eaten just twelve bushels of corn, which had cost me $9.60, which, added 

 to cost of fowls ($3), made $12.00. 



The credit footed up thus : Eighty-five and a half dozen eggs, at the weekly 



market price, and that, too, in a country village $14 40 



By eleven hens (one having died during the year), at twenty-five cts. 2 75 



Total $17 15 



which gave me a profit of 4 55 



So much for my first year's experiment. 



The second year I continued the same treatment as the first, with the 

 single exception of feeding a small allowance of chopped grass and weeds, 

 which I found an improvement; but, to please the children, consented to 

 try the experiment of raising poultry, keeping a strict account of debt and 

 ci'edit as before. But I found at the end of the year that the poultry-rais- 

 ing had turned the balance to the other side of the sheet to the amount of 

 $2.35. 



The third year I pursued the same course as the first, and my twelve 

 hens gave a profit of $5.16. 



Now, suppose your lady inquirer could keep twelve hundred hens (which 

 she could easily attend to), her income, according to my experiment No. 1, 



would be $455 



Or, according to experiment No. 3 516 



She can judge whether it would be remunerative. 



Again, my experiment was made in a country village, where the price 

 of eggs is probably less than in the cities — say one or two cents per dozen, 

 while the price of corn here is usually from twelve to fifteen cents per 

 bushel higher than at New York. It is now (April 21) seventy-five cents 

 per bushel. 



In conclusion let me add, that the surest way of knowing is to try the 

 experiment yourself. 



A word more to your inquirer: Don't meddle with "golden plumage" 



