150 
AMEEIOA aEIO rJLTUEIST. 
[April, 
Poultry House in Sections. 
A. WOOD, E. I. 
• The Poultry House, shown in figures 1, 2 and 3, 
is designed to have a central building, with as 
Fig. 1.— FRONT OF POULTRY HOUSE. 
many sections added on each side as may be re¬ 
quired by the wants and circumstances of the 
owner. The estimates given below show that the 
central building will cost $59.97, and each added 
seetion, $33.72. As indicated in figures 1 and 2, 
the glass fronts of the sections lean back at the 
top, and the front roof follows the same angle, the 
sash sliding up between the rafters.—The main 
room, twelve feet square, with eight-foot posts, is 
for storing and preparing food, etc., dressing poul¬ 
try, packing eggs, and may contain an incubator. 
One section might be kept for a hatching room. 
The house and sections should face the south or 
south-east, and its rear be against or into a bank 
when practicable. The elevation shows brick un¬ 
derpinning ; stone would be cheaper in some lo¬ 
calities, as would be plain matched pine or plain 
boards and battens, instead of clapboards.—Cheap¬ 
er ventilators may be provided, but looks are worth 
a little.—There is a platform under the roosts, 
from which the droppings are collected in the alley- 
way, and this should be done daily in winter. The 
partitions between the alley and the roosting room 
are of two inch slats. The roosts should be hinged 
and hook up for convenience in cleaning. The 
flooring of the sections is of fine gravel. Water 
can be conveniently supplied to the entire range by 
an inch pipe, with a place on each section, two feet 
Fig. 2.— END VIEW OF POULTRY HOUSE. 
long and four inches in diameter, open at the top 
as a drinking trough ; the water to be regulated 
by a floating valve in the supply tank.—The houses 
can be warmed by hot-air pipes from the main 
building, sunk in the gravel. The water supply 
pipe, if laid along these, will be kept from freezing. 
There should be connected with each section a yard 
of the same width (ten feet) and fifty feet long. 
The cost of each yard would be about thirteen 
dollars and thirty-nine cents; that is, thirteen posts, 
at ten cents; one hundred and forty-six feet of two 
by four inch joists, two dollars and thirty-four 
cents ; three hundred and twenty- 
five feet of two inch slats, eight 
feet long, six dollars and a half: 
nails and labor, three dollars and 
a quarter. There ought not to be 
over fifteen fowls in each sec¬ 
tion, and they would do better 
with only eight in a seetion. The 
estimate for a section and its yard 
is forty-seven dollars and eleven 
cents, or with paint, say fifty dol¬ 
lars. Ten per cent, on this, or 
five dollars per annum, would he 
fifty cents a year each if only ten 
fowls he kept in a section, adding 
pro rata for the expense of the 
central building. Any experienced 
poultry raiser will readily admit 
that the product of fowls thus kept 
separate, with abundant yard room, 
would be far greater than the cost. 
Estimate for the Main or Central Buildine. 
Timber: 109 feet off by4 inch, for sills and posts ; 
120 feet of 2 by six inch for floor, joists and plates: 130 
feet of 3 by 4 inch for studs, girts, etc.; total, 865 feet 
spruce @ $16 per M. $5.84 
ire feet spruce flooring, $3.85; 240 feet hemlock roof¬ 
ing, $3.36; 500 feet matched pine, $12.50; 2,500 shingles 
@^.25 per M., $8.12. 27.83 
3X cords stone work, $3.50; 1 foot 8 inch cement stone 
chimney top and pipe complete, $5.80. 9.30 
2 windows, $4.00 ; 1 dooi, $2; 2 hinges, $1. 7.00 
Carpenter work and nails. 10.00 
Total, (without painting).... $59.97 
Eastern Colorado, and removing the aridity of that 
region, just as the Gulf winds passing up the Ohio 
Valley deposit their moisture on the western slope 
of the Alleghanies, thereby producing the great 
floods of which we often have an illustration. 
The facts are as follows : Winds of the Paeifle 
are by tbe coast range elevated, cooled, and robbed 
of much of their moisture ; they then pass over 
the great basin in an absorptive condition, taking 
up moisture; hence the aridity of the region of 
Salt Lake. Again more highly elevated in passing 
up over the Rockies, with reduction of tempera¬ 
ture, they become rain producers on their western 
face. After erossing the crest they are lowered in 
position, with increased temperature, and become 
absorptive winds, taking up much moisture from 
the eastern part of Colorado and from Western 
Kansas. Passing eastward toward the Mississippi 
Valley, they come in contact with the warm, moist 
Gulf winds, reducing the absorptive power of the 
latter (the mingling of the two often producing 
cyclones); their excess of moisture is deposited, 
and continues to be progressively deposited as the 
mingled air is elevated in passing up the west flank 
of the Alleghanies. East of these mountains there 
is no arid region like that east of the Rockies, 
merely because of its proximity to the Atlantic 
ocean, and of the Gulf storms passing northeast 
parallel to the coast. S. Huston. 
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Fig. 3. —GROUND PLAN OP POULTRY HOUSE 
Estimate for Ea,ch Section. 
40 feet of 4 by 4 inch for sills ; 4 rafters 2 by 6 inch by 
11 feet, and 4 bv 9 feet for front (80 feet); 46 feet of 
3 by 4 inch stud'ding and girts. Total, 176 feet spruce 
timber ® $16 per M. $2.82 
140 feet hemlock rooting boards. 1.96 
1,500 shingles @$3.25 per M. 4.87 
50 feet roost slats, $1.00 ; 1 pair hinges, 50c. 1.50 
3 sash @$2.25, $6.75: ventilator, $5.0!)—. 11.75 
4 cords of stone work, @$1.00. 4.00 
Carpenter work and nails. 7.00 
Total, per section, (without paint).$33.90 
Errors and Facts in Meteorology. 
The communication (January American Agricul¬ 
turist, p. 12) entitled ‘’Do Trees Increase Rain¬ 
fall ?” contains some valuable arguments, but 
some of its teaebing is likely to give wrong impres¬ 
sions. A supposed wind is referred to as passing 
from the Atlantic westward, and crossing the 
Rocky Mountains. It is well known to all stu¬ 
dents of meteorology that no wind at our latitude 
blowing from the Atlantic passes over those moun¬ 
tains. Storm centers, or areas of low barometer, 
within the United States almost universally travel 
eastward, tending to the north, rarely going to the 
south and never to the west. No trade winds pass 
westward over the United States. All other winds 
flow to areas of low barometer to feed the updraft. 
Alow barometer in Ohio draws to its center, with 
a spiral motion, air from all sides, and its influence 
is often so great as to affect by its indraft the air on 
tbe Atlantic coast; but, a lovv center over or west 
of the Rocky Mountains can never exert sufficient 
power to carry any air from the Atlantic so far 
westward. Suppose his proposition possible. 
Then the moist air from the Atlantic, but partially 
robbed of its moisture by the Alleghanies, after 
crossing the Mississippi, would be elevated ; this 
elevation would reduce its temperature, and there¬ 
fore its absorptive power, thus causing part of its 
moisture to fall as rain on Western Kansas and 
One Currant Bush. 
Have you, farmer, or any one else who has the 
land, an abundance of currants ? There should be 
on every farm at least a sufficient number of 
bushes to afford all tbe currants the family can 
use, and if one resides near a town or 
village it will be well to have a few more 
to carry to market.—“ Can’t bother with 
picking currants,” doyou say ? The girls 
will pick them, and you can take them, 
and mind, don’t forget to bring the girls 
the money for which they sold. But be¬ 
fore selling a currant, there should be an 
abundant supply for the family, not only 
through the fruiting season but through 
■ the winter. The fresh frait is most ac¬ 
ceptable and refreshing ; it is true that its acidity 
needs to be modified by sugar, but sugar is food, and 
it is cheaper to buy sugar than medicines, and sugar¬ 
ed currants are healthful. For the w’inter, currants 
may be canned and made into jelly, easily the best 
of all jellies. A dozen bushes, w’hen in full bear¬ 
ing, will yield currants enough for a family of 
moderate size. If fruit is to be marketed, two or 
three dozen or even a hundred bushes will be 
needed. Don’t set a few bushes and leave to the 
family the fruit that is not marketed. Currant 
bushes can be bought for about fifty cents a dozen. 
If even this moderate outlay is not convenient, a 
single bush can be bought for ten cents, or if sent 
by mail for fifteen cents, and with one bush there 
is hardly any limit to the number that may be 
raised from it in a few years. In behalf of the 
family and future possible profit we say, get one 
currant bush, at least, and as many more as can be 
afforded. As to kinds, the Versailles for red, and 
White Gr.ape for white, are standard varieties; 
there are other and more costly kinds. If both 
cannot be planted take red instead of white. The 
bushes, few or many, should be planted in good 
soil, not against a fence as wc often see them, but 
where they will have air and light, and where one 
can go all around to cultivate them and to pick the 
fruit. Set the bushes five feet apart in rich garden 
soil, and at the approach of warm weather cover 
the soil over the roots with straw or other mulch. 
As dealers differ in their treatment of the bushes 
before they send them out, it is difficult to say 
whether they should be pruned at planting or not. 
If the bushes do not appear to have been trimmed 
it will be well to cut away from one half to two 
thirds of the stems. If blossoms appear, it will be 
better for the future of the bush to pick them off. 
How to make many bushes of one and what to do 
with the bushes after they have made a season’s 
growth, will be attended to at the proper time. 
Our present object is to have a beginning made. 
