508 Californian Poultry Eaising and Marketing. [Sept., 



record of the ben. A bucket is suspended by a wire moving 

 in front of the nests, so that no stooping or unnecessary labour 

 is entailed. In so exacting a business as poultry-farming on 

 this scale, such labour-saving devices are invaluable. Clean 

 dry litter is kept on the floor and covered-in water-troughs are 

 provided at a height of 18 in. to 2 ft. from the ground to 

 prevent litter being scraped into the water. Feed mixtures 

 are placed in a dry-mash hopper. It appears that the advocates 

 of dry and wet mashes are fairly equally divided, though prob- 

 ably slightly more dry mash is fed on account of the saving 

 in labour as compared with the wet mash, a dry hopper need- 

 ing to be filled only once or twice per week. Where wet 

 mashes are used they are mixed with green food to avoid 

 wastage. Many successful farmers pay great attention to the 

 supply of green food, care being taken to provide different 

 varieties. 



The problem of the fouling of land in Petaluma Valley is a 

 comparatively easy one. The soil is almost everywhere a light, 

 sandy loam, porous, and productive; the climate is mild and 

 equable; and, the district being well provided with small hills, 

 natural drainage is almost universal. Under these conditions 

 the double- vard system can be used to the greatest advantage. 

 A foul yard is ploughed up, limed, rested for a few days, and 

 then sown with quick-sprouting seed. At the end of three 

 weeks there is usually a growth some 6 or 7 in. high, and the 

 h6ns can be turned on to this. It is thus possible to confine the 

 birds to an area which they will completely foul in three or four 

 weeks, and by carrying out the process described above, to keep 

 a large flock of poultry on a very small tract of ground. 



The Feeding Problem.— The dimensions of the poultry- 

 farming industry here have resulted in simplifying the feeding 

 problem also. There are several grain merchants established 

 in the town who import their grain from the neighbouring 

 Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys by cheap water trans- 

 port. They mix their feeds in Petaluma itself and by estab- 

 lishing carefully composed brands of uniformly good quality, 

 have materially reduced the poultry-farmers' cares while ensur- 

 ing a constant market for their goods. Most of the grain 

 and meal seen in the repositories was of good quality and re- 

 markably clean. It is a noteworthy result of the magnitude and 

 intensiveness of the Californian agricultural industries — in fruit 

 growing and dairying as well as in poultry-farming — that great 

 importance is attached to the grading and branding of the 



