368 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



about five square feet of floor space. The height does 

 not need to be great. The only reasons for having a house 

 more than a few feet high are so that the sunlight can 

 enter, and so that persons can walk through the houses. 



Hens need plenty of fresh air. If the house is tight, 

 so that the wind will not blow through it, and with the 

 platform under the roosts, as shown in Fig. 192, the cloth 

 curtain will not often need to be closed. For very cold 

 weather there is a second cloth curtain that comes down 

 in front of the roosts. 



All interior parts, as roosts, nests, etc., should be port- 

 able, so that they may be quickly removed for disinfecting 

 the house. 



QUESTIONS 



1. Make a sketch of a hen house adapted to your region. 



2. What diseases of poultry are most common in the section? What 

 is done to control them? 



3. From feeds used in the region, prepare a ration for 100 laying 

 hens, each averaging 3.5 pounds in weight. (See Appendix, Tables 

 7 and 8.) 



4. How are eggs sometimes tested by egg-dealers? 



LABORATORY EXERCISES 

 79. The Parts of an Egg. 1 



Materials. One lens, and facilities for boiling eggs. Each pupil 

 should be supplied with two eggs, if possible; have one with a light 

 shell, the other with a dark shell, two saucers; one drawing pencil; 

 one box of colored lead-pencils, and a knife. 



An egg-tester can be made by placing a lamp in a box with a hole, 

 slightly smaller than the egg, cut through the side. Or, the egg may be 

 held up to a similar hole in the curtain of a darkened room. In either 

 case, look through the egg toward the light. 



^Adapted from J. E. Rice, in the Cornell Rural School Leaflet, Vol. 1 

 No. 2. 



