IN THE POULTRY VARD. 33 
place was sold he bought it, intending to rebuild the houses and 
rearrange the whole affair. But when he had obtained possession 
he found that the buildings had been put up by carpenters who 
had followed the designs given in the books, and had not been 
guided by a man of extended practical experience in poultry keep- 
ing. So he arranged part of them as breeding houses for raising 
young chickens, and some of them he rented to a neighbor who 
used them as greenhouses. This neighbor had a small peach 
orchard of about five acres, adjoining the poultry yard, so he gave 
Thompson the right to pasture his chickens in this orchard in ex- 
change for the privilege of using the greenhouses—a most judicious 
arrangement for both. 
Thompson’s business now became larger than ever. He soon 
became known to certain city dealers who had a wide connection, 
and they bought from him large numbers at very remunerative 
prices, because they knew that they could depend upon every bird 
being strictly as it was represented. After a while he added other 
varieties to his collection, being always careful to maintain the 
strict purity of his stock. At present he had White and Brown 
Leghorns, Spangled Hamburghs, Black Spanish, and he had just re- 
ceived a new breed which has since become famous—the Plymouth 
Rocks. These facts I gathered partly from his own lips and partly 
from subsequent information from others, but so well was I im- 
pressed with the sensible, and apparently honest character of the 
man, that I did not hesitate to explain to him what I wanted and 
to ask his advice. ‘ 
After showing me over his yards and explaining his methods and 
describing the characters of the different breeds, he led me to a 
small yard where, in a series of separate pens, he had about 
twenty of the most beautiful Brown Leghorn cockerels I had ever 
seen. These he recommended as the best birds for my purpose. 
Mated with good common stock of fair size he guaranteed that 
they would produce chickens which would give satisfactory results 
both as regarded eggs and flesh. As-his price seemed. very 
moderate—$2.00 for a cockerel, I paid for one, had it put in a 
light crate and took it with me. These crates were quite ingeni- 
