236 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
A Cheap Poultry House- 
A correspondent “Lex.,” contributes the ac¬ 
companying description of his poultry house. 
“ The building (Fig. 1) is 8 by 12 feet on the 
ground—the side walls 9 feet high to the eaves. 
A partition runs lengthwise through the middle, 
from the ground up to a lloor which covers all 
the interior, at the bight of 7 feet. Two doors 
in the gable end open, respectively, into the 
two rooms thus formed. There are two tiers of 
nests, containing ten in each, all of which are 
movable boxes or drawers, so placed as to slide 
freely through the partition, from one room into 
the other. The right hand, or “ laying room,” has 
an ordinary opening through which the hens 
have ready ingress and egress, but the “ sitting 
room ” is closed to all but the “ sitting mem¬ 
bers” and their human visitors. In this room, 
supplies of food and water are constantly kept, 
accessible to the sitting hens. Above the floor, 
or in the second story, are the roosting poles, to 
which access is had from the outside, as repre¬ 
sented in fig. 1. The sectional outline (fig. 2) 
will illustrate the interior construction. 
Whenever a hen takes possession of a nest in 
the laying room, manifesting a disposition to 
sit, the requisite number of eggs are placed un¬ 
der her, and her nest is pushed through the par¬ 
tition into the sitting room. Here she finds her¬ 
self in a state of contented seclusion for the 
term of incubation. No rash removal from the 
nest of her choice here disturbs her maternal 
calculations. No ambitious layer molests her 
peaceful possession. Does she desire refresh¬ 
ment, solid or fluid ? She has only to hop down 
to the floor of her apartment, where her wants 
are speedily satisfied, without a tedious search 
over the barn-yard, involving much peril to her 
neglected charge. When other hens, by similar 
process, have become occupants of the same 
apartment, there is still but one hen to each 
nest therein, and though they may sometimes 
change about, no nest will ever be left unoccu¬ 
pied. When hatching occurs, the mother and 
brood being removed, the nest box is taken out 
into the yard, where the straw is fired with a 
match, and suffered to burn until the sides of the 
box are slightly charred. This destroys all ves¬ 
tiges of vermin, incipient or otherwise, and 
leaves the drawer to be re-placed in its prop¬ 
er position, sweet and clean for a new nest. 
Of the roosting place above, with the inter¬ 
vening floor, it is sufficient to say that, while 
the lower apartments are free from the drop¬ 
pings and easily kept clean, an abundant sup¬ 
ply of “ guano ” is furnished where it can be 
raked out by the bushel, from time to time, for 
use in the garden and elsewhere. Both sides are 
open the entire length of the building, and the 
hens enter by steps provided for the pur 
pose. I have just forty hens. The}' have 
thus far (June 1st) hatched out three 
hundred chickens, fifty turkeys, fifteen 
ducks, and five Guinea-fowls, besides 
keeping us furnished with plenty of fresh 
eggs for table use and cooking, for eleven 
in family. I shall be much disappointed 
if my liens do not raise, say from seven 
hundred to a thousand chickens ere the 
season closes. The number of hens and 
capacity of hen-house, as herein describ¬ 
ed, seem very suitably adapted to each 
other, since there has, all along, usually 
been about one half the number of nests 
employed in either apartment. I add 
nothing in this connection on the sub¬ 
ject of raising chickens after they are 
hatched, since I have merely followed the old 
beaten track, and sustained about the usual per 
centage of loss from barn-yard accidents, etc. 
I have had better success with poultry this sea¬ 
son than any of my neighbors, and believe the 
results due to my hen-house. It may be that 
your Eastern readers with their superior appli¬ 
ances, will find little in it to commend. But I 
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Fig. 2—SECTIONAL VIEW 
write from the “Far West,” where the numer¬ 
ous readers of the Agriculturist will find more 
interest in simplicity and cheapness of construc¬ 
tion, with fair results, than in elaborate and ex¬ 
pensive plans which promise fabulous profits.” 
Great International Wheat Show. 
A great International Wheat Show will be 
held at Rochester, N. Y., September 8tli, 9tli, 
and 10th, under the auspices of the Monroe 
County Agricultural Society. The following 
premiums are offered : 
For tlie Best 20 Bushels of White Winter Wheat. $150 00 
For the Second Best do do 75 00 
For the Best 20 Bustiels Red Winter Wheat. 100 00 
For the Second Best do do 50 00 
For the Best 2 Bushels White Winter Wheat. 50 00 
For the Second Best do do 25 00 
For the Best 2 Bushels Red Winter Wheat. 40 00 
For the Second Best do do 20 00 
For the Best 2 Bushels Spring Wheat. 20 00 
For the Second Best do do 10 00 
Competitors for these Prizes will be required 
to furnish samples of the wheat in the ear and 
with the straw attached, (say 50 ears of wheat 
and straw), also to furnish a written statement 
of the nature of the soil on which the wheat 
grew, method of cultivation, time of sowing, 
quantity of seed sown, manures (if any used,) 
and mode and time of application; also the 
time of ripening and harvesting, and the yield 
per acre, with such other particulars as may be 
deemed of practical importance; also the name 
by which the variety is known in the locality 
where it was grown. 
The Wheat must be one variety, pure and 
unmixed. The prize to be awarded to the ac¬ 
tual grower of the wheat, and the wheat which 
takes a prize to be the property of the Society. 
It is hoped that farmers in all sections of the 
United States and Canada, who have good sam¬ 
ples of wheat, will compete for these Prizes. 
We have never yet had a good Wheat Show in 
the United States. It is highly important that 
the wheat growers of the country should meet 
together and compare samples of wheat raised 
in different sections. We understand that the 
money for these premiums has been raised by 
subscription, among the friends of Agriculture 
in Western New-York, and the time of holding 
the Fair has been fixed so as to enable farmers 
to purchase their seed from the wheat entered 
for competition. A change of seed is always 
desirable, and it is believed that all the wheat 
of good quality sent to the fair, will find pur¬ 
chasers at a high price. Full particulars of 
the Exhibition can be obtained by addressing 
the President of the Society, .Joseph Harris, 
Editor of Genesee Farmer, Rochester, N. Y. 
We take great pleasure in calling especial at¬ 
tention to this notice. A movement of this 
kind, if properly sustained by wheat growers, 
will be of incalculable benefit by bringing prom¬ 
inently before them the best varieties of this 
grain, and placing desirable sorts within their 
reach. The character of those having the en- 
terprize in hand, is such that contributors may 
rely with the utmost confidence in their ability 
and,fair dealing as judges. Let there be a full 
response from all parts of the country. 
Chicken Pox. 
A subscriber in New Brunswick, N. J., writes 
to the Agriculturist as follows : “I noticed a re¬ 
mark signed “ J. E. R.” in regard to the disease 
in his chickens called chicken pox. I had some 
30 hens sick with it last year, and only lost two. 
I first washed their heads in warm water until 
their eyes were open, and then fed them with 
Indian meal boiled with powdered charcoal and 
flowers of sulphur—as strong as they would 
eat it. It is unnecessary to say my sick hens 
were separated from my well ones. Parties 
who keep a large stock of hens, said I should 
kill and eat the rest of mine before they were 
taken sick, as I could not get rid of the disease 
without a new stock and hen-house, but as my 
fowls were Spanish and Leghorns, I did not 
feel like killing them. 
-— -- — —> —- 
Notes on the Scale Louse and Cut Worm. 
A correspondent of the Agriculturist , “ J.” 
writes as follows: “ I have had scale lice com¬ 
pletely cover the trunks and main branches of 
the thriftiest pear and apple trees, in two years. 
Thin soft soap (not suds) applied with a paint 
brush has never failed to kill them. They will 
turn black in a few days and finally drop ofl' 
themselves. I have practised it for five years 
without a 'failure and with no injury to the 
trees. You recommend to “ look after the cab¬ 
bages early.” Last season I did look after them 
early in the morning, and was accustomed to 
find 5 or 6 each day, (out of about 50 plants) 
eaten off. I used the “ only remedy,” searched 
for and found the rascal, but killing after he 
had destroyed the plant was but the satisfaction 
