Poultry's Place in a Rotation. 99 



house. The ventilation problem has troubled Mr. Johnson 

 quite a little. There is a trap-door at the top of each house 

 which can be opened from " a crack " to two feet. Formerly 

 Mr. Johnson thought the hens needed plenty of fresh air, so 

 he spent quite a little time in seeing that his ventilators were 

 properly opened. Lately he has found that the hens have less 

 roup and less trouble generally when the ventilators are shut 

 tight. The trouble is to keep the air out rather than to let it 

 in. Mr. Johnson now keeps his houses shut up tight in cold 

 weather. There are no draughts, and cases of roup are 

 almost unknown. The first element of success, therefore, is a 

 large, warm, clean house, in which the hens must stay all winter. 

 Mr. Johnson considers the Leghorns about the best layers 

 in the world. They are also, he says, the best to keep in con- 

 finement, because they are naturally active and least apt to be- 

 come too fat to lay. They will produce an egg for less food 

 than any other breed, and are also good for broilers or roast- 

 ers. His birds are mostly a cross between the Whites and 

 Browns. The Browns, he says, lay more eggs than the 

 Whites, but their eggs are a trifle smaller. The cross seems 

 to take the good points of both breeds. Hens are selected for 

 their laying qualities. Mr. Johnson does not believe much in 

 " type " so far as shape is concerned. A good laying hen acts 

 like a layer she is active, busy and "important." Generally 

 she is of medium size, well-built and nervous, with a good 

 head and comb, but her actions are the surest signs. A man 

 who makes a business of poultry-keeping comes to know his 

 hens so intimately that he can tell the good layers at a glance, 

 though it is impossible for him to describe to another just 

 what the "points" of the layer are. These cross-bred hens 

 give birds of all colors, though the Browns largely predomi- 

 nate. There are birds here known to becross-breds, precisely 

 like the "Buff," "Spangled," and "Dominique" Leghorns 

 exhibited at the poultry-shows as " new breeds." At least a 

 dozen or more of the breeding of 1890 were coal-black, yet 

 there was nothing but Leghorn blood in them. Mr. Johnson 



