IN THE POULTRY YARD. 114 
First year after birth............. 15 to 20 
Second “ Biers dues 100 “ 120 
Third = « OD peer cena 120 “ 135 
Fourth “ EE PIPE a tae eer loo “115 
Fifth Bee ss B eal oyan eeneneonc 60 “ 80 
Sixth =“ Me ape then See emer 50 “ 60 
Seventh “ Go Ailes avalos 35 “ 40 
Eighth “ ES Seale oat aan os rs 20 
Ninth “ BE ae laitisgarteen nse h ace, 1 “ 10 
It follows that it would not be profitable to keep hens after their 
fourth year, as their produce would not pay for their keep, except 
when they are of a valuable or scarce breed.” 
This theory is evidently a mere modification of that popularly 
held in regard to seeds. Many believe that the huge oak lies 
coiled in miniature in the acorn, and that the process of growth is 
amere unfolding. It is needless to say that in the sense here ex- 
pressed this is untrue. And so with the ovaries of the hen. Geye- 
lin’s theory is that even in the little chick the future eggs all exist 
in microscopic embryo, and are merely “ unfolded” as the months 
roll by. No man, having a sound knowledge of physiology, could 
hold any such opinion. The same power which originated the 
most microscopic of the egg-embryos that we see in the ovaries: 
of a laying hen, when we kill her and cut her open, exists with all 
its potency in every healthy hen; and may go on developing new 
eggs ad infinitum, provided other conditions do not interfere. 
‘These conditions are the exhaustion produced by rapid egg-laying ; 
the decay of all the powers by age; the accumulation of fat when 
the bird is highly fed, and its weakening when food is stinted; 
these and similar causes limit the number of eggs produced by 
any one hen, and not the fact that her store of embryo eggs is 
exhausted. Hence, the number of eggs laid by different hens 
varies very much; some are quickly exhausted by a small num- 
ber, others go on laying freely, and it is for the poulterer to 
determine what the character of his flock shall be in this re- 
spect. 
