114 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 



keeping fowls in winter means simply keeping them 

 alive and well until the spring; eggs are hardly expected. 

 First, prepare a warm place, well secured from cold 

 winds and shifting snow. A corner in the stable is per- 

 haps best, as the warmth of the stock in the stable is a 

 great help to the chickens. But an independent fowl- 

 house may be made, by digging a cellar, say eight by ten 

 feet, and three feet deep. Build a sod wall three feet 

 thick and five or six feet high around the excavation, 

 with a door in the east and a window in the south 

 side. The window should be double, with one sash at 

 the outside and another on the inside of the wall. Around 

 the door, build an entry or vestibule of sod, with its door 

 opening outward. Plaster all these walls upon the in- 

 side. The earth taken from the cellar, mixed with 

 water, will answer to plaster with, and the whole can be 

 done in a short time. The first coat will crack; the 

 second coat should be very thin. The cover or roof may 

 be made of poles and straw. If the poles are strong 

 enough, some earth should be put over the straw, to 

 make the roof warmer. The perches should be made 

 low, and stationary strips arranged, so that the fowls can 

 find their way to the perch, even during the dark, 

 stormy weather. In the second place, the feed must be 

 so arranged that each fowl can both find and eat it in 

 the dark. To secure this end, take a board, one foot 

 wide and four feet long; around this nail four strips 

 three inches wide; two of these strips should be four 

 feet long and the other two fourteen inches long, so as 

 to form a box four feet long by twelve inches wide and 

 two inches deep. Next, cut laths into three equal 

 parts, and nail them perpendicularly around this box, 

 two inches apart. Secure the tops by nailing around 

 the outside of a similar board to the bottom, leaving an 

 opening to put in the feed. The feed should always be 

 placed in this box, and the box should always be kept in 



