SCRATCHING-SHEDS 283 
canvas has been successfully employed, and there seems no reason 
to suppose that it would not do equally well on a larger structure. 
In the event of canvas being used for three sides and the roof, a 
coating of cement would improve and strengthen it. It might 
also be advisable to stretch a wide-mesh wire just inside the canvas, 
to keep the fowls from picking it. 
In addition to canvas there are such fabrics as tar-felting and 
rubberoid. The latter is fairly expensive, but would probably 
work out at one-third the price of }-inch matching. In the 
Colonies tar-felting is used a great deal in the manner I have 
suggested as a substitute for wood, and if it is found suitable in 
Canada and other places it ought to be equally suited for our more 
moderate climate. At any rate the experiment is well worth 
trying, and I think it will be found that by utilising waterproof 
canvas or tar-felting it will be possible to erect a scratching-shed 
12 feet by 12 feet for from £4 to £5. In this event one would then 
have a roosting-house, 8 feet by 8 feet, made of }-inch matching, 
to cost £4 to £5, and a scratching-shed, made of wood and canvas, 
12 feet by 12 feet, at a cost of £4, 10s.—the two houses together 
being about £9. This would give greatly increased accommoda- 
tion for scratching, which is so essential in egg-production. The 
invention of the scratching-shed has been largely responsible for 
the greatly increased supply of eggs of late years. The two things 
have grown together. A busy, active fowl is a sure egg-layer, and 
the way to cultivate activity is to provide a large, airy scratching 
shed plentifully supplied with litter in which the grain will be 
buried twice or three times a day. 
KeeEp THE Brrps Busy 
Fowls love scratching when there is anything to scratch for, and 
even the recovery of a few grains of corn is an ample reward. 
By keeping your birds busy you are preventing the accumulation 
of fat, so dreaded by poultry-keepers, and at the same time urging 
the fowl into that fine hard fit condition that is essential to egg- 
laying. When people fully realise the importance of the scratching- 
