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Professor Lewis. We use for litter, wheat or rye straw, 

 primarily because it is coarser and does not grind up like oat 

 straw. We grow quite a lot of our own litter, — buckwheat 

 straw or oat straw, — harvesting it with the grain or throwing 

 it directly in the pen and letting the birds thresh the grain 

 out. I am an advocate of straw litter, supplemented if possible 

 with shavings; that makes it drier and the shavings absorb the 

 moisture from the droppings. I would say straw first and, if 

 possible, a mixture of shavings. 



Mr. Sanborn. How deep would it be safe to have it? 



Professor Lewis. Eight or 10 inches. We usually start in 

 the fall with it about 4 inches deep and add to it each week a 

 little coarse litter. Keep the litter deep, coarse, dry and clean. 

 If, due to certain conditions of moisture or a large number 

 of birds closely confined, the litter gets dirty or finely ground, 

 we do not hesitate to clean it out and put in fresh litter. 



A Member. Do you use dropping boards? 



Professor Lewis. Yes; although it takes a little labor to 

 clean them off it maintains absolutely sanitary conditions, 

 reduces any odor which might come from using dropping pits, 

 and gives the birds the entire floor space. There is an impor- 

 tant factor, — if we use pits there is too much floor space 

 taken up. The capacity of the house is really determined by 

 the number of square feet of floor space for the birds; there- 

 fore we get the perches up above the ground 3 or 4 feet, 

 cleaning them off twice a week and putting on gypsum to keep 

 them in good condition. Then we keep all the droppings and 

 have a good income from those. We sell them in New Bruns- 

 wick at $8 to $10 a ton to farmers who grow vegetables for 

 the New York and New Jersey markets. 



Mr. A. C. Hawkins. Do you advocate open-front houses 

 in New England? 



Professor Lewis. I advocate open-front houses in New Jer- 

 sey and northern New York, and I know they have succeeded 

 in Maine. I know also that your own professor of poultry 

 husbandry at Amherst recommends them. Li New Brunswick 

 we had last winter a temperature of 14 degrees below zero, 

 and 200 Leghorns, in an absolutely open-front house, where 

 the house is dry, went through that cold snap without a frozen 



