12 



The house shown in the foreground of the view is 

 180 feet long by 12 wide, and is divided into 10 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 cut through the ceiling which draws 

 off the foul air but forms no draught. 



The scratching sheds are open in front, with a canvas which 

 can be let down to keep the snow out. The yards are 150 feet 

 long, with a row of fruit trees in each, and are plowed and 

 sowed each year. At present there are three of these long houses 

 on the plant and more will be added as they are needed. 



THE MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION HOUSE. 



An important and in many ways desirable variation from the 

 ordinary scratching shed house is the main poultry building in 

 use at the Agricultural Experiment Station at Bozeman, Mon- 

 tana. "The building is 72 feet long and 14 feet wide with a four 

 foot passage in the rear. It is divided into pens 12 feet long and 

 10 feet wide, and is set upon a foundation of stone 18 inches 

 wide and two feet high. The slope of the roof is for the main 

 portion to the south, the ridge coming just above the passage way 

 four feet from the rear wall. This slope of roof is of great 

 advantage since the sun rapidly melts the snow on the southern 

 incline making it warmer and drier, while on the other side the 

 slope is so steep that the snow does not lodge there. 



"The next most important feature is the double floor. The 

 exit from the pens is through the floor into the space underneath 

 the building. This basement has a ground floor, and it is two 

 feet from the ground to the sills. In summer, this makes a fine, 

 cool and shady place when doors shown in cut are down and 

 portholes open, while in winter with the doors raised the low sun 

 enables the sunlight to 'extend more than half of the distance 

 from front to rear, making an ideal place for dusting and scratch- 

 ing. This feature adds greatly to the usefulness of the building, 

 since it so materially increases the floor space without affecting 

 the area of the roof." 



