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BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



house. They are harder to clean, and, being high at the 

 ridge, it is difficult to arrange the roosts in winter so that 

 the fowls can take advantage of their animal heat in warming 

 the sleeping places. 



The house which is in most common use we have left until 

 the last, viz., the long house. The long house may be one or 

 more stories high, single or double pitch roof, long or short, 

 high or low, and still be a '^ long house." 



After considerable study, we have originated plans of our 

 own which we believe to be the most economical we have ever 

 seen. These plans for a 10 by 40 foot house for one hundred 

 hens are as follows : first, for sills get five pieces 4 by 6 inch 

 lumber, cut square ends, 9 feet 8 inches long, and eight pieces 

 2 by G inch, each 10 feet long, all of exact lengths. Spike 



Fig. 2. — Sills of a 10 by 40 foot ben house. 



these together as shown in Fig. 2, resting the ends of the 

 cross sills on ten posts or stones, or preferably the whole out- 

 side sills on a stone wall, cemented on the inside, and filled 

 with gravel to the bottom of the sills, which should be raised 

 1 foot above the surrounding ground, to prevent moisture. 

 The sills being completed, we next erect partitions, one on 

 each cross sill, as shown in Fig. 3. These partitions we make 

 of 2 by 4 inch studs, covered, except the doorway on the south 

 side, with cheap, rough, half-inch lumber. The studs, 51/2 

 feet long at the sides and Gl/o feet at the center, with those on 

 each side of the center 5% feet long, are toe-naik-d to the 

 cross sills, the three rafters — there are but three in the build- 

 ing — being nailed to the tops of the center and halfway 

 studs, and the plates and girts spiked to the sides of the side 

 studs, all as shovm in Fig. 3. For girts and plates use 2 by 4 



