no 



The Illustrated Book oe PoriTRV. 



CIV t. per annum of the best manure in the world. Hence half an acre of poultry will make more 

 than enough manure for an acre of land, seven hundred weight of guano being the usual quantity- 

 applied per acre, and poultry manure being even richer than guano in ammonia and fertilising 

 salts. No oilier stock will give an equal return in this wa}- ; and these figures demand careful 

 attention from the large farmer. The manure, before using, should be mixed with twice its bulk of 

 earth, and then allowed to stand in a heap, covered with a few inches of earth, till decomposed 

 throughout ; when it makes the very best manure which can be had. 



II. Lastly, as much as possible should be sold retail, either direct or by an authorised agent; 

 and in the latter case special arrangements should be made that the produce be kept separate from 

 that of others. Mr. Stoddard justly remarks on this head, that " consumers readily appreciate 

 eggs, butter, or other produce, that comes from a regular, responsible source. But when a lot is 

 mixed with lots from other farms its individuality is lost ; if good, it may only be helping to sell 

 the poor article of somebody else, and the producer does not reap the benefit of his pains in 

 increased custom." 



Small matters must be found out by experience, and in all experimental stages there is 

 loss. Very cautious we would advise any one to be, while so much in details yet remains to be 

 established ; and in the face of continued and systematic misrepresentations in certain quarters, 

 which we are at a sad loss either to account for or to understand, we feel compelled distinctly 

 to decline responsibility for any other than our own personal opinions, which have been in brief 

 published before, and are more fully here expressed. We have however lived to see our earlier 

 calculations regarding the quantity of land required, and the gross profit over food, even with the 

 present standard of laying, verified by actual experiments in widely different hands ; and so we 

 believe we shall yet see a large farm for poultr}- conducted on rational principles to a satisfactory 

 conclusion At all events, the fact stares us in the face that with the corn markets of the world 

 open to him as to us, the small French occupier finds it to his interest to cultivate his poultry to 

 the extent of " £i to £^ per acre of his occupation," supplying the British market as well as his 

 own. To this simple fact we return, and we need not fear for speed)' improvement as regards 

 the cultivation of this profitable branch of stock in England, if by the repetition we can only 

 bring it home plainly and strongly to the British mind. 



