114 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 
keeping fowls in winter means simply keeping them 
alive and well until the spring; eggs are hardly expected. 
First, prepare a warm place, well secured from cold 
winds and shifting snow. A corner in the stable is per- 
haps best, as the warmth of the stock in the stable is a 
great help to the chickens. But an independent fowl- 
house may be made, by digging a cellar, say eight by ten 
feet, and three feet deep. Build a sod wall three feet. 
thick and five or six feet high around the excavation, 
with a door in the east and a window in the south 
side. The window should be double, with one sash at 
the outside and another on the inside of the wall. Around 
the door, build an entry or vestibule of sod, with its door 
opening outward. Plaster all these walls upon the in- 
side. The earth taken from the cellar, mixed with 
water, will answer to plaster with, and the whole can be 
done in a short time. The first coat will crack; the 
second coat should be very thin. The cover or roof may 
be made of poles and straw. If the poles are strong 
mough, some earth should be put over the straw, to 
make the roof warmer. The perches should be made 
low, and stationary strips arranged, so that the fowls can 
find their way to the perch, even during the dark, 
stormy weather. In the second place, the feed must be 
so arranged that each fowl can both find and eat it in 
the dark. To secure this end, take a board, one foot 
wide and four feet long; around this nail four strips 
three inches wide; two of these strips should be four 
feet long and the other two fourteen inches long, so as 
to form a box four feet long by twelve inches wide and 
two inches deep. Next, cut laths into three equal 
parts, and nail them perpendicularly around this box, 
two inches apart. Secure the tops by nailing around 
the outside of a similar board to the bottom, leaving an 
opening to put in the feed. ‘The feed should always be 
placed in this box, and the box should always be kept in 
