TO HOLD NETTING AT BOTTOM 



131 



matter to return and staple the wire to each post individually, 

 stretching it slightly here and there as it is required. 



To hold the bottom of the netting in place and make it hug the 

 ground closely, drive stakes at intervals of three or four feet — 

 two stakes between the posts are generally sufficient — and secure 

 the netting to them by a staple. Discarded wooden fence palings 

 are splendid for this purpose, especially if they are tapered. 

 Drive the largest end in the ground first, for a distance of about 

 eighteen inches, whereupon they are less likely to heave upward 

 by frost action. 



The life of these stakes will be prolonged if they are first 

 dipped or soaked in a wood preservative, or else charred. 



Fig. 91. — Poultry house at Wisconsin College of Agriculture. 



By the use of stakes in this manner, especially in a light soil, 

 it is possible to sink the netting six inches into the ground with- 

 out difficulty, which in some respects is better than the wooden 

 base boards, the bottoms of which soon rot away, or under which 

 the fowls are able to dig their way to freedom. Moreover, with 

 a little practice one will soon develop the skill and judgment of 

 being able to drive the stakes with just enough tension on the 

 netting to stretch it perfectly flat and tight. 



Chick Runs. — For inclosing yards intended for chicks, a course 

 of inch mesh wire netting should be used at the bottom, twelve 

 or eighteen inches high is sufficient, to which the coarser mesh 

 netting is fastened by pieces of pliable wire bound around the 

 two selvage edges. 



