16 AN EGG FARM. 



spot, and put in boxes for the use of the birds. The 

 soil should answer for dry earth for the roosts and for 

 dust baths, the loam being of a sort easily reduced to an 

 impalpable powder. This is important, because we 

 depend upon pulverized dry earth all through the busi- 

 ness, to secure the cleanliness and health of the birds 

 with the least possible labor. A great deal is said in 

 poultry books and papers about the importance of clean- 

 ing the roosts frequently. We do not clean ours oftener 

 than once in three or four months. The labor of going 

 the rounds daily in a large establishment, thoroughly 

 scraping floors, and removing manure, would be enor- 

 mous. We set all our fowl houses on a ridge of earth, 

 thrown up by plowing several times toward the center, 

 and surround with a shallow ditch for surface drainage 

 after heavy rains. Thus we secure dryness, wet being 

 the foe that must be kept from the fowls at every stage. 

 Then in winter a bed of dry earth, six inches deep, is put 

 inside the houses instead of a floor, and a couple of 

 inches added monthly if needed. The birds may be 

 depended upon to cover their own droppings, not only 

 daily, but hourly, when not at roost, a thick cloud of 

 dust being raised every little while. The houses will 

 always be freer from taint than if floors were used with- 

 out dry earth, and scrubbed with soap and sand three 

 times a day. 



