162 
A WORD TO THE SMALL BOYS.-CHICKEN COOPS. 
Bogs’ ^Department. 
4 WORD TO THE SMALL BOYS. 
“ All work and no play, 
Makes Jack a dull boy: 
All play and no work 
Makes him a mere toy.” 
Well, boys, Mr. Allen has very kindly given two 
or three pages every month, for your special benefit. 
After you have read the Boys’ Department, the first 
thing to be done is, to see that you have other books 
to read and study, such as you can understand, and 
such as will give you valuable information—the 
Child’s Book of History, Peter Parley’s Geography, 
Colburn’s Arithmetic, Marco Polo’s Travels. Books 
for parents and their children, and such kinds of 
books, not silly stories, you must be well supplied 
with. And then see to it that you spend some time 
every day, in reading and study. This is absolutely 
essential, if you ever intend to make good farmers, 
and good men. And I take it you are going to be 
farmers, and not professional men. 
Then next you must see that you have an axe, a 
hoe, a rake, and all tools, just suitable to your age and 
strength. Do not try to chop with your father’s axe, 
nor use any of his tools ; tell him it is no reason why 
you should not have light tools, because he had to 
use his father’s. See to it that you have the proper 
tools, and that they are in the very best order. Then 
have a place for every tool, and for every book, and 
when you have finished using it for the time being, 
put it in its place, so you can go right to it in the 
dark. 
Now for using them. Learn to do one thing at a 
time. When you read or study, do not get all your 
books about. Take one book and read in that from 
day to day, till it is finished, and then another, and 
so on. And be sure to read the Boys’ Department 
in the paper as soon as your father gets it from the 
office. When you work, have some one kind of 
work, and stick to that till it is finished, and till the 
time is up. Do not begin to chop one stick and then 
run oil' to find a softer one; or think you must go to 
read or study, or go a fishing, or make a poultry-house. 
Finish that stick of wood, no matter if it is hard ; 
leave it not. So, when you read or study, do not think 
you want to use your hoe then, or ride the horse to 
water, or anything else, but study. One thing at a 
time, and that thing for the time. If you need help, 
that is, directions about your books or about your 
work, or your play, your parents will always give 
it to you. But when you are told sufficiently, then 
do it up, and do it yourself. At proper times, you 
can have your sports—go a fishing, play ball, make 
a pigeon-house, tame your rabbits, feed your chick¬ 
ens, &c., &c. Do that up thoroughly when you are 
about it; and do your work and your study just as 
thoroughly when their times come. Be cheerful and 
lively at each. Do not say you are tired, or hot, or 
lazy, when it is time to bring in the wood, or hoe in 
the garden. Do not ask to get away till the work is 
finished. Be sure, if you do just right you will have 
abundance of time for all your little matters, and will 
be happy about it too. There, that will do for this 
time. If Mr. Allen prints this I may talk some 
more with you. T. 
Ohio, March , *845. 
CHICKEN COOPS. 
Fig. 47. 
The most common method employed among farm- 
ers for the purpose of confining the hen with her 
young brood, is to drive stakes into the ground in 
front and make a pen about two feet square and cover 
with boards; but a better plan is to lay a flour bar¬ 
rel on its side, with one end out, and drive a few 
sticks into the ground in front. This makes a very 
dry and comfortable coop. 
Fig. 48. 
The above figure represents the marquee-coop, 
which we have used for several years, and find it an¬ 
swers a good purpose. It is formed by nailing boards 
two feet in length in such a way as to form two parts 
of a triangle, the ground forming the other, as in 
warm and dry weather we consider it best to have 
them next the earth ; but early in the spring, when 
the weather is cold and the soil wet, a platform of 
boards or an old door should always be put under 
the coops. It should be at least two feet deep, one end 
be boarded up tight, and the other secured by nailing 
strips of lath, in the form of grates, leaving sufficient 
space between them for the free passage of the chicks 
without admitting the hen. In front there should be 
a broad piece of board of the same length as the front 
of the coop to feed them on. This board may be se¬ 
cured to the coop with leather hinges, so as to admit 
of its being raised up towards evening. This answers 
the double purpose of protecting the chicks against 
the smaller noxious vermin, such as rats, &c., during 
the night, and of preventing them from wandering 
about in the dew and wet grass in the morning. 
Fig 49. 
Mr. Lawrence Smith, a writer in the Cultivator, 
says: “ The above cut is a coop of my invention. A, 
A, slats raised for admitting the hens; B, B, doors to 
open and shut at night, to prevent the intrusion of any 
kind of vermin ; C, button for fastening the door.”— 
Poulterer's Companion. 
