128 City Homes on Country Lanes 



and furnish protection for the attendant. The object 

 of the system is to economize labor to the last degree. 

 This is accomplished by a unique feeding system which 

 can be operated wholly from the outside. The eggs are 

 also within easy reach from the front door and it is 

 rarely necessary to enter the house, even for cleaning, 

 which is done with a long-handled rake. One peculiar 

 feature of the system is that clean sand is used on the 

 floor instead of straw. This makes it very easy to clean 

 the pen with a rake, but the principal object is to avoid 

 the dust which arises from the hen's scratching in the 

 straw, and which is a prolific cause of disease. 



Mr. Weeks is a profound believer in the efficiency of 

 a combination of green food so nicely mixed, chopped 

 and served that it does, indeed, look good enough for 

 anybody to eat. This, as well as the dry food and 

 water-basins, is kept constantly before the little flock. 

 There is no lack of exercise, because the pen is arranged 

 in such a way as to keep the hens very active in the 

 course of the day's work. It is important to quote him 

 at this point: 



"Twenty hens, well bred, well fed, and with quarters 

 kept sanitary in this little pen, are good for at least 

 $2.00 per year, net profit above all expenses. These 

 twenty hens have nice sharp sand upon the ground-floor 

 and roosting boards, which is raked clean regularly. 

 They have dry mash and mixed grain by them con- 

 tinually; the^y can stick their heads through to the 

 green trough outside and eat green feed every hour 

 during the day ; they drink water from clean, galvanized 

 buckets on the outside; they dust in the sand; they 

 jump up to the feed-hopper; they jump down again to 



