THE 
GARDEN YARD 274 
man to devote his entire energies to this feature. 
Such hatcheries may be handled either by pri- 
vate individuals, or, as in the case of the cream- 
eries, may be co-operative institutions run for 
the good of the whole community. 
A continuous house can be built with small 
compartments for each flock, and separate 
runs for summer use, though the colony plan is 
preferred by some, and has its advantages, 
among them being the fact that the flocks are 
more widely separated, so there is less danger 
of any disease spreading; and if any particular 
house becomes infected, it can be cleansed with- 
out disturbing the whole plant. 
The colony plan requires considerable less 
expense in housing and other equipment than 
the yarded plan. The expense for food is 
also decreased, because of the greater number 
of insects and green food that the hens get from 
the range. 
The following plan of poultry keeping is, 
perhaps, the simplest known, and for that 
reason, the most successful. By “successful” 
I do not necessarily mean the most profitable, 
but the surest of paying a reasonable profit. 
The plan is that of using inexpensive colony 
houses, which are located in a large yard or 
small field. These houses are built very light; 
