406 



Farm Land for Poultry Keepers. 



[OCT., 



work to others. In the case of smaller farmers, who are 

 accustomed either to perform all the work themselves or have 

 the labour directly under control, the difficulty is not present 

 to the same extent, and it is in this section of the farming 

 community that the greatest increase in poultry-keeping has 

 taken place. It may be noted that in the districts where small 

 farms arc most largely found the number of poultry bred and 

 kept is greater than elsewhere, both in this country and on the 

 Continent of Europe. Doubtless, in process of time, when a 

 new generation has sprung up and the changes now apparent 

 have taken effect, we shall find that the knowledge of this 

 branch of live stock will be equal to that relating to cattle, 

 sheep, and pigs ; and, perhaps, in days to come, a poultryman 

 may be as necessary on a farm as a herdsman or a shepherd is 

 now. 



It is generally admitted to be one of the serious factors of 

 our modern life that so large a percentage of the population of 

 the country is concentrated in the great centres of population. 

 On all sides we hear of enquiries made by those who have 

 lived part or all of their lives in the cities and towns for houses 

 with sufficient land upon which, by one or other form of what 

 is called petite culture, they can earn a simple but sufficient 

 living. The demand for such places is rapidly increasing, and 

 their scarcity is beginning to be apparent. Suitable holdings, 

 ranging from two to twenty acres, are taken up almost as soon 

 as they are available, and the demand is likely to be greater in 

 the future, especially if those living in rural districts meet it by 

 providing holdings of suitable area, particularly in places where 

 the land is good enough for the purpose. 



The main difficulty is that the greater part of the land is 

 already occupied. One method of meeting the demand for land 

 without interfering with those who are already in occupation, 

 more especially in respect to poultry-keeping, is being adopted 

 to an increasing extent in various parts of the North of England, 

 in the neighbourhood of the manufacturing villages of Lancashire 

 and Yorkshire. There seems, however, no reason why the system 

 should not be extended to all parts of the country. Even in 

 the purely agricultural counties its adoption would add both to 

 the incomes of farmers, and to the fertility of their land, would 



