THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



121 



shelter from the rays of the sun in summer. The houses and yards must be 

 constructed to suit the views and purposes of the proprietor. The yards 

 should be fenced with pickets at least six and a half feet high wire would 

 be more ornamental but rather expensive. Not less than one-fourth of an 

 acre should be allowed for fifty fowls. The walls of the poultry house should 

 be of brick, nine inches thick, and hollow ; they should be at least twelve 

 feet high, so that the roof can project some four feet, forming a shed for 

 protecting the fowls from the storm. The front of the shed may be formed 



PANCT POULTRY HOUSE. 



of lath or any other kind of wood, in a rustic manner, forming a trellis on 

 which vines might be trained, which would add much to its appearance ; or 

 it may be inclosed with glass, and grapes grown on the rafters ; or nests may 

 be placed in these sheds for sitting hens. 



We may observe here, that whichever plan is adopted, the cheapest and 

 warmest materials of which to construct the house are a wood frame and a 

 weather-boarding, either of clapboards, or ceiled up and down with narrow 

 battens. It should be ceiled within with hemlock boards, tongued and 

 grooved, and laid crosswise, and filled in between the timbers with spent 

 tan, or any other dry substance, well rammed or packed in. Or the spaces 

 between the posts may be filled in with brick and a thin coat of plaster. In 

 either case, whether of brick or wood, it should be whitewashed with lime. 

 The roof should also be ceiled with boards and filled in with tan, which 

 would render it cooler in summer and warmer in winter. The interior may 



