AMERICAN POULTRY CULTURE 
rectly ventilating a poultry house was a serious 
problem. The ventilators which work quite satis- 
factorily in dwelling houses and barns give very 
unsatisfactory results on poultry houses, and are 
little, if any, better than nothing at all. The 
method most in vogue a few years ago was that of 
having a loft above a loose ceiling in the poultry 
house, and much of the moisture and impurities of 
the air were supposed to be absorbed into the hay 
and straw with which the loft was filled. This 
was more or less unsatisfactory, however, and it 
was not until the recent introduction of the use of 
muslin or burlap as a partial or total substitute for 
window glass, that the problem of properly ven- 
tilating a poultry house reached a satisfactory 
solution. 
The modern and model way of ventilating a 
poultry house is by means of window openings in 
the south side of the building, which are covered 
with a burlap or muslin curtain in exceedingly cold 
or disagreeable weather. During the remainder 
of the time, winter and summer, these openings 
are covered merely with wire netting. With the 
house constructed tight on all other sides, as I 
have advised, this system allows of a gentle diffu- 
sion of air with no direct draft. The principle is 
much the same as that involved in ‘‘ you can’t blow 
into a bottle,” because all the available air space 
is already occupied. 
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