600 



GLEANII^GS IK BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 



handled exactly like that from the horses ; 

 and we think it an excellent plan to have it 

 mixed in with the horse-manure, to prevent 

 lieatinff. Now, the shed that covers the 

 manure heap is prolonged, as you will ob- 

 serve, so as to make a sort of '' box stall ; " 

 and directly south of this " box stall " are 

 two pi.i?-pens. One of these is for the pigs 

 that are large enough to be given grain, 

 with a view of fattening. The other is for 

 the little pigs that have the trash. There 

 are sliding-windows to communicate with the 

 open air, opening into each one of the pig- 

 pens. These windows are for ventilation, and 

 to permit unloading rubbish from a wagon 

 or wheelbarrow, directly into the pig-pen. 

 Manure can be thrown out of these sliding- 

 windows also, or the manure-spreader can be 

 backed around against the pig-pen nearest 

 the water-tank. If your pigs are disposed 

 to be friendly to each other, the passageway 

 between the two pens can be opened, per- 

 mitting them all to run in together. If you 

 have a gate to this passageway so it will 

 operate easily, you can fill the feeding-trough 

 for the pigs in one apartment wiiile they 

 are in the other. Then open the gate and 

 let them through. In this way you can 

 oblige them to behave themselves a little 

 decorously while you are pouring the feed 

 into the trough. Of course, there is a trough 

 for each apartment ; and as the pigs gener- 

 ally all go into one apartment or the other, 

 you can put your feed into the trough be- 

 longing to the vacant apartment before you 

 open the sliding-doors. 



Beyond the pig-pen we come to the poul- 

 try-house. This has a sliding-window of 

 double width, or, rather, two sash, one slid- 

 ing to the south and the other to the north. 

 Besides this, at the south of the poultry- 

 house proper is a little room, all covered 

 with glass, greenhouse fashion. This glass 

 reaches from one foot above the ground, up 

 to within about two feet of the ceiling of 

 the roosting - apartment ; and under this 

 snsh the fowls are supposed to stay during 

 sunny days in the winter time. I have fig- 

 ured a good deal in regard to nests and feed- 

 ing-boxes, and have finally concluded that 

 the best nest for hens I know of is a barrel 

 half filled with oats. You may have bai'rels 

 half filled with buckwheat, wheat-screen- 

 ings, or other grains, if you choose. If 

 your hen's-nest gets soiled and dirty, let the 

 fowls eat up the grain, burn up the barrel, 

 and get another one. If you object, that 

 rats and mice can climb up the sides of a 

 barrel too easily, have a barrel made with 



the sides of cheap tin. Your tinsmith has 

 very often rusty or damaged tin that he will 

 sell at a low price. Such a hen's-nest can 

 not very well be infested with vermin — that 

 is, if the contents are renewed often ; and if 

 it is grain for fowls to eat, I presume it 

 would be. This fowl-house was intended 

 for the fowls to run out whenever the 

 weather permits. The roosts are on the 

 north side ; and during very severe weather 

 a curtain of some cheap coarse cloth, such 

 as burlap, may be let down over the green- 

 house sash, and also over the sliding-win- 

 dows. The wall of the partitions, as well as 

 the ceilings, is protected by matched ceil- 

 ings and tarred paper. 



With the above arrangement you have 

 your domestic animals comfortably housed, 

 and so conveniently distributed that feed- 

 ing is only a pleasure. You have plenty 6t 

 room in the tool-house for all of your tools, 

 machines, and wagons, used on the prem- 

 ises. A full description of this tool-house 

 will be found in our book, " The Winter Care 

 of Horses and Cattle," p. 720, 1885. I con- 

 fess I feel a little proud of this arrangement 

 for farm stock; and, simple as it seems, a 

 great deal of hard work was done on it be- 

 fore we decided on its present form. If you 

 have ever noticed it, the amount of time re- 

 quired to do the work about the barn- 

 hitching up teams, feeding and watering, is 

 such that it is of the greatest importance 

 that we have things handy. With such an 

 arrangement as the above, you might do in 

 15 minutes the work that would require one 

 hour, with poor facilities, before you could 

 start in for a day's work. When the plan 

 was worked out we had, in fact, a little con- 

 vention of practical men. First, we had 

 friend Terry, who has been studying on this 

 problem for years. Then friend Gould, who 

 is a dairy-man, and who has made the care 

 of cattle his lifelong study. Besides, the 

 foreman of our wood-working factory, who 

 has had some experience in planning and 

 making buildings. Then my neighbor Har- 

 rington advised some, and he is a farmer of 

 many years' experience, as well as a bee- 

 keeper. The man who has care of our 

 horses also gave many suggestions in regard 

 to the stables, conveniences for water, feed, 

 etc.; and he is one of the best men to take 

 care of horses I ever met. The practical 

 workings of the building please us so much 

 I do not know of a thing that I would have 

 changed. 



I have told you how we get in our hay and 

 straw. Well, suppose we have a load of 



