THE STOUTENBERGS 3-STORY CHICKEN APARTMENT BUILDING. SIX PENS 



24 fee* square hold 900 hens. There's a itraw lo<» on top and feed rooms a* end. 



Cliff -Dwell- 

 ing Biddies 



Chickens and Good Farna 

 Management Pay Out on 

 This Clay County Farm 



"K 



' UT - kut-ku - (lawkui. Yoohon. 

 Sarah Red Conilj." calleii 

 Clarissa I.effhorii from the 

 third floor. 



"Tu-kaw, Claris.sa." replu-d Sarah. 

 "And how are you this morning?" 



"Kine. But I'm iieediiisr a little extra 

 mash." cackled Claris->a. "Could you 

 spare it?" 



"How about the wheat you )iroinised 

 me. Clarissa." kudawked .Sarah. 



"Oh my dear." clucked Clarissa. "I'd 

 fortrotten all about it. Til send it right 

 down. But be sure and .send nie up the 

 mash. I'm expectintr company." 



"Kudaw-kudaw-kudaw." cackled th-- 

 first floor residents. "Listen to that one 

 on the top floor. Company! Kudaw- 

 kudaw! Cluck! Cluck! Tukaw-tukaw." 



"Li.sten girls," clucke<i Susie on the 

 first floor. "What I could tell if I had 

 a mind to. .About the way she flirts 

 with that young Danny in the next yard. 

 Cluck-duck." 



"She borrows to feed him. thf young 

 upstart." cackled another. 



".She never pays anythinir back." 

 kudawked another. 



"Tukaw-tukaw-kudawkut." screamed 

 the first floor. 



"Yoo-hoo. Danny." cried the third floor, 

 "When you coming over?" 



"Coekadoodledoo." crowed Danny from 

 the next pen. "Hi'y there Clarissa, 

 what's on the menu this morning?" 



"Oh Danny." clucked Clarissa. "I've 

 got some nice cracked corn. meal. mash, 

 and some of those green things you 

 like." 



"I'll be right over." crowed Danny. 

 "Cockadoodle doo, watch me fly this 

 fence." 



"Tukaw-tukaw-kudawkut -cluck-cluck." 

 shrieked the first, second, and third 

 floors in L. E. Stoutenberg's chicken 

 apartment, down in Clay county. 



"Of all the nerve." kudawked Sarah 

 Red Comb. "Borrowing from me to make 

 a hit with that young r>anny." 



I'erhaps a little far fetched and all 

 that, but every morning at the Stouten- 

 l.erg farm, you can hear more than a 

 thousand hens all going at (mce in their 

 handsome three Ptory chicken house. 

 The story of how (lene Stoutenberg got 

 into the chicken business and converted 

 worn out land into a productive farm 

 ri-ads like an .\lger book. 



He was born near Princeton in Bureau 

 county and his family mi>ved to Vermi.- 

 lion county when he was about six 

 years old. Skipping all the inters-ening 

 time, we f:n<l that Gene came from 

 Normal, McLean county, in 18'.'8 to 

 Sandoval and on to the present farm 

 a .vear later. In all the farm -t()tale<l 

 1(30 acres. It was in such ba<i shape that 

 Mr. Stoutenberg says. "We would have 

 moved off if we could tint we couldn't." 

 In order t" y-et anything to grow, all 

 the land had to he limed. .A carload 

 of phosphate has been put on too. The 

 soil is gray silt loam with a tight cla\ 

 subsoil at>i>ut IK to 24 inches down. The 

 result of the liming an<l phosphating 

 has been pretty interesting. When oth- 

 ers, with b-tter land to start with, but 

 with no lime and clover, were getting 

 wheat crops of 18 to 20 bushels to the 

 acre or less. Stoutenberir got yields up 

 to 411 and .'>ll bushel- to the acre. 



DANNY — Just one of the boys out fo' a 

 stroll. 



During the drouth of 1KM-K2. South- 

 ern Illinois had a good corn crop. Farm- 

 ers in Centra! Illinois came down to buy 

 corn. That. accor<ling to .Stoutenberg. i-^ 

 the way the lower end of the state got 

 the name "Kgypt." It so closely paral- 

 leled the old Bible *tory 



In r.»(M. (iene and Mi^ Stoutentierg 

 liudt a house. It is a fine, comfortable 

 place ami stands ;.s a momument to a 

 famiK who wouldn't let poor soil lick 

 them. It is modern in every respect 

 Klectric power from the nearby high 



MERLE STOUTENBERG 



He runs tfrie shovv now." 



L. E. 'GENE AND MRS. STOUTENBERG 



He got the mumps vaca+ioning in Wyomng. 



Alf.rST I!t:i« 



IS 



