The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1899-02-08

comblnations in Poultry Keeping.

1 have q neighbor whose poultry
yards cover about one-fourth of an
acre. In these yards he keeps fifty to
sixty hives of bees. / think he usually
keeps 200 hens, and the income from
these, his bees and small garden is
sufficient for his small family. He
has been very successful in bee-keep-
ing in connection with poultry. He
is up-tc-date in his management of
them, using the late improvements in
bee-hives aud other supplies for his
bees, and he knows how to care for
poultry to make them pay good
profit. This instance shows what can
be done on q small lot by man who
will study to learn all about his busi-
ness and then will be thorough and
painstaking in doing his work.
On my own little farm in the village
have four large poultry yards. My
plan is to utilize all the space in a
way to obtain some profit from it, and
for several years / have been planting
those trees, vines, ETC., in these
yards, which l can protect from injury
by the fowls. 1 first began planting
apples, pears, plums and cherries five
years ago, and now 1 have row of
trees standing through the middle of
each yard, from which we are getting
some good fruit. The wire netting
which incloses the yards is six feet
high. My plan was to utilize the
netting as a trellis for grape vines.
When feeding meat to the poultry /
had buried the bones and refuse along
these fences with view of planting
the grape vines over them. Three
years ago l planted few vines along
the netting, and now they have grown
so as to almost cover 1T. have used
one of the fences as support for
blackberries and raspberries, letting
the canes grow to the top of the netting
so the berries will be out of reach of
the hens, This plan has worked
well, but 1 prefer to grow black
caps in this way, as the canes can be
more conveniently pulled through the
meshes of the netting. In this way
they will completely cover it and give
it the appearance of all ornamental
hedge. My experience in planting
grape vines along the division fences,
rs far as 1 can now Judge, will be a
success, and 1 shall continue to plant
until these fences are covered with
vines. The first two years after
planting I protect the young vines by
placing pieces of netting around and
far enough from them so the hens
will not reach them. Yards with
fences covered with vines in this way
present a very ornamental appearance,
besides being a source of profit. The
end which / have in view is to use al
the fences inclosing the poultry yards
for growing vines-it is better to have
yards with the length four or five
times the width-then through the
middle of each yard, if they are fifteer
or twenty feet wide, plant small frui
trees, and in the line of trees and be
tween them set a few hives of bees
Then frequently plow and harrow the
space between the trees and vines, an6
SOW small grain in them to make {
scratching ground for the hens. The
hens will pick up the worms and in
sects, cultivate the ground for yor
around the vines and trees, and theil
droppings will enrich the ground.
Your readers will not understand
that 1 have this plan of utilizing poul
try yards yet complete in my OWL
practice as 1 describe it, but that in 9
part of my yard the trees and vines
are new being successfully grown, and
that my neighbor has proved by trial
that bees and poultry can be kept in
the same yards, and that they are q
profitable combination.
We sometimes read about making O
living by some intensive system OF
growing fruit or vegetables in connec-
tion with poultry keeping, and we
want to know if in actual practice it is
often done. Success in an enterprise
of this kind perhaps more than in any
other depends on the man, whether
he has taste for the business and is
capable of giving close attention tc
all the details of the work. For the
right person 1 believe that an acre
stocked with poultry and bees in the
way 1 have described will yield {
larger income than many dairy farms
of 100 acres. The work is light bu
the man who makes it pay must be al
constantly at work as the man ON tn,
farm, and more than this he must stud,
and think as we'll as use his hands
for little neglect. may reduce hi
margin of profit below the cost of pro
duction.-W. H. jenkins, in the Ma
tional Stockman.