5o LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



with thick sods cut off a light soil ; the health of the 

 birds and the fertility of their eggs will be greatly 

 benefited by this substitution. 



On very suitable soil, such as gravel, chalk, and 

 sand, you can keep your aviary up for three seasons 

 that is, if every year, after the birds are turned 

 loose, you cart away the top soil for 3 in. in depth ; 

 dig the ground a spade deep, lime it, then turn it well 

 over, and without fail sow it down with grass, or turf 

 it if too poor for grass to grow from seed. 



On ordinary light soil you may, by acting in a 

 similar manner, allow your pens to stand for two 

 seasons. On clay land nerer more than one season. 



When the pens are moved to a new position, dig 

 the old ground thoroughly, and leave it thus broken 

 up and exposed till the following spring, when it may 

 be sown with potatoes, then the year after with hay 

 seeds, and in three years from its last use the pens 

 may be re-erected thereon. 



Though pens are all very well for keeping a small 

 or moderate stock of birds, such as might give 500 to 

 1,000 eggs per season, they are not, in my opinion, so 

 suitable for producing a large number, as 1,500 or 

 3,000. The multitude of pens this amount of eggs 

 would entail implies a great deal of trouble in super- 

 vision and in separate feedings. 



