for themselves alone. As the cow, under favorable conditions, finds
pleasure in giving milk, so does the hen under like conditions take
delight in giving eggs,--else why the joyous cackle when leaving her
nest after doing her full duty? She gloats over it, and glories in it,
and announces her satisfaction to the whole yard. It is something to be
proud of, and the cackling hen knows it better than you or I. It can be
no hardship to push this egg machine to the limit of its capacity. It
adds new zest to the life of the hen, and multiplies her opportunities
for well-earned self-congratulation.

Our hens are fed for eggs, and we get what we feed for. I said of my
hens that I would not ask them to lay more than eight dozen eggs each
year, and I will stick to what I said. But I do not reject voluntary
contributions beyond this number. Indeed, I accept them with thanks, and
give Biddy a word of commendation for her gratuity. Eight dozen eggs a
year will pay a good profit, but if each of my hens wishes to present me
with two dozen more, I slip 62 cents into my pocket and say, "I am very
much obliged to you, miss," or madam, as the case may be. Most of my
hens do remember me in this substantial way, and the White Wyandottes
are in great favor with the Headman.

The houses in which my hens live are almost as clean as the one I
inhabit (and Polly is tidy to a degree); their food is as carefully
prepared as mine, and more punctually served; their enemies are fended
off, and they are never frightened by dogs or other animals, for the
five-acre lot on which their houses and runs are built is enclosed by a
substantial fence that prevents any interloping; book agents never
disturb their siestas, nor do tree men make their lives hideous with
lithographs of impossible fruit on improbable trees. Whether I am
indebted to one or to all of these conditions for my full egg baskets, I
am unable to say; but I do not purpose to make any change, for my egg
baskets are as full as a reasonable man could wish. As nearly as I can
estimate, my hens give thirty per cent egg returns as a yearly
average--about 120 eggs for each hen in 365 days. This is more than I
ask of them, but I do not refuse their generosity.

Every egg is worth, in my market, 2-1/2 cents, which means that the
yearly product of each hen could be sold for $3. Something more than two
thousand dozen are consumed by the home colony or the incubators; the
rest find their way to the ci