IN THE POULTRY YARD. 23 
ing the bed the labor required seemed to me to be less than that 
needed for any other crop. Moreover, my thoughts were turned 
in this direction because I had always believed that the land south 
of the lawn was particularly well adapted to asparagus. There was, 
in the vegetable garden, a small asparagus bed which had always 
yielded a fair crop, but nothing extra, and this had given the im- 
pression that the land was not specially adapted to its culture. 
But wandering one day about the grounds, during the previous 
season, I came across an asparagus stalk yrowing in a corner of 
the fence near the boundary line. I was astonished at its size and 
vigor. I dare not state the height to which it had attained, for 
few of my readers would believe me; they would certainly think 
that I had mistaken some other and unknown plant for asparagus. 
It brought me in mind of the scriptural description of the mustard 
plant, for verily I beheld the birds of the air lodging in its branches. 
So here I marked off my asparagus bed, and I have never had 
occasion to regret the selection. 
One of the difficulties with asparagus, however, is the length of 
time which is required to bring a bed into good bearing condition. 
It was now too late to establish a bed that season, and as I had to 
allow the plants at least three years to become established, the 
prospect of returns seemed rather distant. 
Up to this time I had never thought of poultry, and if any one 
had suggested these useful animals to me as a source of income I 
would have regarded the proposition with considerable: disfavor. 
I had great faith in the profits that might be made out of a 
small flock of hens, and I had even speculated on the pos- 
sibility of keeping poultry on a large scale successfully, but in 
my previous calculations the poultry had been used rather as 
mere concentrators than as direct sources of profit. In other 
words, by converting corn, wheat clover, etc., into poultry and 
eggs, I believed that much freight might be saved, the fertility 
of the land not only maintained but increased, and thus a 
fair profit secured. And-I believe all this to-day with even more 
steadfastness than I did then. But to make poultry a paying busi- 
ness on three or four acres, even with a few extra acres of: orchard 
