Guess This Is True

It is said that the profitsfrom twentyflvo hens cqual the profits from ono cow. It may be suggested that the truth of this statement depends upon the hens. Very tme, but with equal truth it may be asserted that it also depends upoa the cow. Tak ing the country at larga and areraging things, as it were, I am disposed, says a contributor to the Rural New Yorker, to cast in my lot with the hens, and if any lover oí the cow witU a crumpled horn, or with no horns, is disposed toquestion my conclusions, let him take up the eauntlet or ever after give the palm to the feathered biped. Both require shelter. Buildings suffloient to make them comfortable will, of oourse, vary in cost as well as in architectural pretensions with the location and the taste or financial resources of the owner, but I think that twentv-five hens can be made snug and comfortable for less money than one cow. Feed is quite & considerable item, but I think the twenty-five hens will bo able to show a balance in their favor. I can keep a flock of hens and feed them well for eggs at an average expense of one dollar each per year. The outlay will, of course, vary slightly in different seasonsand different localities, being as often under as over this amount. This would make the yearly board bill of our flock of twenty-üve just S'J5. Can the cow champion beat this without starvIng his cow or going so near it as to reduce her milk yield? Both hens and cow must have good care, but were I de8irous of the minimum amount of labor I should prefer to care for the hen It would certainly require less labor to gather the product of the hens' industry than to milk the cow. Tht-, droppings from a flock of hens are usually Biaerea ot sumcient value to pa y lor the care. How about the product? An average hen, if decently attentive to business, will lay about 10 dozen eggs per annum. My 23 hens then will produce about 250 dozen. I can sell my eggs at an average price for the year of 30 to 40 cents per dozen, but this is too high for the country at large; 20 cents is nearer right. This makes the receipta 850 for the flock, or, subtracting one dollar per head for feed, I have a balance of $25. The flrst cost of the hens was probably 50 to 75 cents each, but calling it one dollar each, I have a net profit of 100 per cent. Besides this, several of the . Tsh'vn probably acted as incubato; hus have earned something morel.. .dded to the credit side of the account. The flrst cost of the hens ■was less than the flrst cost of a goodcow, so the cow must earn still more than the hens have done to make a profit of 100 per cent. Will she do it?