HOl'SES FOR THE FARM. 



67 



The houses may be of any cheap and handy form ; but that 

 shown in Fig. 13 was given us by a practical man as the 

 cheapest he had tried of several The main feature is the 

 triangular section. It is constructed either of match-board, or 

 rough slabs with the joints covered by caulking-pieces ; and is 

 put together with the very least labour possible, by simply 

 nailing the boards to timbers lying on the ground and to a ridge- 



Fig. 13. -Cheap Poultry-houses for the Farm. 



pole at the top. The width is seven feet, and the height about 

 eight feet. At a height of twenty inches from the ground a 

 shelf, R, is fixed at each side, hinged to the walls ; and over these 

 are the perches, c c. The nests, D D, are made under the shelf 

 with bricks, or anyhow, and are got at by raising the shelf. In 

 this plan we get strength ; a good slope to throw the rain off; 

 floor-space where wanted ; height in the middle for the atten- 

 dant ; and the shelf gives freedom from draught. The ridge 

 should be covered by a strip of felt, or an inverted metal 

 gutter ; the last is easily arranged so as to give space all along 

 the ridge for ventilation. A house twelve feet long roosts fifty 

 birds, and the cost was given us as j 3 to 3 10s. 



F2 



