Keeping Down Labor Bill
The question of keeping down the labor bill on the Farm has at all times been a matter of careful study, and the machinery which is in use is of large capacity, enabling us to turn out whatever may be required in a very short space of time, and allowing the men to get at other work. As an illustration; the Clover Cutter on the Farm has a capacity of 3000 pounds an hour, cut in one-fourth-inch lengths, which enables us, when we are cutting green food, to turn out the amount required for the day, fill the tubs, and have it on the way to the Laying Houses, in less than fifteen minutes.
The question of economy in time in handling the Incubator Cellar had been a problem, which we finally solved by piping gas into the Cellar and Brooder House, from the mains which are laid in the road passing the Farm. Thus we did away with the danger of fire from sixteen incubator lamps (for we now had in the cellar sixteen machines) and the twenty Hover lamps, and the time and labor of cleaning and filling them. We placed a governor on the gas main, so that it was impossible to increase the pressure at any time of the day or night, and the gas worked most satisfactorily in incubation and brooding.
The extensions on the Farm planned for 1910 were a Cockerel House, for the housing of breeding cockerels, and the widening and lengthening of No. 1 Laying House. These alterations were made in No. 1, so that it was an exact counterpart of Nos. 2 and 3. We also planned, as soon as the breeding season was over, and the 1910 breeding pen was shipped to the various buyers who had purchased these birds for August delivery (and the entire pen was sold early in 1910), to add another section to the Breeder House, and to build a few more Colony Houses. Then we built what we thought would be an adequate Office to handle the business of the Farm, but which has since proved large enough for only one quarter of the present requirements. We increased the size of the Egg Packing Room, and installed a freezer with a capacity of over two thousand pounds of green bone. This practically covers the enlargements on the plant for 1910.