PROFITABLE EGG FARMING. 
hundred and fifty feet apart, set out in long rows 
over gently sloping fields. He has one hundred 
of these houses, scattered over three or four 
fields. The food is loaded on to a low wagon, 
which is driven about to each house in turn, 
the attendant feeding as he goes; at the after¬ 
noon feeding the eggs are collected. The fowls 
are fed twice a day. The morning feed is a 
mash of cooked vegetables and mixed meals; 
this “mash” is made up in the afternoon of the 
day before; the afternoon feed is whole corn 
the year round. It is none of our business, 
but it seemed a little droll to find western (dent) 
corn brought to this out-of-the-way corner of 
the land, teamed four miles from the steam¬ 
boat landing, and fed to fowls! That may be 
economy of labor, but we doubt it—which is 
wholly outside of the question of the unwisdom 
of feeding so much corn. We could not but 
think that a more varied food-ration would 
induce a greater egg-yield per fowl; but as we 
were unable to get a statement of what the egg 
yield per fowl is we can only guess at this. 
The houses are of the simplest and cheapest, 
could be built for twenty dollars apiece, prob¬ 
ably. Some of them are of the double-pitch 
roof pattern, others of the sloping (shed) roof 
pattern; but all are alike in being built of the 
cheapest unmatched lumber, and all are inno¬ 
cent of shingles or roofing paper on roof and 
walls. Of course they are thoroughly ventilated, 
the numerous cracks between the boards ad¬ 
mitting fresh air in abundance, and sunshine 
and rain with absolute impartiality. In that 
location, close upon the seashore, snow is 
practically unknown, and the fowls can run at 
large every day in the year; and that free range, 
with unlimited fresh air through the houses, 
keeps the fowls in perfect health. Whether 
fowls so housed and cared for will produce as 
many eggs in a year as fowls better housed, and 
fed a more varied food-ration, may well be 
doubted. We would like much to see a test 
made there, of shingling (or roof papering) 
the roofs and walls of one row of houses, putting 
half the number of birds in each of those 
houses, and feeding them a balanced ration. 
We believe the birds in those houses would lay 
nearly twice the number of eggs in a year, and 
that three-fourths of that greater egg yield 
would come in the fall and winter, when eggs 
pay the creamy profit. This could only be de¬ 
termined by a careful experiment carried 
through a whole year, the record being kept of 
the egg yield of each houseful. 
Another experiment we hope Mr. Wilbur will 
try is adding a small (say 6 x 8 or 8 x 8) 
scratching shed on the west end of some of those 
houses. The advantages of such a shed would 
be very great in stormy weather, of which they 
have quite a little there on the coast. That Mr. 
Wilbur is not himself wholly satisfied with his 
houses and the colony plan, we judge from the 
fact that he is planning to build a long, scratch- 
ing-shed house on land east of his present plant, 
and below his son’s residence. 
While considering the colony house plan we 
will digress to remark that we have found two 
or three other cases of a desire to try the long- 
house method. Mr. Mapes, for example, of 
Middletown, N. Y., has (or his son has) just 
built a house 320 x 16 feet, divided into twenty 
pens 12 x 16, and an alleyway four feet wide 
extending the entire length of the building; 
and Mr. Howland of Fairhaven is building his 
later buildings each sixty feet long, divided into 
five pens 12 x 12, and with 12 x 100 feet yards 
adjoining. From these recent examples we 
may infer that the colony plan of housing poul- 
tr}^ is not the greatest success; if it were these 
men would not be trying something else. 
To our mind the strongest argument against 
the colony plan is that too much of the fowls’ 
physical energy is wasted in “ranging,” energy 
which if properly conserved will turn to egg 
production. We try to plan for house room 
and yard room enough for good health, and to 
keep green grass accessible all the growing 
season—and we believe we get the best egg 
product by that plan; which, for want of a better 
name, we call the semi-confinement plan. 
The bulk of Mr. Wilbur’s stock is the Rhode 
Island Reds, a variety well known in southern 
Massachu,setts and Rhode Island, and famous 
for both egg production and dressed poultry. 
They probably originated in crosses of the old 
Shanghai fowls with native stock. Of this, 
however, there is no proof; and the fact that in 
one section of that country they were known as 
“Malays,” is suggestive of their being an im¬ 
portation originally from an eastern country. 
That they are a very much mixed stock is shown 
by their breeding both rose and single combs, 
and both clean and feathered legs—and it will 
take time to “ establish ” them, fix a type. The 
single combed and clean legged bird seems best 
suited to meet the popular taste, and that is the 
90 
