POULTRY AND EGGS. 227 



from the others while laying. It is also easily cleaned and 

 whitewashed. Each nest-box should contain twelve nests, 

 or it may be made in two sections of six each, to secure light- 

 ness in moving. The necessary expense for lumber, nails 

 and everything to construct this building will not exceed 

 $70, and you will have a much more practical poultry-house 

 for business than an expensive one with fancy trimmings and 

 lattice-work inside, all of which serve as a harbor for lice. 

 Cover the ground inside four to six inches deep with coarse, 

 sharp sand, which will make a dry, suitable floor, and one 

 that will be enjoyed by the fowls during the cold winter. - A 

 thorough coat of whitewash inside will complete the build- 

 ing. The house should be near or in the orchard, that the 

 fowls may have sufBcient shade in summer ; and if the farm- 

 er wishes to enclose them at special times during the year, 

 while he is planting the garden or seeding some plot near by, 

 there should be yards in front of each apartment for this 

 purpose. 



The most important of all things regarding the farm poul- 

 try is to select a variety of fowls that are hard}^ good lay- 

 ers, medium size, quick to mature, and a plump, yellow- 

 legged, yellow-fleshed table fowl. It is also desirable that 

 they be good sitters and mothers, as the hatching should bo 

 done in the natural way. A cross made by the Leghorn, 

 either Brown or White, Avith the Light Brahma makes one 

 of the best families of cross-bred fowls. Also a cross of 

 the Plymouth Rock and Brahma, or Wyandotte and Brahma. 



Although a low-grade cow or horse may make a good 

 record, yet, when we look over the list of remarkable horses 

 or cattle, a largo proportion of them will be found to be 

 pure-bred animals, raised by men Avho understood the sci- 

 ence of breedinir, and who had some creat record in view 

 when they caused to be mingled the royal blood that pro- 

 duced the winners. Probably no race of cattle known has 

 made such enormous milk records, or so many of them, as 

 the Ilolsteins, and we naturally believe that the introduction 

 of such blood in our herds means a great increase in the 

 milk product and in the milk bills for years to come. 



When I began breeding fowls, some eight years ago, I 

 was determined to keep only that variety of fowls which 



