The only Rational Plan. T.09 



But, secondly, while Mr. Stoddard professes to secure all the advantages of perfect liberty, we 

 believe him to be fundamentally wrong in this assumption. It will be found by calculation that if 

 the total area be divided between the various houses, each flock of fifty birds has an area of very 

 little more than 3,000 square feet ; whereas we have already stated that ail experience teaches the 

 required space is about half an acre, or 22,000 feet. Allowing even the equal area cultivated, 

 which indeed is necessary to a just conclusion, the fact still remains that the total space is only 

 about one-fourth what is required for health and purity, while any grass in such overcrowded runs 

 would be impossible. The double area proposed is, indeed, only about half wliat we have given as 

 necessary for grass-runs when fowls are kept in families of half a dozen ; and we are quite certain 

 that in a farm so overstocked the mortality would be enormous. 



Lastly, we are thoroughly convinced that iVIr. Stoddard's opinion as to the comparative 

 amount oi labour involved in his plan is a delusion. lie would move eacli house every few da}-s, 

 and plough the manure in with a horse-hoe ; we are perfectly sure that, with a tolerable floor, it 

 would involve less labour if at precisely the same intervals the house were cleaned. The 

 idea of having all houses so small that no one can go into them, and of reaching into them for the 

 various operations as into a cupboard, is also a fallacy ; besides which, the house space and other 

 shelter is far too little for the American climate, or even the English, with its many vicissitudes 

 both of weather and temperature. Indeed, the very fact that the flocks, in full numbers, are 

 supposed to be housed and carried through the winter with such inferior shelter as Mr. Stoddard 

 describes is alone sufficient to prove that the scheme in its entirety has never been fairly and fully 

 put to the test of experience through several seasons. 



Whether with more ground the general plan would answer we must frankly confess we are 

 unable to say. That fowls have a strong sense of locality we have indeed observed, and there are 

 evident traces of experiment in the way Mr. Stoddard gives this part of his views which would 

 make us hesitate to express any decided opinion. If it succeeds in a large establishment, then by 

 hi\\\d\ng pcriitanciit houses of sufficient size (instead of fifteen feet by eight feet and a half they should 

 be fifteen feet by twenty feet for fifty fowls), and placing them at least one hundred and sixty feet 

 instead of sixty feet apart, all the advantages of the plan would be secured witliout its faults ; but 

 we question much if the labour of going so far from house to house would not far more than com- 

 pensate the saving of fence and of opening and shutting the gates which belong to it. 



On the whole, therefore, we consider that some such plan as that given in Fig. 47 offers the 

 greatest probability of success. The cost of building is more, but is not excessive, while six 

 flocks are collected together for cleaning, feeding, and collecting eggs. The range is ample, so that 

 except the houses no cleaning is necessary, while the ground will remain sweet and wholesome, 

 without that " spading up" of which Mr. Stoddard justly complains as too much labour to be 

 profitable ; providing both fresh grass and a very fair amount of insect food a great part of the year, 

 with abundant room for clumps of trees as shelter. The manure dropped on the ground itself will not 

 be more than enough to maintain the grass the fowls consume ; and if fruit-bearing trees be added, 

 the land will be reduced to as low a cost as possible. In his three alternatives, Mr. Stoddard has 

 not in fact fairly included this system of keeping separate flocks, but with ample range ; and, 

 indeed, a large establishment on this, as we consider, the only rational basis, has yet to be tried. 

 Land is cheaper than labour, while it preserves health as well ; and, so far as Mr. Leland's experience 

 goes, it proves that such a plan would be a success. 



Such then, we believe, will be the poultry-farm of the future ; this plan alone has stood every 

 test which has yet been brought to bear upon it. It has hzQnproved that a flock of fifty fowls, with 

 a house twettf;,Y feet by fifteen feet, and half an acre of grass, with trees for shelter, will be properly 



