114 Maine; agricultural lxperiment station. 1913. 



great satisfaction. This is the so-called "curtain front house." 

 The particular form of this which was devised and has been 

 used for many years at the ]\Iaine Station is probably the most 

 widely used. See Fig. 56 and 57. Description of this house 

 with specifications for its construction may be found in Circular 

 No. 471 of the ]\Iaine Agricultural Experiment Station, which 

 will be sent free to any resident of ^^Eaine. The essential feature 

 of this type of house is that during the day the front of each 

 pen, which is formed of a cloth cnrtain, is wide open, so that 

 the pen becomes in effect a shed open on the south side. At 

 night this curtain is closed, but it still permits of some circula- 

 tion of air so that the house is at all times a strictly "fresh air" 

 house. 



In the case of the colony house there cannot be said to be 

 any single type which, by common consent, is of such outstand- 

 ing merit as the "curtain front" type in the case of the long 

 house. There are two types of colony houses which are at pres- 

 ent popular and seem to be of greatest merit. One of these is 

 essentially nothing more than a single unit or pen of a "curtain 

 front" house. That is, it is a "curtain front" colony house built 

 on essentially the same plan as the long house only ver}^ much 

 smaller. The other type of colony house is the so-called 

 Tolman house, which is another modification of the open front 

 principle. Another house of this general type which has been 

 advocated is the Woods house.* 



Feeding. 



Having housed our fowls they must be fed. Here the same 

 sort of history is to be found as in the case of housing. Sub- 

 stantially all known edible substances must, at some time or 

 other, have been suggested or tried as component parts of the 

 rations of fowls. Not only have many and curious substances 

 been suggested as poultry food, but they have been combined in 

 formulas as weird as a medieval apothecary's prescription 



* Detailed plans and specifications for the construction of poultry- 

 houses of various types may be found in Bulletin 215 of the Wisconsin 

 Agricuhural Experiment Station, entitled "Poultry House Construction,"' 

 by J. G. Halpin and C. A. Ocock; "Poultry Houses and Fixtures" 

 published by the Reliable Poultry Journal Pub. Co., Quincy, 111., and 

 many other standard poultry books give house plans. 



