34 



POULTRY CULTURE 



plots of less than half their size, because the character of much of 

 the land made it impossible to use it with this system. These plants, 

 almost without exception, used artificial methods of hatching and 

 brooding. On many of them the young chickens were grown 

 under conditions not much better than those to which the old 

 stock were subjected. On others conditions for the young stock 

 were made as favorable as available land would permit. Those 

 operating such plants generally considered it necessary to renew 

 practically the entire stock each year. Hence it was necessary 

 to grow each year about twice as many chicks as there were old 

 birds on the place, which is difficult to do in a restricted area. 



Fig. 7. The poultry plant on a fine estate at Goshen, New York, combining 



both intensive and extensive features. Buildings very expensive. (Photograph 



from Willowcrest Farm) 



On large intensive plants it was necessary that much of the labor 

 employed should be skilled labor, — expert in handling poultry 

 under highly artificial conditions and in the use of artificial methods 

 of hatching and brooding. Plants of this type were most numerous 

 from 1890 to 1900, and were a conspicuous feature in southern 

 New England throughout that period. Elsewhere they were not so 

 numerous, though the total number throughout the country was 

 very large. The prosperity of these plants was generally fictitious. 

 Most of them were short-lived. In many instances good profits were 

 made for a year or perhaps a short series of years, but, for reasons 

 which will be stated in the discussion of systems, prosperity was 

 ephemeral in all but a few cases. Unbiased persons familiar with 



