CHAPTER IV. 



SUPPLYING THEIR NEEDS. 



The distance once around to each station amounts to 

 several miles, and the rounds must be made a number 

 of times every day. The distance would be too great for 

 the attendant to walk over, even if empty handed, and 

 transporting grain and water without a team would be 

 out of the question. A supply of water through pipes, 

 connecting with each station, would be too costly, espe- 

 cially as .they would be idle when the land was culti- 

 vated. A running stream conducted in an open ditch 

 to each building would freeze in winter, make the ground 

 near its banks too damp, and be in the way of plowing, 

 moving buildings, and other operations ; besides, few 

 lots suitable in other respects can be found where the 

 slope of ground, with water supply at top, admits of the 

 construction of such ditches. Each flock of fowls needs 

 a pailful of water daily, taking account of the evapora- 

 tion in hot weather, and the necessity of emptying the 

 drinking vessels at night in winter, to prevent freezing. 

 Snch an amount of water could not well be carried by 

 hand. By means of a cask blocked up in a compara- 

 tively high position on a wagon, a strong head is 

 obtained, and when going the rounds, watering, the 

 operator, by the use of hose and nozzle, and a cut-off to 

 slacken or increase the flow at will, and by having the 

 drinking vessels stand at a convenient place, can, with- 

 out leaving his seat in the wagon, not only fill the recep- 

 tacles, but clean and rinse them first. 



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