Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-11-21

As the weather begins to get
colder, especially at nights, it is in
c~reasingly important that the birds
shall be snugly sheltered from winds
and storms. We do not mean that
they shall be shut up tight Sc that no
fresh air whatever can reach them,
but that drafts" shall be shut off,
for it is to drafts that most of the
colds of autumn and winter are due.
The farmer thinks: Eyes, it's getting
colder-guess I'll shut the hen house
door today" but he does not recall
thst there are several cracks in the
walls and around the window and
door frames that he meant to stop
up sometime, but he hasn't found
the convenient time yet. Those
cracks have been growing larger.
The house is only four or five years
old, perhaps, and when it was built
the joints were made tight and the
pernicious drafts didn't exist,
The first summers sun and rains
seasoned the boards and opened up
the seams q bit in two or three
places, but not seriously; the next
summers sun ard rains added to
the seasoning and in one or two in
stances a bit of light could be seen
through the crack-and SO it has
gone on until now there r several
decided leaks in the walls, where the
winter winds whistle through and
make piercing drafts in the pen,
even through windows and door be
tightly closed.
Drafts and dampness r the cause
of most of the colds, the dread pre-
cursor OF roup, and if we will but
close up those cracks so that ''cur-
rents" of air are prevented we.lhave
gone fully half way in heading off
that most troublesome and costly
ailment. And prevention. is so
much easier and simpler than ..cure.
Anybody who has YEARLY .battled
through a seige of roup swill say
@'amen' to that. And it is SO easy,
too, to stop up the cracks. With a
few cents worth of "Neponset" or
"Paroid" or "Ruberoid" roofing
material and a hammer, (the nails
and tin heads come with it) a man
can close in the walls of the house
and efectually shut out the winter
blasts. Either of those roofing ma
terials properly put on make poultry
house Cor barn or any outbuildlng),
both wind and water tight, and
thereafter the ventilation of that
building. by window and door, is
wholly within control.
With the cracks stopped up and
direct drafts prevented the fouls can
go to roost at night in comfort and
the owner will not be likely to be
greeted with and other
symptoms of the dreaded colds when
he opens the door in theimorning.
E EGG PRODUCTION.
Shutting off the direct drafts pays
in another way: namely, in egg pro-
duction, andis to be recommended for
that reason also. Warmth is a factor
in the production of eggs and the
shutting out of the chill blasts is the
first step towards securing that
desired warmth; absence of cold is
warmth. It is not wise to resort to
artificial heat, but it is wise to shut
off the direct drafts which make 8
house SO deathly ''chill" and cold
We have all noticed how a spell Of
moderate weather in winter starts
the biddies to laying; secure thai
moderate weather condition by shut
ting out the cold and we secure thu
same result.
The West Virginia Experimen
Station has tested this matter to se'
how much difference. in egg produc
tion there would be between tw'
similar focks of pullets kept one in
warm house the other in a COLI
bouse. Two houses that were exactl.
alike and situated side by side wer
taken for the experiment and invent.
our pullets divided into two focks o