THE COLOXY PLAN. 23 



the soil not only keeps it sweet, but provides what fowls 

 are so fond of a place to scratch for insects, and roll 

 and dust themselves in dry weather. The crop of weeds 

 that will constantly appear in summer must be as con- 

 stantly turned under; and whatever advantage there 

 may be in green crops for manure will be secured ; thus 

 the enriching and pulverizing of the ground will fit it 

 for large crops. It need not lie altogether fallow, either, 

 for a few small spots may be sown thickly with lettuce, 

 cabbages, or other plants that fowls will eat, pro- 

 tected until partly grown by movable fences or hurdles 

 of wire netting, after which they may be allowed to help 

 themselves. Oats may be sown in strips also ; and 

 whether the fowls scratch up and eat the seed, or forage 

 upon the tender sprouts or the ripened grain, no mat- 

 ter. It is only necessary to compare the amount of labor 

 spent in spading the ground in yards, to keep it fresh, 

 with this way of using team and plow, to see the supe- 

 riority of the latter method. 



In poultry raising on a large scale, it is, ordinarily, 

 next to impossible for the fowls to procure insect sup- 

 plies to any important amount, in proportion to the 

 numbers of the birds. Yet while in the colonization 

 and no-fence plan, with the houses 10 to 11 rods apart 

 and no crops, the insects procurable are so few as to be 

 unimportant, the following modification of this method, 

 where grasshoppers are very plenty, as they are in July 

 and August in some parts of the United States, has 

 been found to work well, to wit : Locate the buildings 

 for laying stock 20 rods apart, instead of 10 rods, and 

 in place of unlimited range, give each flock a long, low, 

 covered run, the sides and top of which consist of wire 

 netting, stretched over frames. This yard, or long run- 

 way, may be 2 or 3 ft. wide, 3 ft. high, and 6 or 8 

 rods long. It is important that it be built in movable 

 sections, set end to end, each section being about 10 or 



