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there that you find one avoiding it entirely. Fanciers are most 

 likely, while giving fowls suflicieut house room, to limit them too 

 much in the matter of yard room ; while with farmers it is apt to 

 be the other way. Between the two evils there is nothing to 

 choose, and no choice should be made. There should be sufficient 

 indoor room, and that in a suitable building or coop for both fowls 

 and chicks, and a generous allowance of room outdoors. While 

 it is unquestionably better for fowls not given enough room out- 

 doors to have a roomy house than to be crowded indoors as they 

 are out, and better for fowls given coops only big enough to roost 

 in that they have a good range during the day, the best results 

 cannot be obtained by subjecting fowls to unfavorable conditions 

 half the time ; and it makes little difference whether that half is 

 day or night. 



For best results there must be uniformly good conditions. 

 " Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well." If it is worth 

 while to utilize the farm land for poultry, it is worth while to 

 properly house what fowls are kept. If the expense of putting 

 up buildings for what fowls can be kept on the land is too great at 

 first, the proper balance of conditions can be maintained by re- 

 ducing the numbers kept to what can be properly housed. The 

 common experience of poultry men who make a specialty of poultry 

 is that the flock so limited in numbers not only pays a better profit 

 per head, but also a greater total profit than when the premises are 

 overstocked. Market reports this season have furnished an illus- 

 tration of this point on a very large scale. After prices of grains 

 went up last fall, buyers of poultry throughout the country reported 

 that the stocks on the farms were being very much reduced, and 

 it was predicted that on this account there would be a shortage of 

 eggs and poulti'y this season. There was a shortage of eggs early 

 in the winter, because even fewer flocks than usual were produc- 

 ing ; but after the hens began laying the production was greater 

 than last year. It is altogether probable that this is because the 

 reductions of the farm flocks made the conditions so much better 

 for the fowls that remained that their average production was very 

 much increased. 



In conclusion, let me urge on farmers who want to make their 

 poultr}^ as profitable as possible, a point which, when first stated, 

 may not seem to fit the subject of this article. It is this : never 

 stint your growing chicks on feed. Let them have all 'they can 

 eat and digest properly. Don't starve them to make them hunt 

 for food. If possible, spread them out over the farm so that they 

 can get what grass they need, and some insects, without running 



