



ment in favor of this plan is economy economy in labor, econ- 

 omy in land. The original cost of a plant on the community 

 plan is somewhat greater than the cost of a plant on the colony 

 plan ; but when the plant is erected and equipped the saving 

 begins. There are, however, some objections to this plan be- 

 sides the initial cost. It has been found very difficult to keep 

 the houses perfectly dry, where the length exceeds sixty feet. 

 Moisture collects on the walls and roof, and in cold weather 

 congeals, so that in these long houses there is often a coating 

 of frost. In cleaning out the long houses it is somewhat diffi- 

 cult to reach the central compartments, requiring as it does a 

 long walk and the opening and shutting of many doors and 

 gates. Where a virulent disease like cholera or roup breaks 

 out in one compartment, as it sometimes will, it has been found 

 almost impossible to confine it to that compartment germs 

 traveling in the air, or being conveyed from one pen to another 

 in excrement which may stick to the feet. With the commu- 

 nity plan go long, narrow yards or parks, which can be fenced 

 only at considerable cost. 



The scratching shed has now become an integral part of 

 many of the long houses. The scratching shed, as its name 

 implies, is a place for exercise under the same roof with the 

 laying room, but more open to the weather. The scratching 

 shed has many enthusiastic advocates who claim that it is in- 

 dispensable to the health and comfort of the fowls in the win- 

 ter, and will more than pay for itself in an increased egg out- 

 put. The claims for the scratching shed house seem so valid 

 that if I were building a house more than sixty feet in length, I 

 should certainly add scratching sheds. 



It is impossible in an article like this to give a plan for a 

 house that will suit every purse and every place. I can only 

 submit a cut of what I consider the best community house I 

 have yet seen, and give a brief- description of it. The house is 

 on the Gardner & Dunning Poultry Farm, of Auburn, N. Y. 



The house shown in the foreground of the view is 180 feet 

 long by 12 wide, and is divided into ten sections, each 18 feet. 

 Each section is in turn divided into a scratching shed of nine 

 feet, and a laying and roosting room of the same length. The 

 house is made of the best material, double boarded with paper 

 between and ceiled overhead at the height of six feet. In each 

 pen is a large window, a small ventilating window into the hall- 

 way and a ventilating hole out through the ceiling which* 

 draws off the foul air, but forms no draught. 



