POULTKY. 133 



cipal object, and the Gray Dorking where chickens are wanted 

 for the table or for market. In reference to merely ornamental 

 poultry, let "fancy" rule. 



13. Accommodations. No one should attempt to keep fowls 

 without providing for them the proper accommodations to in- 

 sure their comfort and health. These need not be expensive. 

 A very simple house with appropriate accessories in the form 

 of a yard, nests, feeding troughs, water basins or fountains, 

 roosts, etc., can all be very cheaply furnished ; or they may be 

 more extensive, elaborate, and costly, if the proprietor's wants 

 require and his means permit. For plans and descriptions of 

 these structures we must refer the reader to "The House," 

 which forms another number of this series of manuals. We 

 need only say here that they should be such as to secure 

 warmth and efficient shelter from storms, without excluding 

 light or air, both of which are essential to the well-being of 

 fowls as well as human beings. 



" Most farmers," Mr. Bement truly says, " pay little or no at- 

 tention to their fowls, suffering them to roam and run about 

 when and where they please ; to lay and hatch where it suits 

 them best, and to rcost on trees, under sheds, on the wagon, 

 cart, hay-rigging, etc. soiling by their droppings plows, har- 

 rows, or whatever may chance to be within reach. This treat- 

 ment is no less unprofitable than inhuman. ISTo wonder such 

 farmers get no eggs during the winter, and generally come to 

 the conclusion that poultry keeping does not 'pay.'" 



Whatever may be the form or size of your poultry -house, it 

 should be so constructed as to secure as equable a tempera- 

 ture as possible. This end is best attained by having the 

 walls and roof lined, leaving an open space of from four to six 

 inches between the outer and inner walls, which may be filled 

 in with chaff, saw-dust, or dry tan. This will make it warm 

 in winter and cool in summer. In addition to the inclosed por- 

 tion, the house should have a broad piazza or shed attached, 

 to which the fowls may retire for shelter in stormy weather. 



Hens always seek to avoid observation when laying, and it is 



