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interior of the loft at least twice a year will keep the enemies 

 of the birds from gaining a foot-hold, as well as destroy stray 

 disease germs which may be floating in the air. 



DRYNESS. 



Pigeons must have a dry loft or they will fall victims to 

 disease. To keep the houses dry, they should have the floor 

 at least a foot from the ground and the location should be 

 such that water does not stand around the house or under it. 

 Make the floor double, so that it will be air-tight and let the 

 air circulate under the house freely. Two objects are ac- 

 complished by having the floor off the ground. The room? 

 are kept dry and rats will not burrow under the house. 



FLOOR COVERING. 



The floor of the pigeon house should be kept covered with 

 about an inch of sand, if this can be procured handily. Oth- 

 erwise keep it covered with chaff, which should frequently 

 be renewed. 



CLEANLINESS. 



It is necessary to keep the pigeon lofts clean. Some breed- 

 ers advocate cleaning them every week, but we think a good 

 cleaning once a month will do. Every time the lofts are 

 cleaned, the birds must be disturbed more or less and this 

 results in some little loss, so the matter of cleanliness should 

 not be carried to the extreme. If the house is dry and light, 

 the droppings will quickly dry up and will not become of- 

 fensive for several weeks. 



FLOOR COVERING FOR FLIES. 



A good floor for the flies is well-packed earth covered with 

 gravel to the depth of two inches. This gravel will need 

 renewing spring and fall. 



