POULTRY— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



Leland's method with fowls is reported in 

 the Transactions of the American Insti- 

 tute * a I from that work, and his letters 

 to Farmers' Club of that Institute 



an i the Department of Agriculture, we 

 condense the following statement : 



He devotes eighteen acres in one yard 

 of his "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 en- 

 joy 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 down into the grounds for shelter 

 and roosts. The wings of none are 

 clipped, and the hens may scratch and 

 turkeys fly at pleasure, within the limits of 

 the grounds. After a trial of some years, 

 Mr. Leland has discarded coops, finding 

 that the greater freedom he allows, the 

 more healthful and profitable are his 

 fowls. The principal features of his sys- 

 tem are freedom, cleanliness, proper and 

 sufficient food during the year, and 

 change of cocks every spring. In sum- 

 mer, with the range they have, his fowls 

 secure a good supply of animal food from 

 the fields, in worms, grubs, bugs, grass- 

 hoppers, etc. They are also supplied at 

 all seasons with the refuse scraps from the 

 Metropolitan Hotel. Mr. Leland says: 

 "Egg-making is no easy work, and hens 

 will not do much of it without high feed. 

 They need just what a man who works 

 requires — wheat bread and meat." He 

 feeds wheat, even when it costs $2 per 

 bushel. No old nests are allowed. Af- 

 ter each brood is hatched the boxes are 

 taken out and whitewashed inside and 

 out, and after lying in the sun and rain 

 a few days, they are half filled with clean 

 straw and returned for use. The old 

 straw is burned. Each of the 250 to 300 

 hens on hand in the spring is permitted 

 to have one brood during the year. Four 



or five will have broods the same day, 

 and to the hen which appears to be the 

 best mother, all the chickens are given. 

 The others are given a cold bath and 

 placed in confinement a few days, after 

 which they return to the flock and their 

 nests. Mr. Leland produces a great 

 many eggs, which pay for food and at- 

 tendance, and makes sales of poultry, 

 amounting to several thousand dollars 

 annually. If a hen comes off about the 

 1 st of April with ten chickens, by the 

 middle of June they will weigh twenty 

 pounds and be worth five dollars. He 

 asserts that he can produce a thousand 

 pounds of poultry cheaper than he can 

 produce the same weight of mutton, beef, 

 or pork. He finds as great profit from 

 turkeys as from hens, and greater with 

 more attention. One-year-old turkeys are 

 found to be the best mothers, and gob- 

 blers of that 'age are also preferred. 

 Three hatchings are put with one turkey 

 in a large coop, half hidden in tall grass. 

 as bare ground is fatal to the young. 

 The chicks do not require food until the 

 third day, when cracked wheat is given 

 them. They require great care during 

 the first two weeks, and must not be left 

 out in the rain or wet, but after that 

 age they grow without much care. Af- 

 ter the season of grasshoppers, they are 

 fed on corn, and late in September they 

 are ready for market. In the fall of 1875 

 Mr. Leland sold 450 turkeys, grown that 

 year, for $1,752 — nearly $4 each. He 

 also sold 320 ducks for $352, and over 80 

 geese at $1 80 each. No food is given 

 the geese after they are feathered; yet 

 Mr. L. says other poultry is better and 

 more profitable. He holds ducks — a cross 

 between pure -bred Muscovy and English, 

 which are hardy, hnest for meat and best 

 for eggs — in high esteem. The latter are 

 fed on corn. His young chickens in 

 1875 numbered about 3,000, and his stock 

 of all kinds of poultry about 4,000. It 

 was estimated to be worth $4,000 in 

 November of that year, when poultry 

 was higher than it has since been. Mr. 

 Leland prefers the large bronze turkeys, 

 Poland geese, which lay earliest, and 

 light Brahma hens. His cocks are of all 

 kinds, as he finds excellent results from 

 the crosses secured, and no old cocks arc 

 allowed on the place. When nine months 

 old his early spring pullets begin to lay, 



