No. 4.] POrLTRV OX SMALL FARMS. 413 



tlieiii to try to inaUc their li\ iiiu' iVoiu poultry. Many fann- 

 ers who have adopted intt'n.si\ c methods and Ibund thcan for 

 a while })rofitable have negleeted other lines of farm work ; 

 while others, unwillinii' to give time to poultry to the neglect 

 of other farm work, have reluctantly given up the idea of 

 increasinof their stock of fowls. The best solution of the 

 problem of the small farmer who wants to keep a few hundred 

 hens, and still give most of his time to and use most of 

 his land for other things, will be found, I think, in the 

 adoi)tion of methods intermediate between the intensive 

 methods of the town lot poultry keeper and the free and 

 easy methods which work well on large farms. 



For more than a decade now the interest of poultry keep- 

 ers has been almost monopolized l)y intensive methods. 

 Periodically the colony system has been illustrated and 

 described, and has attracted some attention ; but outside 

 of localities where it was developed it has as yet made 

 little impression, though within the last two years interest 

 in the colon}' })lan seems to be rather more general and 

 more persistent. Intermediate methods have been used in 

 a number of isolated instances, yet few in comparison with 

 the number of poultry keepers ; and I su})pose any one who 

 would take the trouble to look the matter up would find 

 that intermediate methods had not been as nmch neglected 

 by writers on poultry matters as the failure of readers gen- 

 erally to become interested in them would be presumed to 

 indicate. 



Just whv more people have not been interested in the 

 methods theoretically best adapted to their circumstances is 

 to me something of a puzzle. Perhaps it is because most of 

 us are imitative, and prone to do things the way we see most 

 of those about us doing them, or as those who seem to be 

 successful tell us they do them. For some years now poul- 

 trymen have been keenly interested in the development of 

 great egg producers, and in making records of large average 

 egg production. Intensive methods are required to secure 

 hiofh averages, as well as to enable one to closelv watch indi- 

 vidual performance of laying hens. It has been customary 

 to estimate profits in poultry keeping on the average difter- 



