PRACTICAL EGG FARMS. 
may well be doubted, certainly the experience 
of the Hammonton broiler raisers induces them 
to give the annual freshening to their brooder 
house runs, and their soil is quite the same sandy 
loam as that at Lakewood Poultry Farm. Where 
the soil is a clay-loam there would be greater 
danger of soil-poisoning from the accumulated 
droppings, than a lighter soil into which the 
water quickly washes the droppings, and one 
would need to study the conditions of his 
ground and govern himself accordingly. 
It is very desirable that there shall be shade 
in the poultry yards, and as a combination of 
fruit growing and poultry raising is most advan¬ 
tageous, it is advised that fruit trees, such as 
plum, cherry, peach, apple, etc., be set in the 
yards; and where permanent fences are desired 
these may be trellises for grape vines and the 
grape vines furnish the much desired shade. 
When we speak of shade in the poultry yard, we 
do not mean complete shade, but that there 
should be partial shade, so that the fowls can 
choose a shady spot or a sunny spot at will. 
It should be borne in mind that the highly 
nitrogenous character of the poultry droppings 
induces growth of the trees, hence frequent prun¬ 
ing is necessary to induce fruiting, and many 
fruit trees need to have the fruit thinned to 
avoid the danger of over-bearing. With fruit- 
trees growing in the yards and grape vines on 
the permanent fences, the roots absorb a por¬ 
tion of the fertilizing element contributed by the 
fowls, which will, in a measure, assist in keeping 
the soil sweet. We use the term, “ in a measure” 
because nothing short of an annual over-turning 
of the surface and seeding to some quick grow¬ 
ing crop will produce complete soil cleansing; 
and where it is the intention to keep fowls con¬ 
tinuously year after year an annual seeding 
will be found quite essential. 
A TYPICAL POULTRYMAN. 
Pluck, Perseverance and Intelligence Win 
Success.—How a Machinist Became a 
Successful Poultry Farmer. 
Mr. C. H. Wyckoff, formerly of Groton, N. Y., 
is a typical poultry man, an excellent example of 
what a poultry man should be, and can be. Grow¬ 
ing up on a farm, he had a practical knowledge 
of the advantages and disadvantages of farm 
life. Being desirous of becoming a machinist 
he served an apprenticeship at that trade, and 
worked at it for several years, gradually coming 
to realize the limitations of a mechanic’s life. 
The freedom and “out-of-doors” of farm life 
strongly attracted him, but alas, he had no cap¬ 
ital,—every dollar of his weekly wages being 
consumeel in the family expenses; a condition 
exactly similar to that of thousanels upon thou¬ 
sands of mechanics, clerks, etc., who long to get 
back to the freedom of farm life, but find them¬ 
selves confronted with the fact of weekly wages 
barely meeting the weekly expenses, and no 
surplus at the end of the year. 
About fifteen years ago Mr. Wyckoff founel an 
olel man living on an olel hill-top farm a mile and 
a half out of Groton, who was willing to sell his 
farm for nothing down, accepting as security for 
the first payment, a note for a thousand dollars 
with the endorsement of Mr. Wyckoff’s father. 
His father was able to loan him a few dollars, 
with which to partially stock the farm, buy a few 
tools, and get one step ahead. Mr. Wyckoff in¬ 
tended to develop that old run-down farm into a' 
poultry farm, having kept “ a few hens ” at his 
former home, and being a firm believer in the 
profitableness of producing eggs for market. He 
bought about twenty-five scrub hens, and housed 
them in one of the old buildings on the place, 
gradually added to his stock as the eggs pro¬ 
duced by the mixed hens warranted it, and had 
the second year respectable flocks of Plymouth 
Rocks and Brown Leghorns. From eggs pro¬ 
duced by these flocks he saved up $75, and the 
next spring invested it in White Leghorn eggs, 
and a year later had grown to a stock of one 
hundred and eighty good White Leghorns. 
We want the reader to observe that all of this 
growth had been paid for by the hens themselves. 
Mr. Wyckoff got his “ living ” out of the old run¬ 
down farm and garden, and set aside every dol¬ 
lar of the egg-money to pay for more hens, or 
for the eggs from which to hatch them. There¬ 
in is the secret of his rapid climb to success. If 
he had insisted upon using small slices of this 
egg-money in buying family supplies, or better 
clothing, or farm tools, or other things which 
were sorely needed in those first years, he 
wouldn’t have “got there” so quickly. 
There were many times when a dollar or two 
“ borrowed ” from that egg-money would have 
eased the pinch of hard times in that house¬ 
hold, but Mr. Wyckoff believed that easy times 
were just ahead, that the harder road was the 
shorter, and had the courage to wait and grow. 
That third year, when he had one hundred and 
eighty White Leghorns, eggs were extremely 
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