n8 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



While the land on these plants is heavily stocked with poultry, 

 the birds are on it only half of the season, when vegetation 

 grows freely, and during the remainder of the season a great 

 deal of manure is removed from the soil by gross-feeding crops 

 like rye and cabbage. So the land may be heavily stocked longer- 

 than it could be if fowls were on it all the time. The chickens 

 grown in this way do not usually grow so large as those that are 



FIG. 1 1 6. Group of houses on a Petaluma egg farm. (Photograph from Bureau 

 of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 



given more room, but they are grown at less cost and are as large 

 as the market demands. By this method the land will carry a 

 large crop of chickens year after year for many years, yet it finally 

 becomes so contaminated that chickens do not thrive on it. 



INTENSIVE EGG FARMING 



Still another important development due to artificial incuba- 

 tion took place in California. The climate of the Pacific Coast 

 is well suited to fowls of the Mediterranean class, the cold never 

 being severe enough to affect their large combs. Hence these 



