The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-06-09

OVlAX 80A1ANAs y
The Philsdelphis Record says: For Q
given amount Of capital Invested there
e more profit In poultry when rightly
managed than anything else on the farm.
II 10 well known. however, that small
+fiocks pay . greater proportional rsturn
than larger ones. This IL partly because
small focks receive moro care and at
tention, and partly because fowls viii
not thrive whom kept together In large
numbers. In venturing Into the poultry
business beginners should tunderstsnd
that II IL Is Intended to keep the fowls
In largo focks. even when well attended,
beautifully fed and the full range OF the
farm given, success can not be assured.
Poultry raising should be encouraged.
II can be 80 managed as to give light
employment to females and children,
and Is within tho reach Of those OF imi-
ted means Long before the Americans
discovered there was Q great secret In
poultry raising, the French put In opera
ton q method that enables them TO snip
eggs to England. Germany and Austria,
rs well o. to supply o largo demand at
homo. II Is often remarked that the
French are the most successful poulter-
ers in the world, but we Q do al that
they d do in the matter, and more,
too, for they have no home-raised Indian
corr to assist them. They divide their
fowls into flocks of not more than one
dozen. Each flock has . small fowl
house, il0x10i feet, and q yard Of about
100 feet deep divided in the middle. The
houses stand separately in the center OF
the yards, which are 80 feet wide. Each
house has thus a 50x30 feet yard in front
and the same in the rear. An acre OF
ground will allow ID Of these houses and
yards. The IA houses and yards, with
one dozen fowls each, will accommodate
1913 fowls. This is a large number for
an acre of ground, but they are kept
healthy by changing them frequently
from one vacant yard to another. The
partition fences are made very cheaply.
sometimes of wire and again Of lath. To
make this system palmer to the reader,
it should be known that two fiocks of
fowls are never in adjoining yards, as
perfect seclusion from other tiocks must
be enjoyed by each of the small flocks.
Thus, while m flock is running in the
yard at the front of its house, the adj
joining yards on the right and left are
empty, as the next lot of fowls will be
running in the rearof their quarters; or,
to illustrate by means of a checker
board, the dark spaces represent the oc-
cupied yards and the white spaces the
vacant ones.
AS soon as the fowls are placed in one
of the yards Qhe front one, for ~instance),
the rear n is spaded up and seeded to
grass, oats, rye, quick-growing vege-
tables having good large tops, or any
thing else that will afford plenty of green
food. When n fair growth has been Sc
cured the fowls are turned into the rear
yard, and the frontone is in turn spaded
up and seeded down. The frequent
spading of the ground not only keeps
the yards fresh and clean, but their fer
tility is greatly Increased by the rich
droppings of the fowls.
There is another important matter
connected with the French system of
poultry raising-they are particular in
regard to breeds. Unlike the American
farmer, any and every sort of fowl will
not do for them. They are partial to the
non-setters, and believe eggs to be more
profitable than chicks, although some
are beginning to alter their opinions in
this respect. They have demonstrated
one fact in po~ultry-raising, which has
been verified byEnglishmen and Ameri-
cans, and that is that an acre of ground
will support nearly 200 hens. With q
margin of 81 profit on each hen, which
is not by any means a large estimate,
the reader can calculate for himself the
advantage of this kind of poultry-raising.
But to do as the French do there must
be some person willing to give all his
time to the care of the hens. Some par
ticular person must have the care of
them, to see that they are fed regularly;
that plenty of fresh, clean water is kept
within their reach all the time; that
ground or broken oyster shells, gravel,
II little box of sulphur, charcoal and
bones or scraps of meat are given liber-
ally. Perfect cleanliness and ventilation
are always to be looked out for.