258 AN EGG FARM. 



the ration might both be right at Hammonton and yet 

 the "infant mortality" be appalling. The riddle is 

 solved. Canaries and young chickens are among the 

 most active animals in the world. Nature is not a 

 clumsy architect. Their hearts, lungs and digestive 

 organs sustain an intimate relation to their muscles, 

 and the harmony of parts in the make-up of an animal 

 must be respected. When older the chicks could sur- 

 vive enforced idleness and inaction. But they are deli- 

 cate little balls of down 

 at an early age unless 

 gradually made robust 

 by working for what 

 they get. If you fight 

 nature .you will be 

 whipped every time. 

 Raisers of brooder 



FIG. 143. LIGHT TILT BOX. 



chicks all over the coun- 

 try, who achieve a partial success, repeatedly testify that 

 allowing the younglings the liberty of an outside yard 

 always checks the mortality perceptibly. 



But it will soon become generally known that a tilt box 

 of a few square feet of floor will do more good than a yard 

 of many square feet. The magical results of the little 

 outdoor yards adopted by the most successful raisers of 

 brooder chicks have been hastily attributed to the stimu- 

 lating effects of the cold or to the influence of the fresh 

 air or the direct rays of the sun. Wrong. No possible 

 allowance, proportion or variety of heat, cold, fresh 

 air, light or sun will save them without exercise. The 

 curiosity and inquisitiveness of the little fellows led 

 them to continually run indoors and out, like children, 

 as children's mothers well know, and in this way a little 

 exercise was gained by the use of the outdoor runs, but 

 not enough by 99 per cent. You can afford pupils plenty 

 of exercise in a city schoolyard of very limited dimen- 



