Farm Poxdtrxj. 
69 
Farming, issued by the Eoyal Agricultural Society. These 
he states to be " the excessively high rates charged by the 
railway companies for the carriage of produce, and the unsatis- 
factory modes of distribution. In the existing circumstances 
the producers get the minimum value, while the consumers 
have to pay the maximum price. The pernicious system of 
salesmen and middlemen, and the routine of markets, hinder 
enterprise and check production." If poultiy are consigned 
to the markets, the producer has no check whatever on the 
middleman, and whatever the price to the consumer may be, he 
gets a very inadequate return. But in spite of these drawbacks 
it is believed that the cultivation of poultry may be largely and 
profitably extended, if it be conducted in accordance with profit- 
able rather than fancy considerations. 
Fowls. 
The first point to be considered in the keeping of poultry 
is the accommodation that can be afforded them. The practice 
of allowing fowls to roost in the trees, though very conducive 
to their health and high condition, is one that is obviously 
rarely practicable ; but with regard to a house no particular form 
or character is necessary. Stalls of an unused stable or any 
ordinary shed can with little or no expense be converted into a 
poultry house as advantageous as the most expensive. The 
arrangements in ordinary houses are eminently unsatisfactory. 
Usually perches are made one higher than the other, the top- 
most being near the roof ; the result is a twofold injury. Fowls 
retain their original instinct of roosting high up in trees, remote 
from their enemies. Consequently all ascend to the highest 
perch, fight for places, knock one another down, and, as they 
fall perpendicularly, injure and frequently break the keel of the 
breast-bone. When descending from the trees in the open, the 
fowl has the power of flying a long distance, and comes to the 
ground gi'adually. When dropping from a high perch in a con- 
fined building it comes with violence on the ground, strikes 
the feet against the floor, which in heavy birds induces " bumble 
feet," and is also apt to break the breast-bone. 
These evils may be avoided by putting all the perches on 
one level, about three or four feet from the ground, when there 
will be no quarrelling for places, and the fowls can be caught 
when required with much greater facility. In this case, there 
' Hints on Vegetable and Fndt Farming. By Charles Whitehead, F.L.S., 
F.G.S. Third Edition, 1890. John Murray. Price ^d. 
