IN THE POULTRY YARD. 65 
kept closed. When the ventilators were opened a very strong cur- 
rent was established at once. 
In .such a house, without any further additions, hens would 
have done well the whole year round, and with 100 birds on the 
roosts we doubt if one of them would ever have been frost-bitten. 
Under the glass shed our hens found dryness and warmth on 
bright days. A few barrowfulls of dry earth placed in one corner 
furnished one of the very best dustbaths—such a one as fowls 
do not ordinarily get during winter—and when dry warm days 
came, they could go out and enjoy themselves in the open 
air. But the designer was not satisfied with this, and therefore he 
provided means for ‘procuring artificial heat during very cold 
weather. In this, as in everything else, he studied efficiency first, 
and economy afterwards, but in all cases the latter received due 
attention. 
Warmth, during the cold months of fall, winter and early spring, 
is well known to be a most important point in the keeping of 
poultry for eggs, and the one most frequently neglected. Breeds, 
food and cleanliness are all essential, but without warmth they will 
be merely wasted. Much can be done by the construction of the 
houses in whch our poultry are kept, and if the house be small, 
.the birds will keep each other warm, and little danger need be 
feared on the score of ventilation during the cold seasons of the 
year. Much has been written on ventilation, and the general prin- 
ciples are perhaps sufficiently understood by most people, and 
-yet, but few have any practical idea of the subject. Those who 
have not studied it experimentally have no idea of the great dif- 
ference which a slight change of temperature makes in the ventila- 
ting power of an opening. On warm days, when the temperature 
outside is nearly the same as that of the inside, the air has scarcely 
any motion out or in, and we might leave small cracks or wide ones 
without any danger of “drafts.” Under such circumstances, if we 
want to change the air in a house rapidly, we must open large win- 
dows, or.even remove the whole side of the house, and so convert 
it into a shed. 
~But,,in very cold weather, all this is changed. The inside of 
