67 
boys’ department. 
Bogs’ ^Department. 
POULTRY FEEDING FOUNTAINS. 
Our young readers will recollect that we gave 
them a cut (fig. 7) of one of these fountains in our 
_ast No., and promised them a description of it. 
Here it is : 
It can be made to contain any quantity of grain 
required, and none wasted. When once filled it 
requires no more trouble, as the grain falls into the 
receiver below as the fowls pick it away ; and the 
covers on that which are opened by the perches 
(the principles of which we do not understand), and 
the cover on the top, protect the grain from rain, 
so that the fowls always get it quite dry; and as 
nothing less than the weight of a hen on the perch 
can lift the cover on the lower receiver, rats and 
mice (which are very troublesome when grain is 
fed in the ordinary way) are excluded. It is aston¬ 
ishing, too, with what facility the fowls learn to 
leap upon the perches, and so open the cover of the 
receiver, which presents the grain to their view 
and within their reach. On their leaving the 
porch or platform, the door, either by a spring or 
weight, closes at once. 
From that figure Mr. Bement says he had one 
constructed, of which the following cuts are a fair 
representation. 
i : 
i 
Fig. 15. 
This feeding hopper, as 
may be seen in fig. 15, is 
four square, two feet each 
way—posts eighteen inches 
long and two inches square. 
The upper section of the box 
is six inches deep, and the 
sides are morticed into or 
nailed to the posts. From 
the bottom of this square the 
Fig. 16. slanting part or tunnel reach¬ 
es to within half an inch of the floor, which should 
be six inches from the ground; the tunnel tapeis 
from two to one foot; and in order to bring the 
grain within reach of the fowls, a cone (fig. 16, A, is 
a section) is placed in the centre, as much smaller 
than the hopper as to leave half an inch space all 
around, which conducts the grain to the edge, 
where, as the fowls pick the grain away, more will 
fall, and keep a constant supply as long as any 
is left in the hopper. The slats on the sides pre¬ 
vent the fowls from getting in or crowding one 
another. This fountain will hold two bushels or 
more of grain, and protects it from wet and in a 
measure from rats. It occupies but little room, and 
from sixteen to twenty fowls can feed at the same 
time. 
To protect the grain more effectually from rata 
and mice, we would suggest that the posts be made 
some two feet longer, and a platform of boards 
about one foot wide, placed round and fitted close 
up to the bottom, so that mice cannot climb up the 
posts and get in. This platform will be necessary 
for them to stand on when eating.— Amer. Poult. 
Companion. 
THE MEMORY. 
The head has been often compared to a store¬ 
house, and a very fit emblem it is. A storehouse 
when first huilt is empty, and ready to receive all 
kinds of goods, some precious, and some totally 
worthless; and very often it stands without much 
of anything in it, in which case it is worth little or 
nothing to the owner; at other times it may be so 
lumbered up with different kinds of goods as to 
render it difficult to get at what you want—there is 
no order or arrangement within the walls. Some 
there are whose heads seem to be like an old garret, 
full of everything but what is useful; how impor¬ 
tant then for a boy when young to store his head 
with that which is useful, by disciplining his 
thoughts, and let nothing rest in his brain but what 
is calculated to be of future use. Some boys have 
a habit of forgetting everything they are told to do, 
and when asked, will say—“ Oh, I forgot it.” If 
you send them to turn out the horses, they will put 
them into the cow pasture ; if the cows are to be 
turned out, they will surely be turned into the horse 
pasture; the pigs they will put into the poultry 
yard, to eat up all the chickens, ducklings, and 
goslings; and the sheep they will turn into the 
street to be killed by travelling dogs. I once knew 
a boy sent to yoke up a pair of cattle, put the yoke 
on under instead of over the necks of the cattle, and 
then wondered they could not draw well; sent to 
harrow a field of grain, and he was found going 
over it with the teeth up instead of down, and thus 
was the day’s work of himself and team totally lost, 
and the harrow greatly injured. All this was 
owing to carelessness and forgetfulness entirely— 
habits which are extremely injurious to the charac¬ 
ters of too many boys whom I know in my neigh¬ 
borhood. 
Do one thing at a time, and do that properly and 
well. Be quick, but never in a hurry. Always 
pay the strictest attention to orders, and execute 
them to the letter, unless something unforeseen 
should arise, making it improper to do so, and 
which can be satisfactorily explained to your em¬ 
ployer. Be kind and obliging in all your actions, 
and strictly adhere to the truth in all your conver¬ 
sation, and you will be beloved and respected by all. 
This I i.'ave known from long experience, and am 
therefore ,'uxious you should also know it. 
A Fathi®. 
