420 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



profitable for the greatest number of poultry keepers ; and 

 the present evident reaction from intensive methods fur- 

 nishes good evidence that those who have tested them have 

 often found them wanting. Poultry keeping readily enters 

 into combination with almost every branch of agriculture, 

 and the attempt to keep it entirely separate generally does 

 violence to its development along natural lines. 



Leaks in Exclusive Poultry Keeping. 



It has been said that poultry keeping is readily combined 

 with almost any branch of agriculture. It may also be 

 said that poultry keeping naturally combines with several 

 branches of agriculture. When one undertakes to limit 

 his effort to an exclusive poultry business, he is likely to 

 find that there are some very practical objections to that 

 course, and that circumstances combine to force him to en- 

 o-ao-e in several side lines of work. 



Fowls must have shade. Fruit trees and vines planted 

 in the yards will furnish shade, and will grow and bear 

 better than under almost any other conditions. So, almost 

 without thinking about it, many poultrymen drift into fruit 

 growing on a small scale. 



A large stock of fowls makes in the course of a year a 

 great deal of very valuable manure, the greater part of 

 which is lost to the poultry keeper, unless applied to crop- 

 producing land on the same farm. The night droppings, 

 which can easily be collected and kept in condition to sell, 

 constitute but a small part of the manure made. The most 

 of it falls either on the earth floor of the poultry house, 

 there to be mixed with the sand or earth of the floor, or 

 with this, and the broken leaves, straw or other material 

 used for litter, or is deposited on the ground on which the 

 fowls run outside. None of this manure is salable, but 

 every bit of it can be utilized. Moreover, if it is not 

 utilized, it will sooner or later poison the land wherever 

 deposits of it are very abundant, making it unfit for poultry 

 and often causing disease and loss to such an extent that 

 the poultry ceases to be profitable. Whether a poultry 

 keeper makes use of the manure or not, he must take care 



