Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1910-12-23
CHANCE FOR THE HEN.
Valuable Pamphlet for Poultry
Ratsers in New England.

will welcome the publication of a pam
phlet entitled "a Chance for the Hen
in Northern New England" by the
Industrial Department of the Boston &
Maine railroad. The booklet is devoted
entirely to the poultry industry and
contains much of interest and value. A
large part is given up to articles con-
corning the care and feed and housing
of hens, written by men of experience
in this line of work, and the remainder
is comprised of letters prepared by ex
perienced poulterers in northern New
England, who relate their trials and
tribulations and successes.
Mr.. William p Brooks, director of
the Massachusetts Agricultural Expert
ment Station, in discussing the relative
amount of home poultry product in New
England as compared with the product
shipped in from other states says:
Northern New England poultry
products invariably can be readily sold,
and, on the average, at prices which,
afford a profit"
The following quotations are taken
from facts about poultry contained in
the publication
1.-THE ideal land for poultry farm is
a sandy loan, which is naturally well
drained and yet capable of producing
good crops Of grass, clover, cabbages
and mangolds for green food, and of
corn, wheat and oats for grain food,
and Canada peas, sofa beans and sun
flowers as partial substitutes for animal
food; and containing gravel, which the
fowl may use as grit or grindstones for
the gizzard grist mills. y
Carefully constructed, comfortable
houses are most important aids in
ameliorating the somewhat unfavorable
natural influences of a rugged and
ought to be placed on a well-drained
spot facing the south or southeast.
Its floor, whether of earth, boards or
concrete, should be at least six inches
above the level of the surrounding
ground and shaped so that any
unwelcome water which might get upon
it shall Immediately flow off and away
from the house"
"A series of brooder feeding expert
ments in case of incubator chicks, con-
Quoted at the Rhode Island Experiment
Station, gave the following results
A flock of as chicks, fed on egg, liver
and green food, reached death rate of
63.7 per cent, of which 85.8 per cent.
showed bowel troubles. A flock of So
chicks, fed on grain exclusively, showed
a death rate of 32.7 per cent, of which
TO- per cent. had digestives troubles.
A flock of So chicks fed a complete and
balanced ration, including fertile eggs,
liver and cracked corn, wheat and
barley and green food in the form of
oat sprouts and chopped onions, had a
death rate of 3.9 per cent, and not one
showed digestive disorder.
THE closed house for poultry, well
lighted and ventilated and with proper
scratching shed, was once thought to be
the ideal place. Breeders are now com
ing to the conclusion that if the house is
closed it should have a curtain front, and
some are of the opinion that the open
front house will be the coming hen
house. If special attention is given to
the sanitary condition of the quarters
for poultry, and a suitable busting box
is furnished, there will be no trouble
with lice or mites
the letters received from poultrymen of
northern New England:
"Overlook Farm was raising pure
bred Holstein- Freisan cattle and South
down sheep, selling the young stock for
good prices Three years ago it was
deemed advisable to give poultry a try
out, as seperate branch, without in
terfering with the pure-bred stock bus
mess. The second year, wntering 500
layers and selling the eggs and live
poultry in the Boston market, Melted
81 81 per hen. The third year, winter
ing 700 layers, netted 81. GO per hem"
If more of the underpaid, underfed,
underestimated and, consequently, dis
contented poor men of the cities would
hike back into the country, buy or rent
cheap farms. start diversified farming,
with poultry as speciality there would
be more happiness, better living and
less discomfort in this hurly-burly world
of ours 4"
Il consider the outlook for the bust
ness better than ever before, as there
is an increasing demand for poultry
products at good prices"
In the whole United States there is no
better place to raise poultry than in
northern New England. Nowhere in
the country is there so good a
place as in New England and in
New York, or what may be termed
the 'northwestel n part of the United
States. Conditions generally are the
same in that particular region snd they
are by far the best in the nation. In
stead of much of the supply of eggs and
poultry being raised on farms in the
Mississippi Valley, the tide of pro-
duction should be turned in this direc-
ton and the leading honors carried by
the six New England states and their
sister, New York. Rather, only a
small proportion of the amount required
is marketed by the farmers in that sec
ton.
The pamphlet will be mailed to inter-
ested parties who send two cent stamp
to the industrial Department, Boston &
Maine Railroad, Concord, N. H.