12 HOW I MADE $10,000 IN ONE YEAR 



you might do well to buy some of the remains at a bar- 

 gain and save a lot of money. More will be said on the 

 latter score under "Buildings." 



Soil 



The ideal chicken soil is a light, sandy loam with a 

 gentle slope to the south. This means perfect drainage 

 away from your buildings. Where we are located it is 

 unusual to find even a small pool of standing water 30 

 minutes after the heaviest rain storm. This is almost 

 ideal. 



Nor is drainage the only consideration. A light, loose 

 soil lends itself much more readily to cultivation, it is 

 an easy matter to keep the ground fresh, and the hens 

 have an incentive to keep busy scratching. During the 

 rainy season, such as we have in Southern California, the 

 top soil is washed clean, the impurities sinking into lower 

 levels. Such a soil requires far more water and fertiliza- 

 tion for the growing of green stuff, but the advantages 

 offset this tenfold. 



It is not impossible to successfully operate an egg 

 farm on heavy soil. Our plant was located on a stiff 

 "dobe" soil the first five years, where a crowbar had to 

 be used to dig a post hole during the summer months, and 

 where a sticky mud formed during the rainy season, and 

 we laid the foundation for our success on that place, 

 making good money at it after the first two years. We 

 had only one attack of serious trouble during the five 

 years, and as other people located on lighter soils had 

 the same trouble at the same time, it seems reasonable 

 to assume that the soil was not the cause of it. But 

 heavy soil makes the work far more difficult and is much 



