214 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



rents driving into your barn in winter, any more than you do 

 into your dwellings. On such a day as to-day the air will 

 rush into every aperture, and you will get air enough. Any 

 barn, as a general thing, in the winter time, will be cold 

 enough, and even if you ventilate (I must differ from some 

 of these gentlemen) I think there is a vitiated atmosphere at 

 the bottom. 



I had a hennery four feet under ground and five feet above. 

 It was built of brick, and made to be warm. I wanted to get 

 my eggs in the winter, when I could get fifty or sixty cents a 

 dozen for them, and I did do it. My pullets were made to 

 lay four months after they were hatched. I found that the 

 bad air in this hennery could not get out. That was a point 

 I did not think of when I constructed it. So I made a flue 

 reaching up to the gable of the roof and running down to 

 within four or five inches of the bottom of the hennery. I 

 had no difficulty after that in making that hennery just as 

 nice in its atmosphere as your barn or your house. The 

 draught was altogether up. There was air enough came in, 

 although the windows were as tight as they could be. The 

 result was, I had a pure atmosphere there, and my chickens 

 were not diseased ; they were healthy and happy, crowing and 

 cackling, and, what was most important to me, laying nice 

 eggs. 



Mr. Webb. I want to say four words only. Ventilate by 

 the introduction of pure air and the expulsion of the bad, and 

 deodorize with plaster of Paris. 



Dr. RiGGS. The planks in your stalls will get so saturated 

 with urine that you cannot clean them in aiiy other way. You 

 have got to cover them with earth, the best deodorizer in the 

 world. 



Mr. Webb. I do, doctor. 



Dr. RiGGS. Well, all right. You have heard me preach 

 this before at our meetings, ten or fifteen years ago. 



Adjourned to afternoon. 



