48 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 



been expended, first and last, to bring this place and its ample 

 conveniences into their present acceptable shape at Cresskill. 



The care of the fowls and chicks is continually an object of 

 concern to Mr. Baker and his assistants. And though his lay- 

 ing-house is so large, (equal to the accommodation of over two 

 thousand adult fowls together, in the seventy-five pens), he has 

 already prepared the ground for the purpose, and will shortly 

 extend his building to about eight hundred feet frontage, adding 

 three hundred and fifty feet in length to its present size. This 

 will, in all, give space for one hundred and thirty-five pens, to 

 accommodate, under one roof, about three thousand five hun- 

 dred laying-hens and companion roosters. 



Sitting-hens are of no account in Mr. Baker's economy. He 

 does not use them. From his large supply of grown fowls he 

 obtains all the eggs he can, for incubating artificially ; but he 

 purchases, at about three times the ordinary wholesale price, the 

 large majority of tlie tens of thousands of eggs he uses in hatch- 

 ing and experimenting annually. 



He pays, on the average, five dollars a hundred for all the 

 eggs he can have delivered to him in proper condition — fresh- 

 laid, sound and hatchable. His correspondence is large, for 

 strangers are attracted by his continuously advertised offer of 

 this price for all the eggs he can obtain, and find serviceable.* 



The estate of Mr. Baker faces the North River, upon the 

 westerly bank, and his country-house and grounds occupy the 



* I have been frequently applied to by correspondents who ask me to furnish them with 

 a recipe for saving eggs, for family use— and in response, an infallible mode for preserving 

 eggs fresh, and in perfect condition through the year, is given here. This plan is for saving 

 eggs /or consumption, or sale, only — not for future hatching. In June, July and August, 

 eggs are worth a cent and a half each, on the average. This is the time to " lay them 

 down" most economically. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, they bring four to five 

 cents apiece. The gain to any family by this simple and certain means, (or to the egg- 

 seller), is apparent. The cost of the process is but nominal. Lay your eggs down in the 

 fall, or summer, in a liquid composed as follows : one quart of lime, and one quart of com- 

 mon salt, dissolved in eight gallons of boiling water. When cold, put your eggs into this 

 liquid, in stone-Jars— ani they will keep for months. I have tried this method many years, 

 and have never met with failm'e. 



A New York firm writes me recently to enquire " if the use of stone-ware jars is indis- 

 pensable 'i " yes. The above preparation cannot be successfully used in wooden, or com- 

 mon soft earthen-ware vessels — as the chemical properties of the combination I recommend 

 does network well in any jars save those described— and I have experimented with all sorts. 



It may be that new hard-wood kegs, or small sized barrels, might answer the purpose 

 for preservation, in quantities, for a limited period. But I have found that the shells of 

 eggs thus kept for eight to ten months at a time, will grow tender; and they would not I 

 think afterwards bear much rough handling— for example, in transportation. G. P. B. 



