122 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



experiment in housing gave conclusive evidence in favour of the 

 open-fronted, freely-ventilated system when contrasted with the 

 warm, fully-protected house. Three years ago four houses were 

 erected representing different styles but equal in floor space. Each 

 house was 24 feet long by 12 wide, subdivided by board and wire 

 netting partitions, making two houses of 12 feet square under each 

 roof. Into each of these four houses a pen of White Wyandottes 

 and a pen of Buff Orpingtons was put, the birds being selected from 

 exactly the same strains. Trap nests were of course used through- 

 out. The warmest house was made of matched lumber and lined 

 with paper, a dead air space being left between the inside and out- 

 side walls. The whole building, windows, doors, etc., were made 

 as tightly fitting as possible to secure warmth. The coldest house 

 was left extremely airy, the single boards dressed on one side only, 

 with the seams battened up on the outside. About half of the front 

 was left quite open to the weather, with large doors loosely fitted 

 to shut in stormy weather. No special protection was given to 

 the roosting place, the birds being allowed to sleep in the same 

 temperature as they were in during the day. The other two houses 

 had open fronts protected by glass windows and curtains, the 

 perches being also specially protected. During the three years of 

 the experiment the best results have been got from the coldest 

 house, and the worst from the warmest. 



The Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, par- 

 ticularly the latter two, are so much taken up with grain-growing, 

 the farms are still so scattered, and labour so difficult to obtain, 

 that no great output of poultry produce can as yet be reasonably 

 looked for. As it is, considerable importations of poultry produce 

 have to be made every year, though this will very soon be reversed 

 when these Provinces get more thickly settled. The climate, 

 though sometimes extremely cold in winter, need be no hindrance 

 to the development of the industry. Many successful examples 

 could be quoted to prove this point. Even round the outskirts of 

 the towns many well bred flocks of fowls can be seen on the town 

 lots. This might be called a characteristic feature of most Canadian 

 towns, the birds being kept more with an eye to profit than merely 

 as a hobby. Turkeys seem to thrive so well in these Provinces that 

 it might be profitable to specialise in the production of this favourite 

 table delicacy. At Indian Head Experimental Farm, Saskatchewan, 

 four breeds of fowls are kept, namely — Minorcas, Plymouth Rocks, 

 Light Brahmas, and Buff Orpingtons. At Lacombe, Alberta, a 

 poultry branch has also recently been established. At both these 

 stations the demand for eggs and cockerels is increasing. In 

 Alberta in 1906, the Provincial Government started co-operative 

 poultry fattening stations at five centres, Wetaskawin, Lacombe, 

 Red Deer, Innisfail, and Olds. The principle of these stations was 

 to take the ordinary unfattened fowls from the farmers, and to 

 fatten, kill, dress, and market them. Formerly the farmers only 

 got from 8 to 10 cents per lb. killed, plucked, and drawn ; the Govern- 

 ment paid the farmer 8 cents per lb. live weight, then crate fattened, 

 killed, dressed and put them on the market. After deducting all 



