2;8 



Poultry-yard Fittings. 



[AUG., 



easily be kept clean. Many troughs have been devised with 

 the object of keeping the fowls from standing on their food, 

 and whilst the idea is an admirable one, it is far more 

 important that the trough should be of so simple a kind 

 that it can be cleared of food in a few moments, and that 

 it can be thoroughly scoured as often as may be necessary 

 without any great expenditure of time. Another desirable 

 point in troughs is that they should be capable of being filled 

 with food easily and quickly without spilling any of the food on 

 the ground, and that it should be easy to return any food that 

 the fowls may leave in the troughs to the mixing pail. It is 

 only troughs of the plainest kind that fulfil these conditions, 

 and it may be taken as an axiom that for all practical purposes 

 the simpler the trough the more suitable it is for everyday use 

 in feeding farm poultry. There are several materials from which 

 useful troughs may be made, and these include wood, galvanized 

 iron, zinc, tin, earthenware, stone, &c. The trough most generally 

 used* is made of wood. The V-shaped trough is perhaps most 

 convenient, and for feeding hens it maybe made in the following 

 way : — Take a board one inch thick and nine inches wide, and 

 about six feet long. Divide the board with a saw so that 

 one piece is four inches wide and the other piece five inches. 

 Then nail the wider part on the edge of the narrower so as to 

 furm a V. Next take two pieces of wood from which to make 

 the stands. Let these be about twelve inches long and six 

 inches wide, and one to two inches thick. Saw out of each a 

 V-shaped gap to fit the trough, and having placed the trough 

 in this fasten with nails. The pieces which are sawn out will 

 make ends for the trough. These troughs are sometimes 

 made with a board or lath extending from end to end 

 along the middle with the object of keeping the hens from 

 walking on the food, but this is hardly necessary, as hens 

 seldom or never stand in a trough which is made of the size 

 and in the style described. Another plain form of trough 

 which can easily be kept clean is one having a flat bottom and 

 strong upright sides. It is made by taking two boards nine 

 inches wide and one inch thick and six feet long, and sawing 

 one of them through the middle. The divided parts are then 

 nailed to either edge of the unsawn board, and two pieces of 



