POULTRY FARMING. 119 



birds from selected layers; and he got his average up to 

 160-170 eggs each, and reckoned a profit of nearly 53. per 

 annum per bird, after allowing for labour : prices realised 

 were from 6 to 17 for a shilling, according to season. The 

 fowls numbered here from 70 to 80 per acre, and at the end 

 of the term, he tells us, the land seemed getting rather foul. 



For seven years (we write in 1898) Mr. Hunter has now 

 occupied 43 acres at Northallerton, where on an average he 

 reckons about 2,000 head, or slightly under 50 to the acre. 

 A large quantity of eggs are still sold in local markets, and 

 a few of the culls from the chickens, which realise about 

 2s. 6d. each ; but the main part of the business has been 

 developed in other directions. Pure-bred stock bred for 

 laying, as this has always been, possesses a character and 

 value of its own, and about 3,000 to 4,000 sittings of eggs 

 afe sold annually at prices averaging about 6s. per dozen. 

 Pure-bred birds are also sold, some for mere crossing as low 

 as 55. each; others, of better quality, ranging up to exhibition 

 specimens, at prices from 8s. 6d. to ^5. This connection 

 has, of course, been a gradual growth of time, and character, 

 and systematic advertising. 



Details of the farm are very interesting. The fowls are 

 in runs of a quarter to half acre, each with a house 7 by 7 

 feet, with peat moss on floor, and a good large shed con- 

 taining half a load of coal ashes. The runs have 10 to 30 

 birds in each, preferably not over 20, and are grass all over ; 

 of course with only this number they never look foul. Half 

 or more of the whole farm is mown every year, and grows 

 about ;ioo worth of hay. This sweetens it and uses up 

 the manure. To arrange for this, two lots of birds are put 

 together for about six weeks, say from the middle of May 

 to end of June, while the grass grows ; after it is cut they go 

 back to the now clean and sweet ground. Some years 

 nearly all the farm is cut in this way, and an average of 



