POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 25 



The Secret of Dry Cement Floors. 

 Cement makes the best flooring. It Is better than dirt because it 

 can be kept clean and is vermin proof. It is better than wood because 

 it is far cheaper, absorbs no filth and is permanent. But it has had 

 the objectionable feature of being damp — and dampness is not con- 

 ducive to good health. Many methods have been tried to overcome 

 this dampness. All have been faulty in one way or another, at least, 

 for poultry houses. After various experiments the problem has been 

 solved. In the Townsend Model House — using a combination of the 

 Buckeye sectional houses — the foundation walls and floors are made 

 of cement and are absolutely damp proof. The secret of this con- 

 struction is very simple, and the cost is trifliing. It is accomplished 

 by mixing six pounds of hydrated lime with each hundred pounds of 

 cement. And this need not be used in the bottom course. Our method 

 is to put down about two inches of five parts rough gravel and one 

 part of Edison cement. Make this very wet, tamp well, and follow at 

 once with a second course laid from a half-inch to an inch in thickness 

 — three parts of sand or fine gravel to one of cement with the hydrated 

 lime as stated; and dampness is unknown. The house rests on walls 

 six inches thick and carried about a foot below the surface. The 

 building is not only damp proof but vermin proof as well. 



The beginner will hardly undertake the erection of buildings for a 

 large commercial plant. Such buildings include laying houses, incu- 

 bator and brooding houses, breeding and colony houses ; and their man- 

 agement is utterly impossible for the tyro. Make no mistake about 

 this. One of the secrets of successful poultry culture is based upon 

 the common sense idea of making haste slowly. No sensible man 

 would try to build a m^ansion until he had learned to cut a rafter. No 

 sensible man would try to "manage a large poultry plant," as one 

 "teach-you-by-mail" concern promises, until after a long experience 

 with more or less insane incubators and more than less hysterical 

 hens. 



