ON TAKING PAINS 275 
So where is one to begin taking pains? Everywhere! And 
when? All day and every day! Yes, the work of a poultry- 
keeper is exacting. It is not difficult in itself, and that is where 
so many come to grief.”3: Because the general management of 
poultry is easily learned many assume that it can be perfunctorily 
performed. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every 
detail on a poultry farm is important. It may be well to remind 
readers that one is dealing with live stock which, though as a 
rule healthy and hardy if kept under proper conditions, are, like 
other live stock, subject to illnesses and epidemics when they are 
not attended with scrupulous care. A crack in the wall of the 
poultry-house may cause a cold that will lead to that most dreaded 
of all poultry diseases—diphtheric roup. If there is a split board 
that causes a draught get it closed up at once. Do not wait till 
night, when you are likely to forget it—but do it at once. 
EPIDEMIC CoLDs 
A cold is easily contracted and its epidemic effect on a large 
house of poultry may be disastrous. The same with a leakage in 
the roof. Nothing is worse for the laying fowl than damp, and 
especially cold damp. See that the house is kept bone dry and it 
will repay you a hundredfold. I find that a good plan to prevent 
draughts and leakages is to cover the whole outside of the house— 
roof, back, front and sides—with tar-felting. Even at war prices 
it can be bought at 5s. per roll of 15 yards and is the cheapest 
necessity in connection with poultry. One coat of tar per annum 
will make it everlasting, while the additional protection it gives 
to the birds against cold and draughts will more than repay for 
the cost in one season. Remember that if the birds are warmly 
—that is, comfortably—housed they will need less food ; or, to put 
it in another way, the food which would be expended—wasted—in 
keeping up the heat supply will be utilised in producing eggs. 
Tar-felting, or rubberoid, as an outside covering to the poultry- 
house will yield a larger percentage on money spent than any 
other single item on a poultry farm. 
