66 Money in Broilers and Squabs. 



qualities a good shingle roof will last for years, is cooler than almost 

 any other roof in summer, and sufficiently tight in winter, as the 

 shingles shrink in hot, dry weather, making the roof open or porous, 

 and swell in damp, cooler weather, making it tight. On the whole, 

 I think it cannot be beaten." 



F. Bause, New Berlin, Pa.: "The cheapest roof I have is the 

 heaviest quality tar paper on rough boards, coated with a good, coal 

 tar cement." 



William H. Child, Glenside, Pa. : "I have never used anything 

 but ordinary black roofing felt. It has always answered satisfac- 

 torally, and I should use it again. When it gets worn, I put a new 

 lot right over the old." 



W. Theo. Wittman, Allentown, Pa. : "The best and cheapest 

 roofing for a poultry house is tar or roofing paper well painted 

 with hot tar, and annually painted late in autumn. This makes 

 the roof at its best when most needed. If the tar is applied in 

 spring or summer, the sun will rapidly evaporate it and make the 

 roof thin. With such a roof the roosting room (of the hen house) 

 only needs to be ceiled with matched lumber (as should also be 

 the brooding house) leaving an air-space, as one-inch boards 

 covered with paper in zero weather makes the roof cold, and chills 

 the whole house." 



W. M. Rand, Franklin, Ind. : "I don't consider there is any good 

 whatever in cheapness of any kind in the chicken or any other busi- ' 

 ness. Cheapness in the start means unnecessary expense in the end. 

 I built a brooder house on the cheap plan to start with. It proved 

 a failure, and since then have built it all over. This is where the 

 unnecessary expense comes in. If built right at first, there would 

 have been no unnecessary expense of re-building. I first built my 

 house with three-inch battens, three inches apart, with shingles on 

 top for a roof. The consequence was, when the wind blew strong, 

 there was no such thing as keeping up heat. A roof that will shed 

 rain won't keep out wind unless properly built. It is just as essen- 

 tial to keep out wind in a brooder or chicken house as to keep out 

 rain. My house has a hip roof, and two years ago I put tarred 

 paper on the north side and it kept out both wind and rain. My 

 plan is: Put on good sheeting and cover with three-ply tarred 

 roofing, and paint once or twice a year, and you will have the best 

 roof in existence. With us the cost of 3-inch batten, per square is 

 75c., and good shingles $2.50 per square. Cost of putting on shin- 

 gles are about $1 per square ; total, $4.25. Three-ply tarred paper, 

 per square, costs $1.50, good sheeting, $1.50. Putting on sheeting 

 paper and painting, $1.00; total, $4.00 per square." 



Charles A. French, Sandypoint, Me. : "Cedar shingles and 

 sheathing paper." 



Another correspondent : "Shingles over sheathing paper. No 

 tearing off or tar running ofif in hot weather. Such a roof is about 

 the cheapest in the end, as it requires no further, attention for a 

 number of years." 



