PIGEONS AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 29 



CLEANING THE LOFT. 



1HAVE spoken of cleaning- the sand in a loft etc., but find 

 that I have not takea up the " general house cleaning" 

 that is so necessary every spring and fall. 



If the fancier has made his loft as I have suggested, let 

 him go to work with some system, and when he is done he 

 will have a clean sweet smelling loft, and one in which 

 vermin can hardly stay. First, take off every flange from the 

 nests, and unhook and take off the false front of the uests. 

 Then with the short handled hoe, scrape thoroughly all the 

 tobacco stems and filth out of the nests. This will all fall on 

 the floor and should be raked up carelessly and taken to the 

 manure jiile. It is needless to pay any close attention to tlie 

 floor as yet. Now get a common watering pot and into a 

 gallon of water put a pint of crude carbolic acid, which is 

 the best disinfectant ever used in a loft. (I have used it fin- 

 years, and can recommend it, for I use it and lots of it, at al! 

 times in the year.) Don't be afraid that it will stain enougli 

 to hurt, for it will not, and also remember that it goes inside 

 of the boxes. Now sprinkle this in plenty in all the nests. 

 Let the spray strike the sides and trickle down them. Let 

 it seep through from the upper tier to the lower, and so 

 on down to the floor; for remember this is all on the inside 

 and won't affect the external appearance. 



Give it plenty of time to dry, and then prepare your white- 

 wash. Take unslacked lime and add boiling water till it 

 slacks. Then add more water till thin enough to use, put- 

 ing in a few handfuls of salt and a little blueing. One does 

 not need carbolic acid in the whitewash, as it is already In 

 place. The nests being thoroughly dry, take a very short 

 handled brush and whitewash inside each nest and along 

 the fronts till every crevice, if there be any, is filled complete- 



