: MANAGEMENT AND’ PROFIT OF FOWLS. 331 
Large numbers of fowis may be profitably kept by observing in due 
proportion the conditions of success with a few. They may be kept in 
large flocks, with extended conveniences, or divided into small flocks of 
fifty orless. It is reasonable to suppose that want of suecess with large 
numbers of birds is most frequently caused by neglect in the matter of 
cleanliness and food, causing disease, or low condition, destructive of 
profit, since it has been demonstrated by years of experience that thou- 
sands of fowls may be kept together with large and certain remunera- 
tion. The editor of the Massachusetts Ploughman, August 27, 1870, re- 
marks that he has “frequently expressed the conviction that with proper | 
management a large number of fowls will prove proportionately as profit- 
able as asmall number,” and recommends in substance as follows: That 
an acre of land, at least, should be given to every two hundred fowls; 
wild, rocky land covered with bushes being as good as any; and that a 
flock of a thousand should have six acres. It should be fenced with 
boards or pickets, and houses should be erected, according to plans 
approved for smaller numbers, large enough to accommodate a hundred 
fowls with shelter, roosts, and nests. They should face the south, and 
the fronts should be partially or entirely glazed, the sashes opening on 
hinges at the top, so as to be opened in summer for free circulation of air. 
There should also be provided a number of low sheds about the grounds, 
beneath which the fowls may take shelter from the sun and storms. 
There should be abundance of pure water, easily accessible. Fowls 
selected for breeding should be kept separate from the others, in flocks 
of twenty, with the proper complement of male birds. This writer 
further says: ; 
With a large flock properly kept on such a tract as we have described, there is no 
question as to its profits. The poulterer embarking in an enterprise of this kind should 
keep in view: , 
’ 1. That the cheapest and most accessible land is the most desirable, always provided ~ 
that a near and sure market is at command. 
2. That the utmost economy consistent with the safety, comfort, and health of the 
poultry should be exercised in the erection of the buildings and fences. 
3. That an abundance of pure water is accessible or attainable. 
4. That fowls over three years old are not profitable, and a stock should be thoroughly 
renewed every two years. 
5. That only the largest, hardiest, and best fowls should be used as breeders. 
6. That a careful supervision of the flock is necessary, and that it enjoy the most 
perfect health and greatest comfort in summer and winter. 
These suggestions accord with the conditions under which Mr. War- 
ren Leland, ef New York, has successfully raised, for many years, large 
numbers of fowls, securing abundance of eggs and poultry, principally 
for use in the Metropolitan Hotel in the city ef New York. Mr. Leland’s 
method with fowls is reported in the Transactions of the American In- 
stitute for 186869; and from that work, and his letters to the Farmers’ 
Club of that Institute and to this Department, we condense the following 
statement: 
He devotes eighteen acres in one yard of bis “Highland Farm,” at 
Rye, New York, to his poultry, consisting of hens, ducks, turkeys, and 
geese. The broods have another large lot, and the turkeys have a half- 
mile range. The eighteen-acre lot‘is rough land, unsuited for tillage, 
having in it rocks, bushes, grass, weeds, and sandy places, and also a 
pond. It is supplied with heaps of ashes, bones, lime, and a portion is 
occasionally plowed to furnish worms. The fowls have woods and 
bushes to range in, the turkeys trees to roost in, and the ducks and 
geese enjoy the privileges of the pond. There are natural and artificial 
shelters for all, consisting of sheds, hillsides, bushes, nooks, and hiding 
places of all sorts for hens with broods, and trees are cut and bent 
