10 AN EGG FARM. 



the great expense of a fowl-proof fence all around it 

 would be saved. If the tract is unfortunately bounded 

 by cultivated lands, then it must be so large and of such 

 cheap quality, that a border twenty or thirty rods wide 

 may be afforded, to be kept in permanent pasture. The 

 land should be upon a slope, for there must be a quick 

 surface drainage after heavy rains ; but the pitch should 

 not be so steep as to prevent easy wagoning. A southern 

 or southeastern inclination gives a proper sunny exposure; 

 and if there is a belt of woods on the north to break. the 

 winds, so much the better. If near swamps, sea 

 marshes or damp river valleys, the site should be so ele- 

 vated as to be out of the reach of the worst raw, chilling 

 fogs. We have enumerated all the above qualifications 

 as necessary to a site for an egg farm, and it may be 

 added that most of these apply whether the plant is in 

 the northern or the southern states. Their combination 

 with certain essentials of soil, which we shall state in 

 another place, makes the matter of selection one of con- 

 siderable difficulty. Many more important points are to 

 be attended to than in choosing a place for ordinary 

 farming or gardening. 



A SOUTHERN LOCATION. 



While proximity to a northern city has become more 

 important year by year, in one sense, because a greater 

 proportion of the whole population of our country, and 

 of all other countries as well, is, as time rolls on, found 

 in the large towns ; yet there is, however, another aspect 

 to the case ; for transportation has received such an 

 immense development that it is possible to utilize 

 extremely favorable distant sites, formerly unavailable, 

 for poultry raising. By going a tier or two of states 

 further south from our northern farms, poultry plants 

 may be established under more favorable auspices, in 

 many respects, for supplying the large northern cities, 



