22 AX EGG FARM. 



As it is impossible to raise any crop on vines, stalks, 

 or trees above ground or below it, that hens will not 

 damage, crops are put on one-half of the ground each 

 year, and the fowls on the other half. Movable fowl 

 houses are used to great advantage. By building small, 

 light, and low, with strong sills made on purpose foi- 

 l-miners, the houses may be moved every spring by an 

 ordinary team, to the section tilled the previous sum- 

 mer. The distance traveled in transferring one hun- 

 dred fowl houses, from one sixty-acre lot to another, is 

 one-third of a mile for each building, and back with no 

 load. The amount of labor is much less than would be 

 involved in hauling the manure, mixed with dry earth, 

 from the buildings. The moving is accomplished sys- 

 tematically ; the fowls belonging to a building being all 

 moved in one flock in a large box made on purpose, 

 Fig. 12, in which they are quietly entrapped when 

 attempting to leave their house in the morning, by plac- 

 ing it adjoining, after which the box is darkened and 

 drawn upon runners, on which it stands, to the new 

 station. On arriving, they are immediately allowed to 

 escape into a spare house, shaped and colored like the 

 one they left, placed beforehand, when they are ready 

 to commence their day as usual, the whole operation of 

 removal occupying only a few minutes. Besides this 

 yearly moving, each building is moved every few days 

 during spring, summer, and fall, its length only. Thus 

 a fresh spot is secured, and to prevent all taint and 

 uncleanliness, as well as to keep the manure safe for 

 next year's crops, an implement like a harrow, with 

 teeth like those of a horse hoe or a cultivator, is drawn 

 over the spot where it stood. " The buildings are all 

 moved in regular order, in the same direction, so as to 

 keep the same distances apart ; then back again over 

 another strip of ground, so as to fertilize the whole lot 

 in the course of the season. The frequent turning of 



