1864] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
337 
Poultry and Poultry Houses, 
On page 885, will bo bund a description of 
an expensive and elaborate, yet not extensive 
poultry bouse -a good one, however, in every 
respect In connection with it we publish tho 
following, just at hand, to give our readers 
the view of the subject from a no more practical 
or common sense, but B more USUal stunil point. 
"C. M. W.," of Dutchess Co., N. Y., writes : 
" In every essay that I have read on the con- 
struction of poultry houses or 'Henneries,' or 
on points of importauco to tho well doing of 
fouls, I have, with one single exception, found 
it set down as an imperative necessity that as 
much light as possible should be admitted into 
the building ; and, in one number of your pa- 
per there is an engraving of Mr. Vassar's poul- 
try house at Po'keepsie, the whole front of 
which is glass. Now sir, whence arises the 
opinion that fowls require, or at least desire so 
much light? I ask this simply because my ex- 
perience has proved the contrary to be the fact, 
so far as my three or four different breeds are 
concerned. Having one of a series of new sta- 
bles and other buildings to spare, I used it for 
my fowls. It is a room 10x18 feet and 10 feet 
high, and lighted by two large windows. I 
made it everyway as I thought, au enticing hab- 
itation, supplying it with every latest approved 
convenience for laying, sitting and roosting, 
and scrupulous i»ivacy. Food and fresh water, 
ashes and lime always ad libitum in the house 
as well as outside, not omitting soap boilers' 
scrap (greaves) "at discretion." They could 
roam where they pleased, feed when they pleas- 
ed, lay where they pleased, yet in spite of the 
light, the comforts, and conveniences of the 
large, new, clean apartment provided for them, 
the}', almost without exception, made nests in 
the darkest corners of the barn, or most hidden 
and inaccessible parts of the mow, and in such 
places, (the darker tlie better,) and only in such did 
they seem really content to la}', and there they 
did lay, sit and hatch, (as far as results went) to 
my entire satisfaction. 
" The more pains and care I took with my 
fowls, (beyond, of course, clean and comfortable 
quarters, and plenty to eat and drink,) the less 
profit I derived, and fewer chickens I invariably 
raised. The hens would insist on making 
and sticking to their own nests out in the 
meadow, or beside the stone fence, or among a 
parcel of old boards at back of the barn, and 
such hens I therefore left to themselves to do 
as they pleased for themselves, through all sorts 
of weather, wet and dry. They invariablybrought 
up all their chickens, which were always hard- 
ier than any of the others, they got over the 
"gapes" without interference from me, and (by 
reason of the mother never being kept from 
them under a coop,) were never successfully 
assailed by the common enemies of young 
chickens, because the mother was always pres- 
ent to defend them, which sho frequently did 
most valiantly and triumphantly. I am the 
very last man in the world to uphold that hor- 
rid "shirking for themselves," which so very 
many think good enough treatment for fowls, 
but I do believe that so long as we supply them 
with all necessary provisions and comforts, it is 
better to leave the disposal of these to their own 
interests, rather than force upon them any par- 
ticular human theories of ' education,' (as the 
French call it,) which I for one, at any rate, have 
never found any great reason to crow over." 
Remarks. — A hen likes secrecy, and will hide her 
nest, like other birds. This natural tendency of 
birds to shun light leads all birds, wild or do- 
mestic, tO£lace their nests where the sun can 
not shino upon the eggs, which would spoil 
them. They seek also to hide them from their 
enemies, Tho nest-boxes should therefore be 
provided In the darkest part of the poultry- 
house, and bo shut oil' from the light. This is 
usually recommended, and always should bo. 
It is advisable to have hen-houses light, where 
they aro designed for winter quarters, and in 
caso the fowls are to be kept shut up. Tho 
fowls if well kept will thrive even in close quar- 
ters. Still they certainly do better, and enjoy 
life better if they have their freedom. The art 
of a good poulterer is to give hens in confine- 
ment such care, food and little conveniences, 
that they shall not piue for this liberty. This 
may be done and is done by hundreds. It is a 
great art to make hens choose to lay exactly 
where you want them to, and to take the best of 
carcof them by letting them have their own way. 
The Food of Fattening Animals. 
Food supplies the constant wastes of the sys- 
tem, for there is a regular wear and tear of the 
whole animal system, even if the animal do 
nothing but cat and sleep ; it is, in a certain 
sense, a labor to him to live. Every muscular 
effort, no matter how slight, causes a correspond- 
ing loss which is made up by the food. The oils 
and fats of the animal contain no nitrogen. 
This element is particularly the characteristic of 
the muscular parts of the system, that is, the 
lean flesh. Muscular exertion causes a waste or 
consumption of these parts, and a demand for 
food from which they can be supplied. 
It is necessary to the life of warm blood- 
ed animals that the warmth of their bodies 
should be uniformly at a point much above the 
usual temperature of the air. To meet this 
necessity there is a regular and constant con- 
sumption of certain substances in the blood, 
chiefly those which contain no nitrogen. These 
may be supplied directly from those kinds of 
food which abound in starch, gum, sugar, cell- 
tissue, oils, etc, some animals even digesting 
woody fibre, which belongs to the same class of 
substances. When more of this kind of food is 
eaten than the requirements of animals demand, 
a large part of it is stored away as fat, against 
a time of possible need. This fat is deposited 
where it will serve as a blanket against the cold, 
and between the muscles, so that friction of the 
muscles upon one another, and bruising from 
external sources, will be prevented. An excess 
of nitrogenous substances in the food, however, 
is not retained in the system, but passes off in 
the manure. Reasoning from these facts we 
should conclude that if growing animals and 
full grown fattening animals were to receive the 
same kind of feed, the manure of the former 
would be much less rich than the latter, for it 
is nitrogen which gives', value to manure, and 
the growing animals would appropriate the 
nitrogenous part of the food to build up their 
bodies; and this is true, as proved by many ex- 
periments. Milch cows take from their food 
the nitrogenous part, to make up that part of 
their milk which forms cheese, and which nour- 
ishes the muscular system of their calves ; so 
their manure is very poor. The experiments 
conducted with such extraordinary care, espec- 
ially with sheep and pigs, by Lawcs & Gilbert, 
published ten years ago, demonstrated that the 
amount of food consumed by fattening animals, 
and the rapidity of fattening, both depended 
upon the quantity of xwi-nitrogenous constitu- 
ents consumed, while the value of tin- manure 
depended on the nitrogenous constituents. 
Cutting, Soaking, and Steaming Fodder. 
Tho present prices of hay and all kinds of 
coarso fodder, as well as roots and grain, lead 
farmers to consider willingly all means to save 
food. We give elsewhere some hints on the 
saving which warm stables will effect, and there 
may be also a very great saving in feed if it 
be put in a more digestible and assimilable 
form, than if fed in its natural state. The labor 
of comminuting the food is saved to the animals 
if it be done by machinery ; nevertheless, it is 
not well to reduce it so fine as to do away with 
the necessity of chewing thoroughly. If the 
feed of cattle be so fine and pulpy as to pass 
directly into the digesting stomachs, not being 
retained in the first stomach, and subsequently 
chewed as cud, the digestive system of the ani- 
mal is interfered with, and disease ensues, as is 
the case with cows in the swill-milk stables. 
However, there is no such danger except where 
some food similar to still-slops is used, and 
fed without a proper admixture of hay or 
straw. There is a decided gain in simply cutting 
up the hay or corn fodder, and wetting it with 
less water than it will absorb in 10 or 12 hours. 
Salting it slightly, and sprinkling it with a small 
quantity of meal, or bran, make it still more 
relishable, and even the buts of cornstalks thus 
prepared are eaten very clean. If the mix- 
ture be allowed to stand till it heats somewhat, 
it is still more relished, and goes still further. 
The value of corn fodder is fully seen when t rent ed 
in some such way. In our opinion, and that of 
many very discreet farmers, it is worth as much 
for cattle food as common hay — not quite so 
much as prime timothy, or first-rate hay of 
mixed grasses. A still further appreciation in 
the value of fodder, of almost all kinds, will be 
observed when it is cooked. This is most readily 
done by steaming, and for this purpose the most 
convenient way is to have a hogshead or other 
tight containing vessel hung on trunnions, or oth- 
erwise suspended by the middle, so that it may 
be turned over like a bell, or to one side at least, 
when it is to be emptied. When the fodder is 
put in, with perhaps a small quantify of water, 
a jet of steam let into it, and carried to the bot- 
tom by a pipe, will rapidly cook the entiro 
mass, and often a good deal more than the ves-' 
sel will hold at first. The boiler may be kept 
at a distance from the stalls, so far that there 
will be no danger from the fire. There are 
several excellent agricultural steam boilejs ; 
some of the best were at the recent fairs, and 
one has been lately advertised in Ihc Agriculturist. 
Blue Grass Seeding at the West. 
— •—— 
A correspondent " G.," writes to the Agricultur- 
ist: " The Kentucky blue grass seed may be sown 
at any time during the year. I prefer autumn 
and winter. Pasture lands aro best sown in 
autumn, when the stock are likely to thoroughly 
tramp the ground as the pasture becomes short.. 
Wood lands may be sown after the fall of the 
leaf. The under growth and leaves should be 
well cleared off before sowing. In all cases 
after sowing seed, stock should be turned upon 
the ground so as to tramp it thoroughly. I 
prefer the stripped seed, as it is cheaper and 
will take hold of the sod better than what is 
called clean seed. Stripped seed before sowing 
should be thrown upon the barn floor and 
whipped, to make it loose and more easily sown. 
