The record-union., 1896-08-28
FARM And ORCHARD.
Interesting Bulletin From the Department
Of Agriculture.
The Care and Feeding Of Fowls-Con-
struction of the Hen House
The Dairy.

~~~~~
The Dairy.
The United States Department of Ag-
riculture has issued a bulletin to farm
ers on the subject Of Fowls; Care and
Feeding" 1t is by Professor G. c. Wat
son of the Pennsylvania State College
and Agricultural Experiment Station.
On the location of a poultry house the
bulletin says:
"A dry, porous soil is always to be
preferred as a site for building and
yards. Cleanliness and freedom from
moisture must be secured if the greatest
success is to be attained. Without
doubt, filth and moisture are the causes,
either directly or indirectly, of the ma
jority of poultry diseases, and form the
stumbling block which brings discour-
agement and failure to many anna
teurs. 1t. must not be inferred that
poultry cannot be successfully reared
and profitably kept on heavy soils, for
abundant proof to the contrary is read
lily furnished by successful poultrymen
who have had to contend with this kind
of land. The necessity for cleanliness.
however, is not to be disputed by those
who have had extended experience in
caring for fowls, particularly the less
hardy breeds. That an open, porous
soil can be kept comparatively clean
with much less labor than a clay soil
will be evident to those who are at all
acquainted with the habits of domesti-
Gated fowls. When the fowls are con-
fined in buildings and yards. that part
of the yard nearest the buildings Will
become more or less filthy from the
droppings and the continual tramping
to which it is subjected. A heavy or
clayey soil not only retains all of the
manure on the surface, but by retarding
percolation at times of frequent show
ers aids materially in giving to the
whole surface a complete coating of
filth. If a knoll or ridge can be selected
where natural drainage is perfect, the
ideal condition will be nearly ap-
preached. Where natural favorable
conditions as to drainage do not exist,
thorough under-drainage will go a long
way toward making the necessary
amends to insure success
OF the construction of the house it
says:
1Ht lldleIldi " De uSeQ III the COI-
struction and the manner of building
will be necessarily governed largely by
the climatic conditions. In general, it
may be said that the house should pro-
vide warm, dry, well-lighted and we'll
ventilated quarters for fowls.
In order to meet these requirements
it will be necessary to provide a good
roof with side walls more or less i'm
pervious to moisture and cold, suitable
arrangements for lighting and ventilat
ing, and some means for excluding the
moisture from beneath. Where perma-
nent buildings are to be erected, some
provision should be made to exclude
rats and mice, and for this reason, if
for no other, the structure should be
placed on cement walls, with fOunda
ton below the frost line. Cheap, eff
cient walls may be made of small field
stone in the following manner: Dig
trenches for the walls below the frost
line; drive two rows of stakes in the
trenches, one row at each side of the
trench, and board inside of the stakes.
The boards simply hold the stones and
cement in place until the cement har-
dens. Rough and uneven boards will
PC1N eCP
ones, which should have the upper edge
straight and be placed level to deter
mine the top of the wall. Place two or
three layers of stone in the bottom of
the trench, put on cement mixed rather
thin, and pound down; repeat this op-
Grafton until the desired hight is OBJ
tanned. The top of the wall can be
smoothed off with a trowel or ditching
spade and left until the cement be-
comes hard, when it will be ready for
the building. The boards at the sides
may be removed, if desirable, at any
time after the cement becomes hard.
For cooler ATTITUDES, a house with
hollow or double side walls is to be pre-
ferred on many accounts, although a
solid wall may prove quite satisfactory,
particularly if the building is in the
hands of a skilled poultryman Imper-
feet buildings and appliances, when
under the management of skilled and
experienced men, are not the him
ORANGES that they would be to the anna
teur. Buildings with hollow side walls
are warmer in winter and cooler in
summer, with less frost in severe
weather, and less resulting moisture
when the temperature moderates suffi-
GENTLY to melt the frost from the walls
and the roof of the house.
"A cheap, efficient house for latitudes
south of New York may be made of
two thicknesses of rough inch lumber
for the side and end walls. This sid
ing should be put on vertically, with a
good quality of tarred building paper
between. In constructing a building
of this kind it is usually best to nail on
the inner layer of boards first then
Iut on the outside Of this layer the
building paper in such a manner that
the whole surface is covered"
Professor Watson says he prefers a
building one story high, and not less
than 10 nor more than IA feet wide,
and as long as circumstances require.
In most cases building from 80 to GO
feet long meets all requirements. If
this does not give room enough, it is
better to construct other buildings than
| to extend one building for more than, 60
| feet 1t must be remembered that each
pen in the building should have a sep
! arate yard or run, and that q pen
| should not be made to accommodate te
more than 90 fowls. or, better, 80 or 40