'i'4 H0TJ8ES AND TAKDB. 



earth well battened do-wn until it presents a perfectly, smooj:!^ 

 hard surface, which should be swept out carefully daily and 

 sanded or sprinkled with fine sifted ashes. If, however, you 

 have tobuildahouse for your birds, there being no outhouse 

 you can turn into-a fowl-house, then you might prepare a floor 

 of either chalk battened down until quite hard^ the ground being 

 dug out to the depth of a foot and filled in with the chalk, over 

 which should be spread sifted ashes or sand ; or else fill in the 

 space dug out with burnt .clay, also thoroughly rammed down 

 and spread over with a wet mass of cinders, fine gravel, quick- 

 lime, and water; this when dry forms a very good floor. 



I%ewe«<s should be arranged so that they are screened from 

 view and .darkened, not placed high up for the same reason as 

 before given with regard to the perches, and they should have a 

 ledge in front of them for the hen to step on before going into 

 - her nest or on leaving it, else in flying down eggs are ftfequently 

 dragged out and broken in the fall; and if chickens are hatched 

 high up they are liable to creep out of the nest,, fall down, and 

 die. Soft straw is the best lining jfor nests, as it does not harbor- 

 •insects so much as hay.^ It should Toe frequently/ ehomged unless 

 bens are sitting, and then it is best not to disturb the hen, or she 

 may forsake her nest. Nest-eggs of stone or china are easily 

 procured, and should be kept. Many hens will not lay in a nest 

 unless there is an egg already in it, and will forsake a nest they 

 have been laying in if all the eggs are removed. Some people 

 leave in the nest an ordinary egg, but this plan is most objection- 

 able; It imparts to the nest a musty smell, and gives also a taste 

 of must to those fresh eggs which are laid in it, and which, 

 though really fresh in themselves, have thus a disagreeable odor 

 and taste, quite leading one to suppose that they were stale, 

 This is the reason why so many eggs brought to table have this 

 defect; people will not take the trouble to change the straw in 

 the neSt often enough, Besides all this there is the danger of 



