POULTRY— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



2 55 



and he gets 200 to 250 eggs daily 

 during the cold season. He prefers the 

 Brahmas because they mature early for 

 spring chickens, are handsome, hardy 

 good-layers, look well when dressed, and 

 are of large size. No other hens are 

 kept. The Black Spanish and White 

 Leghorn have been found better for eggs, 

 but they are undesirable for the table. 

 He feeds corn, wheat, chopped turnips, 

 refuse cabbage, and the waste bread and 

 meat scraps from his hotel, and sour milk 

 from his farm; also burnt bones, lime, 

 etc., for shell-making. During the past 

 ten years Mr. L. has annually raised about 

 3,000 chickens, 450 turkeys, and 500 

 ducks and geese, and he thinks that the 

 business might be made generally profita- 

 ble, especially in rocky neighborhoods, 

 and on a scale more extensive than his 

 own. He says : 



The great secret of my success is in 

 keeping near the conditions of nature. 

 At the outset I became convinced that, 

 above all things, fowls must have space 

 and cleanliness; that they cannot be ex- 

 pected to do well if confined in cramped 

 and offensive quarters. With space and 

 cleanliness, I cannot understand why the 

 number need be limited. 



He has never kept an account of his 

 poultry business, being satisfied with its 

 continuous success. He pays $250 per 

 year and board to one man to attend 

 his fowls, and buys about 200 bushels 

 of grain each year, which, with the veg- 

 etables and refuse from his hotel, inter- 

 est on land, and cost of buildings, make 

 up the regular expenses. 



The committee of the American Insti- 

 tute Farmers' Club, appointed to visit 

 poultry yards and ascertain the best mode 

 of wintering poultry, reported through its 

 chairman, that Mr. Leland had the best 

 winter quarters for his hens, ducks, and 

 geese, they had ever seen. The follow- 

 ing description of his winter manage- 

 ment of poultry is taken partly from the 

 report of the committee, and in part 

 from statements given by Mr. Leland. 

 For the winter quarters of his flock — 

 which at that season is reduced to 300 

 early spring pullets, 30 cocks, 30 turkeys, 

 (sometimes many more), and a few geese 

 and ducks — he has a stone buildings 75 

 feet long and 25 feet wide, which faces 

 the South. The openings on the north 



side are small and filled with window- 

 glass, and in some cases with double 

 sashes. Those on the south are much 

 larger, consisting of double doors, which 

 are opened on sunny days. In the mid- 

 dle of the north side is a wide, old-fash- 

 ioned fire-place. Nearly every day in 

 winter a fire is kept up with chunks, 

 knots, and logs that would otherwise be 

 useless. The walls being of stone and 

 the floor of earth or rock, the fire can 

 be left without danger. The chimney 

 can easily be closed, or the logs rolled 

 out into the middle of the building, and 

 feathers or sulphur be used for fumiga- 

 tion, which is done whenever hen lice 

 appear. Smoke is found to be better 

 than carbolic acid, or kerosene, or white- 

 wash, to drive away vermin. On cold 

 and wet days the fowls gather before the 

 fire, warm themselves and trim their 

 feathers ; and when the fire dies out they 

 wallow in the warm ashes. Lime and 

 plaster are freely used in the building to 

 absorb odors and compost droppings. 

 Roosts are made of oak slats an inch 

 thick and two and one-half inches wide, 

 fastened to the rafters near the ridge. 

 About two teet below the perches is a 

 scaffold of boards that fit closely. This 

 is covered with plaster and ashes from 

 time to time, which, with the accumu- 

 lated droppings of the hens, are frequent- 

 ly swept off, put into barrels with all re- 

 fuse filth, and used upon corn land. The 

 manure is valued at one dollar per year 

 from each hen, as the same amount of 

 fertilizing salts in bone-dust, which would 

 cost fifty dollars, is annually saved from 

 fifty hens. The wide perches used ena- 

 ble the hens to cover their feet entirely 

 with their warm feathers, and prevent 

 freezing in the coldest nights. The offal 

 of the farm and refuse from the kitchen 

 are thrown into this hen-house to be pick- 

 ed over; and besides this the poultry is 

 fed about a bushel of corn per day in 

 winter, and half a bushel in summer. 

 Mr. Leland raises excellent crops of corn, 

 having the best manure, and he feeds the 

 product of four acres in keeping and fat- 

 tening his poultry. 



The use of fumigation for driving 

 away vermin may be successful in a build- 

 ing such as we have described, but can- 

 not be relied on as the best means under 

 all circumstances. Whitewash for walls, 



