NOTED CENTRES OF PRODUCTION. 



15 



acres. The birds are kept in large flocks, having the entire range 

 of the farm; and the houses are often located in groups. Each 

 poultry farmer simply cares for his mature stock, as there are 

 often as many as two thousand birds on a five-acre farm. All 

 hatching and much of the early brooding is done by specialists 

 who own and operate large comniercial hatcheries (Figs. 10 and 

 11). Most of such establishments have their own breeding stock. 

 The egg producers keep no males with their flocks, but buy enough 

 chicks from the hatchery to supply their needs each year. The 

 breeding birds on such hatching plants are given free range; and 

 care in mating and breeding is practised to maintain a high degree 



FIG. 13. A laying house common in 



the Vineland district, N. J. 



of vitality. The methods at Petaluma are different from those 

 practised elsewhere in America, and poultrymen will watch with 

 much interest the intensive methods being followed there (Figs. 

 9, 10, 11, and 12). 



The Vineland district in New Jersey is another specialized 

 section, which resembles, in many respects, the Petaluma district. 

 It centres around the city of Vineland (Figs. 13 and 14). 

 white Leghorns are kept, with the object of supplying the New 

 York City market with white-shelled eggs of highest quality. 

 The farms in this section are small, ranging from one to ten acres. 

 Each farm has from five hundred to two thousand layers (Fig. 15); 

 but there are some exceptionally large farms in the same com- 

 munity. Most of the farmers hatch and rear their own I ds, 

 artificial methods being the most common. The birds are kept, 



