THE CHICKEN BUSINESS 215 



moulting hen sitting on one egg, that I was in a 

 critical frame of mind. Without being daunted in 

 the least, he said that he knew something about the 

 chicken business and would like to try his hand at 

 it. He thought poultry culture ought to be taught 

 at the college and he proceeded to describe enthu- 

 siastically, ways, means and possible results. 



He finally got me interested and I told him to 

 draw up plans for a poultry plant. When he 

 brought them to me I thought them quite too 

 elaborate and so, turning over his paper, I 

 sketched on the back four lines enclosing a space 

 of about twelve by twenty feet. I proposed that 

 with our own hands we should build the first 

 chicken house out of a great pile of refuse lumber 

 left from an old barn; that we should locate it 

 some distance away from the other buildings at 

 the edge of a little wood. I warned him further- 

 more that if he let that poultry house become dis- 

 reputable, like many I had seen, I would turn out 

 the hens and burn it down, lice and all. 



I worked with him until the building was en- 

 closed and then told him to put in any kind of 

 chicken fixings he liked and if at first they didn't 

 suit, tear them out as often as he pleased, for the 

 lumber he would destroy was worth nothing to 



