THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 29 



not be used unless the temperature is much below 

 freezing and burlap or old bagging run on a wire 

 will answer as well as muslin tacked to a frame. 

 It should strike the front of the dropping boards or 

 hang to the floor. The great advantage in cloth is 

 that it admits air freely but without drafts. Ex- 

 periments have shown that buildings where muslin 

 has been used at the windows have been only a de- 

 gree or two colder than when glass was used, for 

 glass radiates cold. 



Poultry houses in the South need no protection 

 at the windows and the type which has the entire 

 front open gives full satisfaction. Indeed, open- 

 front houses are being largely used in the most 

 northerly states and many poultry keepers are en- 

 thusiastic in praise of them. They certainly simplify 

 the keeping of poultry, for there are neither win- 

 dows nor curtains to look after, the front of the 

 house being entirely open except that it is covered 

 with poultry netting to keep the birds in and in- 

 truders out. In some cases a canvas curtain is 

 dropped over the front when necessary to keep out 

 snow or a beating rain, and occasionally curtains 

 are used in front of the perches on extremely cold 

 nights, but the average owner of an open-front house 



