SUPPLYING THEIR XEEDS. 33 



the bin should be a space to drive in winter the wagon 

 or sled, and, by pulling a slide, let the -earth fall until 

 a load is obtained to be carried to the stations. In this 

 way, the earth is pulverized, heaped upon the drying 

 platforms, loaded upon the wagon, transferred to the 

 bin, and reloaded, without touching a hand shovel to it 

 at all. The wagon may be loaded with the aid of the 

 team shovel in less thun three minutes. 



The farmer may make an earth bin, of the kind 

 described, in his barn cellar under a trap in the barn 

 floor. The earth, upon a tract of such mellow loam as 

 is suitable for poultry, will become, by pulverizing and 

 drying, reduced completely to dust. The loading and 

 unloading by team power not only saves labor, but over- 

 comes the difficulties inseparable from shoveling such a 

 light powder, that fli^s in the least wind. If the 

 weather is such that the earth gets dry enough without 

 the necessity of placing it on 

 platforms, like that shown in 

 Fig. 6, then the dry earth 

 may be taken from the piles 

 to the storeroom by using a 

 wheel scraper instead of ttie FIG> 8 ' BOTTOM OF DRAY ' 

 dray. In the fall, when dry weather gives oppor- 

 tunity, labor may be still further saved by scraping 

 heaps of dry earth directly upon the winter sites of the 

 fowl houses, and drawing as many of the latter as are 

 rendered tenantless by the sale of the old stock upon the 

 heaps, where the earth can remain sheltered awaiting 

 the new flock of pullets, and no wagon is needed at all 

 for the earth in that case. 



After the dry earth has been used in the houses 

 through the winter, the final disposition of it must be 

 made in the spring, as much with an eye to labor-saving 

 as in collecting it. The fowl houses are to be pried up, 

 to loosen their sills from the dust heap in which they 

 3 



