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Show should only be relied upon for the winter win-ter egg supply.- Avoid Overcrowding. On no account should the. laying stock be overcrowded, as when this is the case it is next to impossible to secure se-cure a good supply of eggs. Especially Especial-ly is this so during the winter, when the fowls tjave to be shut up in their houses for so mary hours at a stretch and it is evident that If the air is vitiated the best results cannot be achieved. As far as possible, each bird should be allowed two square feet of floor space in an ordinary closed-in house; when the open-fronted form is used, two-thirds of this amount is sufficient. suf-ficient. Closely allied to the question of overcrowding is that of ventilation, and there should always be some arrangement ar-rangement whereby the vitiated air can pass quickly, away, allowing fresh to take its place. GREAT SKILL NEEDED' Constant Care and Ceaseless Attention At-tention Are Essential. Poultry Keeping Requires Knowledge, Experience and Hard Work Hen Is in Her Prime During First and Second Seasons. There are thousands who at this moment firmly believe that all one has to do in order to have a successful poultry farm is to buy a few hens, give them something to eat, and provide them with some sort of a shed in which to sleep, and there will be a continuous supply of new-laid eggs and a nice plump chicken for the table ta-ble as often as required. All that one has to do, therefore, to build up a big business is to Increase the number of hens and the accommodation. How hopelessly, pitifully mistaken, this is, only those who possess practical experience ex-perience can fully realize. There Is no brunch of agriculture in which greater skill and knowledge are necessary neces-sary than in poultry keeping, and there is certainly no branch iu which constant con-stant care and ceaseless attention are more imperatively needed. Obtain Best Results. It has been found time and again that when fowls receive proper attention atten-tion and are looked after in a businesslike busi-nesslike manner, they yield a larger profit in comparison with the amount of capital Invested than do any other farm stock. Until It is fully reali7.ed, however, that poultry keeping Is a business, requiring skill and experience, experi-ence, common sense and patience, plenty of hard work and constant attention at-tention to detail tne best results will never be achieved. A very frequent cause of the egg supply being .small is that the laying stock Is too old. The ordinary class of hen does not pay for her keep after she Is two years old, and birds older than this should be disposed of. Exhaustive Ex-haustive experiments have proved that a hen Is in her prime during her first and second seasons, after which time she ceases to be profitable. Young hlrds that is, two years and under |