268 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
lawn. As the tide-gate presents the main diffi¬ 
culty to those who are thinking of making this 
improvement, we give a particular description. 
A B 
• fi 
Fig. 2. 
B As the object 
to exclude water from without, there must be 
a water-tight flume or trunk in which, or against 
which, the gate swings. Fig. 1, represents the 
side elevation of this flume, ten feet long and 
five high. This crosses through the embank¬ 
ment or dike, and must be made water-tight on 
the outside by a framing of plank, and by pack¬ 
ing some tenacious earth—clay, or clayey soil— 
around it—called in engineering, puddling. 
The gate, C, is suspended from the top of the 
uprights A. B., the hinge being the cross piece. 
Fig. 3 shows the bottom of the flume, and the 
manner in which the planks are spiked on to the 
frame. The side elevation shows the gate as 
pressed outward by the current, when the tide 
is falling. When the tide rises the gate is press¬ 
ed from c to d, where a strip of plank is nailed 
at the bottom and sides of the flume, at d , mak¬ 
ing, as nearly as possible, a water-tight joint 
when the gate is closed. The planking is merely 
jointed or rabbeted together; all else is left in 
the rough. The material for the whole is chest¬ 
nut. The sills, caps, and posts are 3x4 inch 
stuff, the gate posts 4x6, and the gallows posts 
2x3. Two inch planking is used for sides, bot¬ 
tom and gale. The cost for lumber and carpen¬ 
ter should not exceed fifteen dollars. This thick¬ 
ness and size of material is enough for a tide- 
gate, where the rise and fall is not over six feet. 
The higher the tide rises, the stronger the gate, 
flume and dike should be made. 
The embankment here is made in the follow¬ 
ing manner: First a ditch is opened along the 
line of the dike two feet -wide, and going down 
to the hard pan, which in this marsh is about 
three feet below the surface. The sod taken 
from the ditch is placed grass side out, for the 
outer wall of the dike, making a terrace two feet 
high along the whole line. The rest of the con¬ 
tents of the ditch are piled up against the sod, to 
strengthen it. The ditch thus cleaned out is 
filled with yellow loam or any clayey soil, and 
packed hard with a rammer to make it imper¬ 
vious to the water. A bank of the same mate¬ 
rial is raised above the top of the ditch some 
eighteen inches, and packed in the same manner. 
Four or five feet from the inside line of this 
ditch another is dug four feet wide. The sod is 
taken for the inside wall of the dike, and to fin¬ 
ish up the outer wall. The contents are also 
put upon the embankment. The whole is fin¬ 
ished off with gravel, or any convenient soil, on 
top, making a fine walk. By enlarging the di¬ 
mensions of the dike, it may be made a carriage- 
drive or oart-path, with decided advantage to 
Fig. 1. 
its solidity. As nearly all the material ;for the 
embankment is found upon the spot, the ex¬ 
pense is much less than one would suppose. 
The cost does not exceed two and a half dollars 
a rod. One of the advantages of this kind of 
embankment is that it grows stronger with 
time. The turf upon the outside being washed 
with the tide, soon knits together by the growth 
of the marine grasses, and presents all the at¬ 
tractions of a green terrace. It should not be 
forgotten that the width and hight of the dike 
must always be proportioned to the hight of the 
tides. In some places an embankment six feet 
high and ten feet across will be none too strong 
to resist the pressure of the high tides. As the 
whole success of reclaiming these marshes 
hinges upon the permanence of the embankment 
and of the tide-gate, no pains or expense should 
be spared at these points necessary to secure 
good materials and thoroughness of construction. 
We are glad to learn that the hints thrown 
out by this journal upon this improvement have 
been very highly appreciated, and that these 
waste lands are beginning to absorb some of 
the spare capital of our farmers upon the coast. 
No class of lands present a more inviting field 
for industry, or offer a surer prospect of reward. 
commodate 20 hens at least, and we think 40 as 
well as not. Each hen will then have aboot 
6 square feet of floor room; and if the room is 
8 feet high, 48 cubic feet each, which is equiva¬ 
lent to a coop 3 feet 7 inches square and of the 
same hight. We would not keep more than 40 
or 50 hens in the same apartment. It is much 
Some Hints about Hen-Houses. 
The profit of a good hen-house is realized in 
the winter. All hens will lay in the Spring and 
more or less in the Summer and Autumn, but 
only these which have warm, well lighted, 
comfortable, well ventilated houses will lay in 
the Winter. The present is a favorable time 
of the year to put up a hen-house, or alter over, 
repair, whitewash, and put in order old ones. 
In order to succeed with poultry, they must be 
clean, well fed, have comfortable roosts and nest 
boxes, warm but well ventilated quarters, and 
yard room. They may not be too crowded, nor 
subject to scares, or handling. Neither may 
great numbers be kept together. For the com¬ 
fort of the poultry-man things must be conve¬ 
niently arranged. And to gratify his taste all 
should be architecturally appropriate and hand¬ 
some. Expensiveness is not an element of beau¬ 
ty, and particularly in things of straight-forward 
practical utility. To most minds it detracts from 
the enjoyment of an otherwise excellent struc¬ 
ture. Some natural, simple ornamentation is well. 
The amount of space to be allowed to each 
hen is variously estimated. If the house be 12 
feet deep from front to rear, and the hens have a 
good yard, there may surely be as many hens 
kept as the house is feet long, and in our opinion 
twice as many. That is, a 12x20 house,will ac- | 
Fig. 2—PLAN -FOR A HEN-HOUSE. 
Explanations.—A, ash-box; D, door; infeed boxes; O, 
glazed windows; H. hole for ingress and egress of hens; N, 
nest boxes; E, roosting ladders—the one with short rounds 
fixed, the other hinged upon it, and capable of being lifted 
up horizontal in hot weather; on one end of tills is a cleat- 
ladder, to be put under when the ladder is in a horizontal 
position. The dotted shading under the ladders represents 
the muck on which the droppings fall, and are composted, 
better to divide them and prevent communica¬ 
tion entirely. When too large numbers of hens 
are confined together, dis¬ 
ease in various forms almost 
always breaks out among 
them, destroying the profits. 
The hen-house must also be 
light. It can not be too light. 
The cut we give of the poul¬ 
try-house put up by Mr. Be- 
ment, the famous poultry- 
man, for Mr. Vassar of Po’- 
keepsie, has the entire front 
of glass, even to the peak of 
the roof. It is frequently 
convenient to adapt room in 
the barn or some out-house 
or shed to a hennery. This 
is often better than building 
a separate structure, for 
it is warmer, and easier 
reached in stormy weath¬ 
er. The best floor for a hen-house is a ce¬ 
ment one, in which there is an abundance of 
small stones. In a hen-house 20x12 and 8 feet 
high, there should be on the floor a dust box to 
contain ashes, which should be about 6x2£ feet, 
and a foot deep; a tier of nest boxes extending 
Fig. 3—A WATER FOUNTAIN. 
across one end or on the back side of the room, 
one foot wide and ten feet long; a feeding box 
or two which would occupy about 3 square feet 
each; a water trough or fountain taking two 
