28 EAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 



liberal the range the better — it is 'futile to attempt to grow 

 fowls to profit, and to expect them to produce eggs regularly. 



In the vicinity of all large cities and towns fresh eggs are 

 always in request, at the most remunerative prices. Every 

 tiller of the soil possesses, more or less, facilities for feeding 

 poultry economically, and has also the space upon his land to 

 make them comfortable and thrifty. But some time must be 

 given to looking after them daily, and a degree of care is requi- 

 site to keep them in "good heart," and to render them of profit 

 in the end. Our Shorthorns and Alderneys, our Suffolks and 

 Chesters, our Southdowns and Cotswolds, all require care to 

 keep them in fine condition. Why not, proportionately, so 

 with our poultry; which, having reference to the comparative 

 cost and product, pays with certainty so much greater a per- 

 centage of profit, year by j'ear ? In France every farmer has 

 his chicken yard, and the amount of poultry and eggs consumed 

 by, and exported from that country, is enormous. Monsieur 

 de Lavergne, for example, estimates that the poultry of Great 

 Britian for the year (1861-62) is valued, in round numbers, 

 at twenty millions francs, ($4,000,000,) while the total value 

 of the two products — poultry and eggs — in France at the 

 same period reaches rising two hundred millions of francs. 



Where one or two hundred fowls can as well be profitably 

 kept in a thrifty condition, as a dozen or two can b« neglected 

 and starved, it is well that every farmer should look at this 

 item of live stock, and bear in mind that, with ordinary care, 

 (considering the necessary investment of capital and the 

 trouble of its keeping) no live stock will return him anything like 

 so generous a percentage as will his too often neglected poultry. 



As a rule, the poultry-house or houses are better placed, aU 

 things considered, with the aspect facing east and south, in 

 our northern and eastern States. Djaring the severe winters ex- 

 perienced in our northern latitude, domestic fowls will neither 

 lay, nor be free from various diseases, if exposed to rough 

 weather or the chilling winds. A cheap and good style of 

 house may be constructed with a partial glass, front and end, 

 facing as indicated in Fig. 1., the sash running from two feet 

 above the sill towards the peak, and upon the side towards the 

 eaves, of any desired dimensions, upon the plan on next page. 



Such a house has been in use for several years by the writer, 

 and has been found to answer admirably for sitters as for lay- 

 ers, with a slight change in the interior arrangements, from 

 Dne season to another. The glazing may be such as serves for 



