CHAP. I.] FARMING FOR LADIES, 21 



Monteath has caused to be erected in his 

 agricultural cottages, and which could be 

 easily added to the chimney of any kitchen 

 having a poultry-shed at the back of it : but 

 those who recommend it to be put up ad- 

 joining the hen-house, forget that the fire 

 soon goes out, and the air becomes cold in- 

 stead of hot ; whereas an equal temperature 

 is always the best. 



In an amusing publication lately written by 

 an Irish clergyman under an assumed name, 

 he states, in describing his poultry-yard, that, 

 " for the sake of warmth, the hen-house was 

 built against the back wall of the kitchen, the 

 upper gable of it being formed by a cross- 

 wall, which partly enclosed the paddock : it 

 was merely a shed, ten feet long by six wide, 

 covered in with coarse slab-boards, coated 

 with pitch, with a wide eave to throw off the 

 rain clearly, and high enough at the back wall 

 to allow persons to walk along it from end to 

 end without stooping. There was a door in the 

 other gable wall, which was four-inch brick- 

 work, with a little sliding shutter at the top, 

 through which the hens entered by a ladder 

 from below, when they wanted to lay or go to 



