40 COMMON SENSE 
bottora of the bed of earth will become damp, and in time will rot 
the floor. 
The nest boxes were simply small packing boxes, not less than. 
12 inches in any dimension. They were prepared by removing all 
the top or covers except about 3 inches at one edge; this was 
firmly nailed on, and when the box was laid on its side the strip 
‘formed a ledge which kept the straw and eggs from rolling out, 
Such nest boxes are cheap, easily moved, easily cleaned, and, when 
set with the opening about ten inches from a wall, they afford that 
secrecy which hens love so much. 
Meanwhile, the hens in the large poultry house had been kept 
shut up all morning. I now examined them, selected three that I 
thought would mate well with the Brown Leghorn, and placed 
them in the room I had fixed up. As there had been no cock in 
the large yard for over two weeks I felt pretty sure that any chick- 
ens that might be hatched would be the progeny of the Brown. 
Leghorn, and I also knew, from former experience, that after these 
hens had’ been with the Leghorn for a week the eggs would be 
fertile. 
The next step was to prepare a proper coop out doors. On.the 
place was a packing case which had been sent from the city with 
an organ. The organ had been sold by Brown just before he 
moved away, and was purchased by a party in the village, and as 
the case was not needed for such a short journey it was probably 
forgotten. At any rate it was mine now, so. I removed the bottom 
and used the boards to increase the height of the case, and with a 
little extra lumber I soon had-a very comfortable little house, amply 
sufficient for seven hens and the rooster. The door was a small 
affair, just enough to let a good-sized boy or small man creep in, 
‘but as the eggs were reached from the outside, and as the house 
was never cleaned except by moving it, a door was perbaps not a 
necessity. 
The next thing was'the fence. I made several lengths of port- 
able lath fence, the same as that hereafter described, and enclosed 
a space 32 feet long and 16 feet wide at one end, and 16 feet and 
the width of the house at the other. The hens were large, with a 
