614 THE COMPLETE ORAZIER. BOOK vn. 



be covered with felting, or with Willesden paper, or be well tarred and 

 sanded. We have sometimes made a very cheap roof-covering, and 

 also used the same for the sides of wooden houses, by first tarring 

 the wood, and then, while it was wet, laying on sheets of brown paper, 

 tarring the whole over again two or three times. This, if each coat is 

 allowed to dry before the next is put on, makes a most efficient 

 covering. 



Not the least important part of a poultry-house is the floor ; if this 

 be not properly made, no matter how well built the rest of the house 

 may be, it cannot be right. A damp floor means a damp house. There 

 is also another consideration : if the house floor be not capable of 

 being kept sweet, the atmosphere of the house can never be pure. 

 This is a detail in which many poultry-houses entirely fail. In process 

 of time the floor becomes charged with the odour of the droppings, and 

 this impregnates the air day and night. What wonder, then, if the fowls 

 do not thrive, and if they take all manner of diseases unaccountably ? 

 The floor we like best of all is peat-moss litter, or dr} r sand. The 

 ground should be dug out to the depth of eighteen inches, and half 

 filled in with coarse gravel, or burnt brick-ballast, or small stones, 

 well beaten down ; above this the litter or sand is placed, and it can 

 be raked over daily, and renewed every six months, or when needed. 

 Failing this, the best floor is made by having the layer below as 

 already stated, but instead of the sand a compost should be pre- 

 pared of cinder-ashes, fine gravel, quicklime, and water, well mixed 

 together, and spread. W T hen hardened, this makes a first-class floor. 

 Cement is far too cold, and bricks absorb the moisture from the 

 droppings, so that neither of these materials should be used. It is 

 desirable that the floor inside the house be higher than the ground 

 without, for, if lower, it will certainly be damp. 



The form of houses adopted for poultry has changed very greatly 

 during the last few years, as a result of study of the conditions under 

 which birds can be kept most healthily, and is also due to the wide 

 experience gained by a multitude of poultry-keepers. Tilings are very 

 different indeed from what was the case in the old days, when birds 

 were accommodated in one of the farm buildings,, or a great number of 

 smaller poultry-keepers erected buildings for this purpose on crude and 

 unscientific lines. It cannot be forgotten that hygienic principles should 

 be applied to poultry houses to the same extent as to human dwellings, 

 and that neglect on that score will bring about disease in one case just 

 as much as in the other. In saying this we are not advocating elaborate 

 and expensive structures, but rather buildings which conform to the 

 requirements of the inmates, and enable them to live under what must 

 be regarded as artificial conditions of life with the greatest chance of 

 profit and health. 



One of the first developments which took place a few years ago was 

 the adoption of wooden houses of a portable character. Theoretically, 

 of course, every writer upon poultry has advocated sufficient ventilation, 

 but in practice this has not been secured. We have only to examine the 

 greater number of houses, both those made by poultry-keepers and such 



