456 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 15 



ed roads and brick jiavenicnt I would l)y all 

 means have a pneuniatif-lired outfit. 



As a general rule, i)neuinatie-ttred ma- 

 chines are better built than those sent out 

 with high wheels. Most of the concerns 

 engaged in the nnmufacture of the buggy- 

 tyi^e high-wheeled outfits are small. There 

 is one marked exception, however, and that 

 is in the ease of the International Harvest- 

 er Company, of Akron, Ohio. These peo- 

 ple turn out annually something like five 

 thousand machines, and they are sold all 

 over the United States. ( )ne of their wag- 

 ons is shown in the small illustration. 

 Another machine, sold by the Auto Bug 

 Company, of Norwalk, Ohio, seems to be 

 well designed and well built. 



A POULTRY-HOUSE FOR FLORIDA AND 

 OTHER SOUTHERN LOCALITIES. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



In our issue for July 1, page 4o3, a writer 

 suggests that poultry-houses in their region 

 are constructed without roofs so that the 

 rains may drown the fleas, etc. Now, I am 

 well aware that the stick-tight fleas are 

 worse in the dry sand under any sort of 

 roof; but, notwithstanding, I am not yet 

 ready to decide that nothing is needed to 

 protect any part of the poultry-house from 

 rain. For two years my fowls all roosted 

 in evergreen trees; and while it is true, as a 

 general thing, they sufTered little inconven- 

 ience, there are occa- 

 sional cold storms 

 when I think they 

 need shelter. On one 

 occasion my flock of 

 Leghorns, rooster and 

 all, came up to our 

 woodhouse door and 

 almost begged to be 

 permitted to go in out 

 of a cold northeasl 

 storm. As I had no 

 shelter prepared for 

 them I drove them 

 back and made them 

 stay out in the wet: 

 but the egg-yield fell 

 otf quite a little in con- 

 sequence. After that 

 I went to work and 

 made some poultry- 

 houses. The picture 

 adjoining shows one. 



This house is con- 

 structed much like the 

 brooder-house describ- 

 ed on page 189, March 

 15. The sills are 2X4; 

 and in order to keep 



out rats and every thing else a strip of inch- 

 mesh netting, one foot wide, is tacked to 

 the sills and let down in the ground all 

 around. The sills are sujjported on half- 

 bricks, to keep them a little way from the 

 ground and have the house stand square 



and level. All the rest of the frame, in- 

 chuiing rafters, is made of IXo-inch lum- 

 ber, ])laned. Well, the corners of the build- 

 ing are nailed together \'-shape, as you will 

 notice. Ilight under the eaves a V-shaped 

 trough is nailed against the end of the raf- 

 ters and on the under side. This is not to 

 catch the rain water, for the shingles pro- 

 ject beyond it; but it was put on to give 

 strength to the building, and it forms a very 

 neat receptacle for hammer and nails and 

 all kinds of tools or any thing needed in the 

 poultry-house. The shingles are nailed on 

 to the ribs, which, as you will notice, are 

 made of this same iXo stuff. The build- 

 ings are all 8 feet wide, and some of them 

 are 1'2, some 14, and some 16 feet long, ac- 

 cording to the number of fowls. The one 

 in the cut is 14 feet long. A partition of 

 poultry-netting divides the buildings in the 

 center; then there are three poultry-netting 

 doors all just alike. They are hung wuth 

 spring hinges, such as are used on screen- 

 doors. When the doors are all hooked open, 

 there is a full passage clear through; but 

 every night after the chickens have gone to 

 roost the doors are all closed. This was 

 done after the loss of thirty or forty small 

 chickens from skunks and opossums. 

 The south side is all covered with netting, 

 as you will notice. The lower strips are of 

 inch-mesh netting; the one above, two-inch, 

 and the same incli clear around the build- 

 ing. The building is just high enough so I 

 can walk through it without touching my 

 cap. The north side is a little longer than 



A POULTRY-HOUSE 



FOR .SOITHKRN F1>0K11)A, 



A. I. root's ideas. 



vrr(UiliKNG TO 



the south side, and comes down a little 

 lower. Three ro )st-poles are on the north 

 side. 



So far I have never found any tiling bet- 

 ter for nests than a common cheap Hour- 

 barrel. These barrels are secured with wire 



