The Globe-republican., 1899-06-29
Around the Poultry Yard.

Around the Poultry Yard.
Work the poultry yard If the fowls
are confined to it. Sow a mixture Of
vegetables that are eaten by the birds.
The turning up of the soil will tend to
keep it pure, as soil is great purifier
The droppings Of the poultry will thus
become incorporated with the soil, in
stead Of remaining on the surface to
breed disease and offend the nostrils
OF all. Ground thus treated may be
made very productive. and the pastur-
age thus obtained will prove both sus-
tenance and medicine to the fowls.
An article in contemporary ad-
vises poultrymen not tn build large
poultry houses, but rather a greater
number of smaller ones. 1t is argued
that where one large house is built
the danger from poultry diseases is in
creased. We do not believe the argu-
ment to be an entirely sound one. II
the poultry house be large there can
be different compartments, both in the
house and the yards. The small house
system so greatly increases the labor
that the ordinary farmer cannot con-
slider them. to say nothing Of the far
greater expense necessary In the con-
struction. In large house the care
of q large number of fowls is reduced
to the minimum. Not only so, but the
work Of keeping it clean and free from
vermin is so much less in the large
house that the work will be actually
performed, while in the others 1t Will
be neglected.
Permanent fixtures in hen houses
should not be allowed. Especially Is
this true of the roosts, which can more
easily be made removable than not.
There are numerous ways in which this
can be done. One method is to have
some pieces OF joists nailed so as to
slant from the wall to the floor. with
places cut in the upper sides of these
j1ists into which the roosts may be
dropped. But this makes part OF the
system permanent. A better way Is to
have all parts of the roosts and hx-
lures made movable. One good way to
obtain this result is to construct two
horses of any desired length. The up
right pieces that form the cross sec
ton Of the horses may be grooved for
the ends of the roosts, which can be
made Of say two-by-fours. We know OF
one poultry house that has such an ar
rangement. The horses are about IS
inches high and each is about seven
feet long. There are five grooves in
each horse, which makes the spaces
something more than foot apart. The
five roosts in this case are each IL feet
long and the five give over 60 feet OF
roosting space. When the house is to
be cleaned the roosts are taken from
the grooves and horses and roosts TAX
en- out Of doors, where they can be
created in any way desired. The whole
inner space is then free for the work
of removing. the droppings and for the
Use of the scrubbing brush or the hose
Dairy Notes.
The report is being circulated that
there is to be a convention Of physi-
clans shortly in Chicago to consider
S00 oRI eau VI luUCICulOSlo Al Auih. ~
one of the slaughter houses last week
Is cows that had reacted to the tuber-
culin test were slaughtered. OF the
number Is were found SO badly tuber-
culous that they had to be sent to the
rendering tank, their flesh being
deemed unsafe for food. The other
ten were passed as healthy food. as
the disease had obtained only slight
foothold and that in parts Of the body
that would not make the eating OF the
parts ordinarily eaten dangerous. A
convention of this kind will be move
in the right direction. There is no
doubt but that it is much easier to
stamp out the disease than most people
suppose. What We need most is light
on the facts. We do not want to be
too much disturbed. nor do We desire
to live in a FOOLS heaven. There are
those who are crying up the crusade
against tuberculosis because they be-
lieve it to be a great menace to the
people. There are others who are cry
ing it down, but very often their mo-
tives seem to be controlled by private
interests. It is fact that the milk
supply has never been thoroughly in
vestigated in any western city. Now
and then fuss is made and few
samples examined, but no systematic
and thorough Investigations of both
milk and sources of supply have been
made Most city people have no clear
conceptions of the places from which
their milk is brought or Of the cleanli-
ness or uncleanliness of the stables in
which it Is drawn.
The dirty brook should be a theme
for thought by more than one dairy
man. The man that has no running
brook on his farm is more likely to
have good water for his cows than the
man that thinks he is blessed by
stream of running water. Where the
stream is rapid-moving and fairly
deep it may serve for drinking place
the year round, but in most of our
western states the conformation OF the