Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-09-25
The Strawpile
For Small farmers

The Massachusetts Board OF asileui-
ture publishes an article ol OF
Small Farms" by John IL. Robinson
who says:
A large farm offers the best oppor-
tunity TO keep poultry With little laoof
and comparatively large profits. but the
owner OF the large farm is not often
much Interested in poultry. III is Tue
small farmers. under the necessity Oh
making the most of every opportunity
to make money on their lana, VINO aie
attracted by the possibilities OF poul-
Try culture. A very large proportion "
the small New England farms are VI
| such dimensions and propoflloHS tha'
fowls can not be given range. becau9e
of this, many small farmers nave auop-
ted the intensive methods Whlch siilaii
poultry keepers in towns often ilhu nee
essary. but which large poultry Keep
ers and farmers ought to avoid. lhseh
siye methods make the care of poultry
a grind aud drudgery, SO that n poui-
try-keeper's time is almost uay &c
cupied in caring for a few lows MANY
farmers who follow the intensive sss-
TEN and find it profitable Tor d ,ii'
have neglected other llaes OF iail'
work, while others. unwilling 10 10
this, have reluctantly given up .he'l
intention of increasing their STOCK Oh
fowls. The best solution or the ptoD-
lem OF the small farmer who wants &c
keep q few hundred hens and sun give
most of his time to other things. VIII De
found in the adoption of methods M
termediate between the intensive meth
DDS of the town poultry keeper n the
free and easy methods that work wen
on large farms.
Mr.. Robinson then goes on TO say thal
for more than a decade the interest," Oh
poultry keepers has been almost mon
opolized by intensive methods, WHICH
are necessary to secure h1gn averages
OF egg production. These large ess
Yields are often secured at such COSY
of care n food that the actual pfoIl'
per fowl figures small. by the colony
system the owner of a large farm Ill
distribute his fowls over The farm, a.
giving them oom and srange, fele'e
himself OF the necessity of doing Tor
them many of the things which the
intensive poultry keeper must DO dally.
What we are seeking, says MIR. Rob
inson. is a method by which the FARMER
can keep as much poultry as posslol
without giving 1t the detailed attention
that must be given when the land oc-
cupied is stocked to the limit. Ihe
problem is neither deep nor dif1cdlt. AS
the farmer who can not give his poul-
try range must have yards, the obvious
thing for him to do is to lay o MS
Yards according to the size or his
hocks. limit the total Of fowls kept TO
the capacity of the yards, maxi houses
OF such dimensions as are required, ano
place them singly or in pairs where
they can be most readily reached In
making the. rounds of the place. He
points out that the expense of fencing
is limited to the fencing being re-
auired for the division and side fences
than when a continuous connecting
house with narrow yards is used.
In closing, Mr.. Robinson says: "Poul-
try keeping ought to be an important
feature on every farm. and a pleasan,
feature of farm work. 1t nay be, il the
farmer will only study to adapt his
stock and his methods to the capacity
of the farm under conditions salts
factory to him"