28 NATURE AND ITS 



in building alone to say nothing- about results, as to profits 

 and healthy stock. Another thing 1 about these colony 

 houses, it takes just half the time to care for the Poultry as 

 it would if you had the long- houses. In a long 1 Poultry 

 house there is a draught unless you board up tight every 

 pen to the roof. A 200 foot house is dangerous in case of 

 fire or contagious disease, but some have these houses 1,000 

 feet long. Now I have seen over a hundred fail in this style 

 of house because when a contagious disease like roup or 

 cholera got in the house it was all over the house and every 

 one of them got the same disease and all died. Now if a 

 contagious disease breaks out in one of these small houses 

 you would not lose many as each house is separate from all 

 the rest. Now reader, don't you think there is something in 

 in that? It is my experience, at least. If you are going in 

 the market business don't waste time and money in building 

 fancy houses and yards and make people believe that you 

 are in the fancy Poultry business by having separate yards 

 and a different breed of poultry in every pen. This will 

 *oon fade away. If you want a few show birds, pen them 

 up, say six in each pen and give them 20x150 feet of yard 

 room and you will not be bothered with disease much. But 

 it costs too much to fence and house 1,000 or more hens in 

 this style. 



The Causes of Failure are Many. 



One principle cause is that the right kind of judg- 

 ment is not used, for instance a man will take a piece 

 of paper. and pencil and figure like this. My ten hens layed 

 200 eggs per year, and each hen netted me $2. Now 1,000 

 hens will net me $2,000 cash, clear profit. But in doing so 

 they never look ahead and use common sense. Ten hens 

 had the run of the farm and all the room and bugs, grass- 

 hoppers and worms they wanted. They layed well and 

 raised fifty chicks or more. Now, this man figures 1,000 

 hens will make him $2,000 cash. I will go and get 1,000 hens, 



