29 



try. The large poultry ranches all together can supply but a very 

 small proportion of the immense quantities of eggs and dressed 

 poultry demanded by an ever-increasing consumption of these 

 articles of food. 



How SHALL THE BEGINNER BEGlK? 



In the first place, do not commence on too large a scale, espe- 

 cially if you have had no experience with fowls. The necessaries 

 are the same in kind that are required in almost any productive 

 business. If we were to discuss the things needful in establish- 

 ing, maintaining and managing a special poultry farm or a great 

 poultry plant, the factors to be considered might be grouped under 

 the terms land, capital and labor. The same means on a small 

 scale are required for the little poultry plant on the general farm. 

 There must be a place for the fowls, money must be invested in 

 buildings, in good birds and in food and other materials; and, 

 finally, work is unavoidable in the care and management of the 

 business. 



Location. 



Even poultrymen of experience often make mistakes in choosing 

 a location for poultry keeping, hence it is well for the novice to 

 consider the matter quite fully. If fowls have been previously 

 kept upon the farm, the adaptability of one or more places for the 

 purpose may have been tested. In any case, several things need 

 to be carefully considered. The fowls, to do their best, must live 

 in shelter and comfort. The land should not be wet, and stag- 

 nant water in the soil is especially to be avoided. A somewhat 

 elevated slope, with a southerly or south-easterly aspect, if avail- 

 able, is usually preferred. A sandy loam soil in such a location 

 is naturally well drained. If the soil is a strong, heavy clay, 

 naturally too moist, it may be artificially underdrained by means 

 of tiles, and thus avoid the surplus moisture which seems to favor 

 the development of influenza and roup in poultry. 



The atmospheric drainage is something equally important, though 

 not often taken into account. Every one has noticed, in travel- 

 ling over the roads, up hill and down dale, in the old Bay State, 

 that the cool and often chilly, moist, heavy air settles to the lower 

 places, and tends to remain there. Fowls should live where the 

 air surrounding them is at least fairly dry, even during the wet, 

 stormy weather of the cooler seasons. The inclemencies of the 

 weather, especially the extreme and sudden changes in tempera- 

 ture during the winter and spring, even in the best locations, test 

 severely the strength of constitution of both feathered and un- 

 feathered bipeds here in New England. Violent winds add greatly 



