Title: Practical Farm Buildings - Plans and Suggestions
Author: Hunter, A. F.
Language: English
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                       PRACTICAL FARM BUILDINGS

                         PLANS AND SUGGESTIONS

                            BY A. F. HUNTER

                            [Illustration]

                             PUBLISHED BY
                           F. W. BIRD & SON
                           Established 1817

                        _Mills and Main Office_
                      EAST WALPOLE, MASS., U.S.A.

     _Branch Offices_
           NEW YORK
           CHICAGO
           WASHINGTON
           HAMILTON, ONT.          _Canadian Factory at_
           WINNIPEG, MAN.             HAMILTON, ONT.

        COPYRIGHT, 1905, F. W. BIRD & SON, EAST WALPOLE, MASS.



A FOREWORD


The very cordial appreciation which has met the first edition of our
book, “Practical Farm Buildings,” makes it seem wise to prepare a
larger and more complete book, and we hope you will find some of these
plans and suggestions adapted for your own particular requirements.

Farm-building plans are as variable, almost, as is the individuality
of those building and using them, and in making this selection, we
have been guided by the practical merits of the designs, including
only such as have proved their value by constant use on the farm. In
poultry buildings it has been our special purpose to present plans
which illustrate the marked tendency of recent years, which has been to
open up the houses to sunshine and fresh air; a tendency which makes
conditions more wholesome and promotes the good health and greater
profitableness of the flocks.

Our editor, Mr. Hunter, wishes here to fully acknowledge his
indebtedness to Bulletin No. 16 of the Cornell Reading Course for
Farmers, entitled, “Building Poultry Houses,” also Farmers’ Bulletin
No. 141 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, entitled, “Poultry
Raising on the Farm,” from which he borrows many of the hints and
suggestions here given. Some of the poultry plans are taken, or
adapted, from several poultry periodicals and Experiment Station
Bulletins, and for their kind courtesy our thanks are tendered.

                                               F. W. BIRD & SON.
     EAST WALPOLE, MASS., U. S. A.



PRACTICAL FARM BUILDINGS



1. POULTRY HOUSES


Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 141, says: “Poultry houses need not be elaborate
in their fittings or expensive in construction. There are certain
conditions, however, which should be insisted upon in all cases. In
the first place, the house should be located upon soil which is well
drained and dry. A gravelly knoll is best, but, failing this, the site
should be raised by the use of the plow and scraper until there is
a gentle slope in all directions sufficient to prevent any standing
water even at the wettest times. A few inches of sand or gravel on the
surface will be very useful in preventing the formation of mud. If the
house is sheltered from the north and northwest winds by a group of
evergreens, this will be a decided advantage in the colder parts of the
country.”

In “Building Poultry Houses,” Professor Rice says: “Poultry keeping is
an exacting business. The four corner-stones upon which success rests
are:

    (1) Suitable buildings, properly located.
    (2) The right foods, skilfully fed.
    (3) Good fowls, carefully bred.
    (4) Facility and ability to hatch and rear chickens.”

Here we find that “suitable buildings, properly located,” is the first,
hence most important, of the four corner-stones upon which success with
poultry rests, and in giving the buildings this prominence we believe
the professor is entirely right. No one thing does more to promote, or
hinder, success with poultry than the buildings, hence the importance
of a wise decision as to which of the many different patterns of houses
is best adapted to your purpose.

[Illustration: FIG. 1—A plan to secure dryness.]

_Select a dry location_; if the ground is not naturally dry make
it so by draining it. The first illustration gives a plan for making
the interior of a poultry house absolutely dry, if the ground is fairly
well drained. The foundation walls are built up about eighteen inches
above the ground level; about twelve inches of this space is filled in
with small stones or coarse gravel, and the balance with fine sand or
dry, sandy loam; on the outside the ground is sloped up to the level
of the bottom of the sills, and thus all surface water is effectually
turned away.

[Illustration: FIG. 2—The shape of the roof influences the
cost.]

[Illustration: FIG. 3—Each of these houses require the same
material.]

_In building a hen-house_ the working unit is the floor and air
space required for each hen. A safe working rule is about five to six
square feet of floor space, and about eight to ten cubic feet of air
space for every fowl. Foundation walls should be built deep enough to
prevent heaving by the frost and high enough to prevent surface water
from entering. Where large stones are scarce sometimes grout walls may
be made with gravel or small stones and cement; or the building may
be set upon posts set well into the ground, in which case hemlock or
hard wood boards should be securely nailed to bottom half of sills and
extend down to natural ground level, to exclude rats.

_Dampness is fatal to hens_; build or drain so as to secure
dryness. It is better by far to have a cold, dry house than a warm,
damp house. The warmer the air the more moisture it will hold; when
this moist air comes in contact with a cold surface condensation takes
place, which is often converted into hoar-frost. The remedy is to
remove the moisture as far as possible, by first cutting off the water
from below which comes up from the soil. The water table is the same
under a hen-house as it is outdoors; dirt floors, therefore, are liable
to be damp. Stone filling covered with soil is sometimes difficult to
keep clean and may only partially keep out dampness. Board floors are
short lived if the air is not allowed to circulate under them, and
in a cold climate a free circulation of air under the floors makes
them very cold; in either case they are likely to harbor rats. A good
cement floor is nearly as cheap as a good matched-board floor, counting
lumber, sleepers, nails, time, etc. When once properly made it is good
for all time. It is practically rat-proof, easily cleaned and perfectly
dry, cutting off absolutely all the water from below. If covered with a
little soil, or straw, or both, as all floors should be, it will be a
warm floor.

_A low house is easier warmed than a high one._ Solid walls
radiate heat rapidly. The best way to make a poultry house warm is to
build it as low as possible without danger of bumping heads. There
will then be ample air-space for as many fowls as the floor space will
accommodate. Too much air-space makes a house cold; it cannot be warmed
by the heat given off by the fowls.

_Sunlight is a necessity to fowls_; it carries warmth and good
cheer, and tends to arrest or prevent disease. Too much glass makes
a house too cold at night and too warm in the daytime, because glass
gives off heat at night as readily as it collects it in the daytime.
Much glass makes construction expensive; allow one square foot glass
surface to about sixteen square feet floor space, if the windows are
properly placed. The windows should be high, and placed up and down,
not horizontally and low (Fig. 4). In the former the sunlight passes
over the entire floor during the day, from west to east, drying and
purifying practically the whole interior. The time sunshine is most
needed is when the sun is lowest, from September 21 to March 21. The
lines in Fig. 4 represent the extreme points which the sunshine reaches
during this period, with the top of a four-foot window placed four
feet, six feet, and seven feet high, respectively. With the highest
point of the window at four feet, the direct sun’s rays would never
reach farther back than nine feet; at six feet it would shine thirteen
and one-half feet back, and at seven feet it would strike the back side
of the house one foot above the floor.

[Illustration: FIG. 4—Showing extent of sun’s rays.]

_Make the yards long and narrow_ (Fig. 5). Double yards are
desirable where space can be given for them; they allow a rotation of
green crops, which cleanses and sweetens the ground, and converts the
excrement which would become a source of danger into a valuable food
crop. The shape of the fields, the slope of the land, and the location
of other farm buildings will have much to do with the shape of the yards
and mode of access to the poultry buildings. Generally the yards should
be long and narrow, so as to make cultivation easy. Two rods wide and
eight rods long is a good size yard for forty or fifty hens, although
more room would be better. This size permits a row of fruit trees in
the center for shade, which is a necessity.

Much of the dampness in poultry houses in winter is due to the
condensation of the breath of the fowls. The warm air exhaled from the
lungs is heavily charged with moisture, and this, coming in contact
with the cold roof and walls, is condensed into hoar-frost, which melts
and drops to the floor when the house is warmed up by the sun. In
recent years considerable success has attended efforts made to prevent
this moisture by ventilating the pens through muslin curtains set into
the tops of doors, or forming a part of the front wall (see plans of
Dr. Bricault’s poultry house, page 12, and of the Maine Experiment
Station House, page 18), also by setting the curtains into part of the
window spaces. In Fig. 6 is given an illustration of an experiment
tried on the Lone Oak Poultry Farm, Reading, Mass., in the winters of
1904-6. Being much annoyed by the moisture which collected on the roof
and walls in the night and, melting, dropped to the floor when the
sun warmed the roof and walls during the day, frames the size of one
fourth of each window were made and common muslin tacked on. To better
ascertain the effect of the curtains the windows in house No. 1 were
left closed, as formerly; in house No. 2 the top sash was dropped the
length of one light and a curtain set into the space; in house No.
3 the windows were dropped from the top and raised from the bottom,
curtains being set into both spaces. In house No. 1 the dampness and
“chill” remained as before; in house No. 2 there was some improvement;
in house No. 3 there was a great improvement, and the temperature,
in the coldest days of the winter, was about six degrees warmer in
house No. 3 than in house No. 1 where the windows were all kept closed
tight. The two curtains, making half the space of each window, were not
quite sufficient to dry out the moisture, which had already got well
established, but by installing the curtains both top and bottom as soon
as the weather dropped below freezing the next fall, they were found to
be ample to keep the pens well ventilated and quite dry.

[Illustration: FIG. 5—Make the yards long and narrow.]

[Illustration: FIG. 6—An experiment with curtains in the windows.]

Secure shelter and warmth by building in the lee of a windbreak or a
hill, or of other farm buildings. Buildings that face the south, or
about two points east of south, will get the largest amount of exposure
to the sun’s rays and protection from the cold northwest and west winds
of winter; other things being equal they will be warmer, dryer, and
more cheerful. An eastern exposure is usually preferable to a western
exposure, barring prevailing winds being from the east; because, like
flowers, hens prefer morning to afternoon sun.

The shape of the roof of a poultry house greatly influences the cost,
and, generally speaking, the preference should be for houses with
single-span (or “shed”) roofs. See Figs. 2 and 3. These houses are the
easiest and cheapest to build, they give the much-desired vertical
front, with room for the windows to be placed high to distribute the
winter sunshine (Fig. 4), and with the drip of the roof all carried off
to the north the ground in front of the house is dry. It also is cooler
in summer, as it is not exposed to the direct rays of the sun, and is
warmer in winter because it gets the direct rays of the sun.

[Illustration: FIG. 7—An implement house adapted for poultry.]

Not infrequently there are small buildings on the place which can be
easily and economically adapted to poultry use; as, for example, an old
implement house, or grain house, or tool shed, which can be altered
into a one or two pen-house, as desired, by arranging windows and doors
and adding one or two open-front scratching-sheds for exercise and
fresh air (Figs. 7 and 10). In case there is no building suitable for
remodelling into a poultry house an inexpensive lean-to may be built
onto the south end of the stable (Fig. 9). A house of this kind can
be simply, economically, and conveniently built, and well supplies
the conditions for successful poultry keeping; we recently visited a
dairy and poultry farm in Connecticut where house room for one hundred
and fifty head of laying-breeding stock had been built in the lee of
and annexed to the dairy barns and sheds. A good prepared roofing,
such as “Paroid,” makes quite shallow and low lean-to roofs easy of
construction, both air and water-tight, and very durable.

Sometimes a dweller in the suburbs, or one living on a small, rented
place, wants to keep a flock of fifteen or twenty head of fowls, to
supply the family with fresh-laid eggs during the fall, winter, and
spring, and then fresh poultry meat for the table; these are all
disposed of before the family goes away to the country or seashore for
the summer, and another flock of well-matured pullets is bought in the
fall. For such purpose the small portable house shown in Fig. 12, or
one of the several patterns of “colony-houses” given herein, will serve
excellently; all of these colony-houses are portable. A good size of
house of this kind is ten feet long by seven feet wide, six feet high
in front and four feet six inches high at the back; or for a flock of
eight or ten fowls eight feet long by five or six feet wide will answer
well. Houses of this type are built of a size to suit the builder, and
they can be easily moved to a new location at any time.

Excellent patterns of small poultry houses, well adapted to the
suburban lot or for moving out into the orchard on a farm, are shown on
pages 8 and 9; these “colony” houses have proved their merits in many
different localities. They are especially valuable on a farm, where it
is desired to locate a flock of half-grown chicks out in the stubble of
a newly-cut grain field, or colonies of chicks along the border of a
cornfield, or on a poultry farm where extra room is needed for surplus
stock and cockerels which are to be sold for breeding purposes. A solid
board floor enables shutting the birds in at night and keeping them in
until the team has drawn them to the new location in the morning; it
also secures the birds against marauding animals at night, if the slide
door has been closed. For convenience of drawing to a new location it
is best to have them mounted on low runners.

[Illustration: FIG. 8—Ground Plan.]

An excellent plan of colony-house is given in Figs. 14 and 15, and
comes from the Connecticut Experiment Station; this combines the
advantages of the curtained-front scratching-shed with that of the
small colony-house. This house is sixteen feet long by six feet wide,
is six feet high in front and four feet high at the rear; the roosting
apartment being 7 × 6 feet and the scratching-shed 9 × 6 feet in size.
A muslin curtain 4 × 8 feet, tacked to a light frame which is hinged
to the top of open space, closes the front on cold nights and is kept
closed in stormy weather.

On page 17 we show a type of colony-house which is well adapted for a
portable brooder house, an “in-door” brooder being placed in each end
and fifty to seventy-five chicks being put in each brooder. When the
chicks are large enough to do without artificial warmth the brooders
are removed, the chicks being left till such time as it is well to
separate the sexes, when the cockerels can be removed and the pullets
left to grow to laying maturity. On page 42 we show an illustration of
thirty of this pattern of colony brooder house in use on the “Gowell
Poultry Farm,” Orono, Maine; a few over four thousand chickens were
put into these thirty portable houses in the spring of 1905, nineteen
hundred and eighty-five cockerels were sold off as broilers, some
sixty more raised for breeding males, and a few over two thousand
mature pullets taken from them in October and moved into the 400 feet
long poultry house which had been erected during the summer. When the
pullets were occupying them, in midsummer, they were turned about to
face north and lifted up to about a foot and a half height above the
ground by stones about a foot in height being put under the ends of the
runners; this gave the pullets the much-needed shade of both the inside
and underneath the house, a simple device, but decidedly helpful.

In Fig. 11 we show a type of colony-house such as used on the large
colony poultry farms about Tiverton and Little Compton, R. I. These are
usually about ten by sixteen feet in size, six feet high to the eaves
when built with double-pitch roof, seven feet high in front and five
feet at back when shed roof. These houses are very simple in plan and
construction, there being three roost-poles about three feet above the
ground at the back, five or six nest boxes, food trough, water dish
and hopper for shells and grit. The houses hold about forty fowls, are
placed about a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet apart in locations
convenient to drive to with the feed and water-wagon, and on some of
the large farms as many as fifty to a hundred of these colony-houses
may be seen. The capital needed to equip a colony farm of this kind is
very much less than where long houses and yards are erected; the labor
charge of caring for the flocks is very much greater, however, so that
what is saved in capital is expended in labor.

[Illustration: FIG. 9—A lean-to poultry house.]

[Illustration: FIG. 10—Implement house with scratching-shed attached.]

Poultry farmers in America have generally preferred the
continuous-house plan of keeping fowls, and the resulting poisoned
ground of the yards has no doubt been the cause of many a failure in
the poultry business. An eminent English lecturer is authority for the
statement that the portable-house plan has been the saving of the
poultry business in England, and bringing the small (portable) houses
together near the other small buildings in winter, then moving them to
convenient locations out in the fields in the spring, has solved the
difficulty of extensive poultry farming over there. It would be well to
carefully consider these points while taking up the continuous-house
plans which we give in following pages.

An objection to the scattered “colony-house” plan, as seen on the large
poultry farms in Tiverton and Little Compton, R. I., has been the great
labor of feeding two or three times a day—one of the feeds being a
cooked mash. By adopting the modern method of feeding the food dry and
keeping a supply of food constantly before the fowls a considerable
saving in labor is effected, and it is practicable to successfully
keep a large number with but one visit a day to the several flocks;
this would be an afternoon visit, for rinsing and refilling the
water fountains and collecting the eggs. By having the food-hoppers
sufficiently capacious to hold a supply of food for a week but one
visit a week would be made for filling them.

This is the method adopted on the Vernon Fruit and Poultry Farm,
Vernon, Conn., where some three thousand head of layers are kept, the
food-hoppers being refilled once a week; as there is a little brook and
numerous springs convenient to the houses no watering whatever is done,
each flock of fowls having but fifty to two hundred feet to journey to
find an abundant supply of running water.

[Illustration: FIG. 11—Type of house on Rhode Island colony poultry
farms.]

On the Gowell Poultry Farm, Orono, Maine, there is an excellent
example of the continuous-house, and by the partial adoption of the
dry-feeding method the labor is so far reduced that one man can do all
the work of feeding and caring for two thousand head of layers, kept in
a house four hundred feet long by twenty feet wide, which is divided
into pens twenty feet square and one hundred birds kept in each. The
double-yard system is in use here, there being one tier of yards one
hundred feet long by twenty feet wide extending south from the house,
and another tier of yards the same size north of the house; when the
south-yards have been denuded of green food the birds are turned into
those north of the house, and the south-yards are plowed and sown (or
planted) to a quick-maturing crop. By this method poisoned ground
is avoided and the conveniences of the continuous-house retained;
the safety of such a plant would lie, of course, in the intelligent
handling of the work. It is worthy of note that on the Gowell Farm
the portable colony-house method is in use in growing the young stock
(see page 42), while the continuous-house method is used with the
laying-breeding stock. This is true of practically all of the large
poultry farms, it being conceded that free range over farm-fields, or
through orchard and woodland, promotes good growth in the young stock.
When, however, it is desired to develop the physical energies towards
egg-production the semi-confinement of houses and yards is brought into
play; in this manner the greatest egg-yield, and consequent profit is
obtained.

Here are three different methods of avoiding the evil of
ground-poisoning: First, the continuous-house with double-yard system,
one set of yards being used while the other is being sweetened by a
growing crop; second, the colony-house plan with houses located a
hundred and fifty to two hundred feet apart and convenient to drive
to for feeding and watering; third, the “portable-house” plan, which
is the colony method with the houses changed from one location to
another, and brought together near the group of farm buildings for the
winter months. Convenience, amount of capital available, and other
considerations, will influence the choice of a method.

[Illustration: FIG. 12—A small “portable” poultry house.]

In Fig. 14 we give an illustration of an elevated poultry house used in
Florida, which was published in the “Poultry Standard,” of Stamford,
Conn., and described as made of Neponset Red Rope Roofing, both top
and sides; a better construction would be Paroid Roofing for roof and
sides, or Paroid for roof and Neponset Red Rope Roofing for the ends
and sides. This house is built upon posts set in the ground at the back
and six feet high in front; the six posts, three front and three back,
are all the frame required. The light furring to sustain the roof and
sides is nailed to the posts, and the roofing securely nailed to the
strips of furring.

The open space below the house is enclosed by one-inch mesh wire
netting; there is no floor, and a narrow platform along the rear,
inside, gives the hens access to the nest boxes, which are hinged at
one end, and swing out as shown in the drawing. The roost-poles should
be a foot above the open bottom, to be quite sheltered from winds.

Of similar pattern is the “Mushroom Poultry House,” from Southern
California. These houses may be built any size, but are usually made
four or five feet square. They set up from the ground about eighteen
inches, and the closed sides are three feet, the posts being four and
one half above the ground. There is no floor used, the air circulating
freely beneath. When built of boards no frame is needed, the boarding
being nailed to the posts. The roof goes up from all four sides, in
pyramid form, and is made water-tight. The roosts are placed about
fifteen or eighteen inches above the bottom, as shown by the dotted
lines, and a walk or ladder is provided which leads from the ground to
the rear roost. This is made movable, so that it can be taken down at
night, thus protecting the fowls from marauding animals.

[Illustration: FIG. 13—A California “Mushroom” poultry house.]

[Illustration: FIG. 14—A Florida poultry house.]

Some of the houses are built of iron advertising signs, and have the
common double-pitch roof; in some cases the sides are made of burlap
tacked on to furring, which is nailed to the posts. This burlap is
then painted with crude oil, distillate, and Venetian red, to make it
wind-proof. Lumber is very expensive in that section, and the burlap,
when water-proofed, makes a cheap and quite desirable house.

A much better wind and water-tight construction would be Paroid for the
roof, and Paroid or Neponset Red Rope Roofing for the sides.


THE ADVANTAGE OF DOUBLE YARDS

When fowls are kept in the confinement of houses and yards an important
question is how to keep the yards sweet. The ground becomes tainted
in a couple of years or so, and then is a fruitful source of disease.
Unless grass can be kept growing so as to keep the ground free from
the poison of the droppings there is no alternative but to change the
ground. It is well to have two runs, using each alternately, and by
planting the one vacated with some quick-growing crop it can be made
ready for occupancy again in a few weeks. An excellent crop for this
purpose is Dwarf Essex Rape, which makes one of the best summer-green
foods for fowls confined to houses and yards; or such garden crops as
squashes, melons, etc., can be grown. After these rye or oats can be
sown, to furnish green food in the fall.

It is a comparatively simple proposition to have the yards divided
into two sections, by setting the house in the middle, having half (or
two-fifths or three-fifths) of the length of yards north of the house;
these north yards being used three or four months in summer, a crop of
some suitable kind being grown in the vacant yards south of the house
in the meantime.

[Illustration: FIG. 15—Illustrates double yards for a continuous
poultry house.]

In Fig. 17 we give a plan for such house and yards. In this plan we
suppose the yards to be one hundred and twenty-five feet long by
eighteen wide, and have placed fifty feet of length of yards north
of the house and seventy-five feet of length south of it. There are
lift-off gates next to the house in the fence south of the house, the
second gate in illustration being shown as lifted off and leaning
against the next panel of fence. These gates give access to all the
yards, for plowing, harrowing, and cultivating a crop; also for driving
up to the front of the pen with a cart to haul away the fouled earth
of the floor of the house. The usual access to these yards is through
the house itself and a gate opening out of the scratching-shed; for
ordinary visits to the north yards there are small, swinging gates next
to the house, and then lift-gates which will admit a team for plowing,
etc. There should be a row of fruit trees set in each yard, to give the
needed shade, and the trees give the owner a second source of profit.

[Illustration: FIG. 16—Dr. Bricault’s “New Idea” poultry house.]

Desiring a poultry house which would give closed pens or could be
opened up to admit the air and sunshine at will, Dr. C. Bricault,
Andover, Mass., adapted the well-known “Dutch Door” to his purpose,
putting the door in the middle of the front of each pen, and so
arranging it that the whole door could be open day and night, in warm
weather, or the lower half of the door shut and the top half open, or
the top half could be closed by a curtain in quite cold weather, and
in severe storms the whole door closed. The size of the pens are ten
by twelve feet, the frame and building plan being substantially the
same as in the preceding house-plan, the doors in the front of each
partition giving a passage through the entire length of the house.
There are two windows in the front of each pen; the roosts are set up
against the partitions between the pens, and the trap-nests are set on
a platform against the north wall. The building is covered with a cheap
sheathing paper, then with sheathing quilt, then Neponset Red Rope
Roofing; a better construction would be Paroid Roofing on the roof and
Neponset on the sides.

[Illustration: FIG. 17—Interior of pen.]

Fig. 17 gives an interior view of one of the pens showing roosts and
trap-nests.


A POULTRY HOUSE 240 FEET LONG

[Illustration: FIG. 18—A long poultry house on the White Leghorn
Poultry Yards, Waterville, N.Y.]

In New York State it has been thought desirable to have warm houses
for the Single Comb White Leghorns so largely kept there, and we give
illustrations of one of the long poultry houses of the White Leghorn
Poultry Yards, Waterville, N.Y. This house is two hundred and forty
feet long by sixteen feet wide, divided into pens twelve feet square
and a walk three and a half feet wide along the north side. It has a
floor of seven-eighths inch matched boards throughout. The outside
walls are first boarded, then covered with sheathing and clapboarded.
The inside of the building is boarded up with matched boards on the
inside of the studs, making a four-inch dead air space between the
walls. The ceilings are made of matched boards laid at the level of the
plates. In this ceiling, over the centre of each pen, is a small trap
door, two feet square, opening up into the attic space above, which is
designed to give diffusive ventilation.

Three ventilating cupolas cap the roof, and there are full-sized
windows in each gable end. This attic space is storage room for straw,
which is drawn upon from time to time, to furnish scratching material
for the pen floors and opening the trap-door into the ceiling, it
gives excellent ventilation without drafts. A door opens from the
alleyway into each pen, and doors in the partition between the pens
permit passing through from pen to pen. The roost platforms with nest
boxes beneath are against the partition between the walk and pens and
the plan of partitions between pens as shown in Fig. 19. The roof is
covered with Paroid Roofing. A fault here is the wire netting in these
partitions; a better plan would be matched-board partitions throughout.

The twelve feet square pens have one hundred and forty-four square feet
of floor space each, giving ample room for twenty-five head of layers,
and while a long house of this description is somewhat expensive
to build, it has many advantages, which, on a large and permanent
poultry plant, will more than make up for the first cost in the ease
and economy of feeding, etc., and the warmth of the house and the
simplicity of the ventilation. This style of poultry house has been
in use on the White Leghorn farm for several years, and it has been
found to be both practical and economical; it combines very completely
the laying and the breeding house. On this plant they practise the
alternate system of males in the pens, a small coop for the extra male
being set against the partition in one corner of the pen, four feet up
from the floor. One male bird is cooped up while the other runs with
the hens and they are exchanged every two or three days, the change
being effected at night, on occasion of the shutting-up visit.

[Illustration: FIG. 19—Interior, showing partitions between pens.]

[Illustration: FIG. 20—Interior of pens, showing roosts.]


MR. DUSTON’S POULTRY HOUSES

[Illustration: FIG. 21—Mr. A. G. Duston’s five-pen breeding house.]

One of America’s most successful poultrymen is Mr. Arthur G. Duston,
South Framingham, Mass., and as he has recently established himself on
a new farm, to secure necessary room, the type of poultry houses he
decides are the best for him is of interest. He is building seventeen
houses of five pens each, and uses some thirty odd of his well-known
colony-houses (Fig. 23). The five-pen houses are raised from the ground
from two to three feet, the space beneath being utilized as scratching
room. Each house is fifty by twelve feet, the pens being ten by twelve
feet each, and there is a window and door in the front of each pen;
doors in the front of partitions allow passing through from pen to pen.
The roosts are at the back, with nest boxes beneath the roost platforms.

This house has a short hip-roof sloping south, which is open to the
objection of carrying part of the roof-drip to the front of the
house,—a fault which can be mitigated by a gutter along the front, but
that increases the cost without always giving complete relief from the
drip; we decidedly prefer the single-slope roof.

[Illustration: FIG. 22—Ground plan and cross-section.]

[Illustration: FIG. 23—Mr. Duston’s “colony” house.]

Mr. Duston’s “colony,” or portable, houses are justly favorites, the
distinctive feature of them being the double door, or wire netting door
covered with a second door. These “colony” houses are ten by five feet
on the ground, five feet high in front, and four feet high at the back,
and have board floors.


THE STRAW-LOFT POULTRY HOUSE

[Illustration: FIG. 24—The straw-loft poultry house.]

In New York state, especially, the Single Combed White Leghorns have
long been the preferred variety, and, as they have rather thin single
combs, which are considered to be susceptible to frost in cold weather,
it has been a problem to house them so that they shall be protected
from freezing. Many different types of houses have been tried, some of
them with a stove in one end and a long pipe running through to the
chimney at the other, thirty or forty feet away; a decided disadvantage
with this was the having to keep the house shut quite tight to conserve
the heat, and the consequent dampness from the moisture of the breath
of the birds.

To get over this difficulty diffused ventilation was devised by Mr. H.
J. Blanchard, of Fairview Farm, Groton, N. Y.; this ventilation was
obtained by stowing straw (or swale hay) in the loft in the gable, and
this permits a slow diffusion of air upward through the cracks of the
floor and out of the small doors in each end of gable. This straw-loft
poultry house has been widely adopted all over the United States; a
good example of a long house of this type is shown in the illustration
on page 12.

[Illustration: FIG. 25—Ground plan.]

Mr. Blanchard’s houses are forty feet long by sixteen feet wide, and
divided into two pens twenty by sixteen feet each; about fifty birds
are wintered in each pen. The walls of the house are made double,
boarded on both sides of the studs with a dead air space between; in
some cases the walls are packed with saw dust or planer shavings, at
the well-known Van Dresser farm, in Cobleskill, N.Y., they are packed
with straw. The floor is double boarded, with a good sheathing paper
between. Overhead, on the plates, two by six inch stringers are laid,
and a loose floor of rough boards, with inch to inch and a half cracks
between, is laid. A one-third pitch roof is laid on shingle laths nailed
to the rafters six inches apart, and on this a good sheathing paper
covered with two-ply Paroid. In each gable a door is cut, as large as
will swing under the roof. On the attic floor is put some twelve to
fifteen inches of loose straw.

In very cold weather, when the house is tightly closed save for a
muslin curtain in one or two windows of each pen, the vapor thrown
off in the breath of the fowls will pass up through the cracks in
the loft-floor and be absorbed in the straw above, instead of being
condensed on the walls and roof in the form of frost. On mild days in
winter the doors in the gable may be opened wide, or if it is very
windy the door in the leeward end may be opened, which permits the
air to draw through over the straw, drying it thoroughly, without any
draughts upon the birds on the floor below.

In warm weather the gable doors may be left open night and day, and
the draught through the loft, together with the ventilation through
open doors and windows in the house below, keeps the birds cool and
comfortable. These houses are thoroughly practical in every way and
will be found very desirable for use on any large farm. A few such
scattered in convenient localities will give good opportunity to rotate
crops and poultry, and so gain a two-fold profit from the land and
at the same time avoid all danger of the soil becoming poisoned by
accumulation of the droppings. At Fairview Farm Mr. Blanchard combines
fruit growing with poultry keeping, a combination which it would be
difficult to better for double profits, and a combination which should
be better understood by poultry growers. The advantages of combining
fruit and poultry growing are many, not the least of the advantages
being furnishing the shade which Prof. Rice tells us is so essential in
summer. For the permanent yards there is nothing to equal apple trees,
but as they are of somewhat slow growth and need large space when full
grown, it is well to set apple trees about forty feet apart and set
plums or peaches (or both) in the spaces between; the plum and peach
trees will mature, produce a few crops of fruit and break down, before
the apple trees will have grown to a stature to require all the room. A
few years ago plum trees were strongly recommended for poultry yards,
but experience has demonstrated that they cannot be depended upon for
but a half dozen years or so, hence the wisdom of setting apple trees
for permanent shade.

[Illustration: FIG. 26—West Virginia Experiment Station Colony-house.]

Plantations of small fruits, such as grapes, blackberries, and
raspberries, serve admirably for range and semi-shade for growing
chicks, and it is a mistake to imagine that the chicks damage the
crops of fruit; if they touch any it will only be the lower (and
always inferior) stems that they reach. There are such substantial
benefits accruing from the presence of little chicks about the small
fruit plantations, or the mature birds about the apple, plum, and
peach trees—such as the destruction of hosts of worms and insects and
keeping the surface of the ground stirred, that every consideration
urges the combination of fruit and poultry growing. At the Vernon Fruit
and Poultry Farm, Vernon, Conn., we saw last summer Baldwin apple
trees that were six inches through at the butt, yielded an average of
a barrel of choice apples each in the fall, and had been set only six
years. They began bearing the second year after setting, had borne
increasing crops every year, last season averaged to be about six
inches through and gave their owner a barrel of apples each. These
apple trees were part of an orchard which was occupied by colony
poultry houses having fifty layers each, and set sufficient distance
apart so that there were about two hundred birds to the acre; the owner
told us he had never seen a borer or any evidence of borers about those
trees.

[Illustration: FIG. 27—Colony poultry house at Connecticut Experiment
Station.]

[Illustration: FIG. 28—Ground plan.]


THE CURTAIN-FRONT, CURTAINED-ROOSTING-CLOSET, POULTRY HOUSE

[Illustration: FIG. 29—The curtain-front,
curtained roosting-closet, poultry house. Maine Experiment Station.]

As stated elsewhere, the tendency in poultry house construction today
is to more and more open up the houses to fresh air and sunshine,
and the most advanced type of the fresh air poultry house has been
developed at the Maine Experiment Station, Orono, Maine. This consists
of a house-front about half open, a little more than a fourth of each
pen-front being closed by a cloth curtain only, two windows and a door
making with the curtain about half of the whole front of each pen.

At the rear of each pen, and elevated three feet above the pen-floor,
is a curtained-front “roosting closet,” as it is called; this roosting
closet is the “bed-room” and the whole pen the “living-room,” in this
type of house.

[Illustration: FIG. 30—Cross-section.]

It seems almost like cruelty to animals to put hens in such houses,
where they have but the two cloth curtains between them and all
outdoors in the very cold winters they have up in central Maine; the
Maine Station is very nearly up to forty-five north latitude, about the
same as Ottawa, Ontario, St. Paul, Minn., and Portland, Oregon. One of
the Station bulletins, however, says: “These curtain-front houses have
all proved eminently satisfactory. Not a case of cold or snuffles has
developed from sleeping in the warm elevated closets with the cloth
fronts, and then going down into the cold room, onto the dry straw,
and spending the day in the open air. The egg-yield per bird has been
as good in these houses as in the warmed one.” In a letter written by
Prof. Gowell, just after an extremely cold period, he says: “This is
the ninth day of weather all the way from zero to twenty-five degrees
below, still the fifty pullets in the ten by twenty-five feet curtained
front house with its curtained-front roosting-room have fallen off but
little in their egg-yield, and both the house and scratching material
on the floor are perfectly dry. There is no white frost on the walls
and there will be no dampness when the weather moderates and a thaw
comes.” There could hardly be a stronger indorsement of fresh, pure air
in a poultry house and good ventilation without draughts. If such good
results can be attained in cold Maine they can be attained anywhere in
the United States and southern Canada.

[Illustration: FIG. 31—Maine Station Colony Brooder House.]

The Maine Experiment Station has now three of these curtain-front
houses, of which one is one hundred and forty feet long by twelve
feet wide, divided into pens twenty by twelve feet in size, in each
pen being housed fifty birds; the other is one hundred and twenty by
sixteen feet, divided into pens thirty by sixteen feet, and one hundred
hens are kept in each. On Prof. Gowell’s farm, two miles distant from
the Station, he erected last year a house of this type four hundred
feet long by twenty feet wide, divided into pens twenty by twenty
feet each, and a hundred birds are kept in each pen; in the thirty
by sixteen feet pens there is a floor space of four and eight-tenths
feet per bird; in the twenty by twenty feet pens the floor space is
four feet per bird. It is of interest to note that the one hundred
birds, Barred Plymouth Rocks, penned on this four hundred square feet
of floor space, do not go outdoors from the time they are put in
the house in October till the ground of the yards is well dried off
in spring, say about May first; this suggests the practicability of
housing laying-stock in suitable convenient buildings in winter, pains
being taken that ample sunshine and fresh air (through curtains) be
supplied, and in the spring the birds be moved out to portable colony
houses scattered about the orchard, or a wood-lot, or other convenient
place, where they would be pushed for a liberal egg-yield through the
summer and sold off to market before molting time in the fall. This
plan supposes the rearing of another generation of pullets for layers
during the summer, and these pullets go into the winter-laying-pens
in October, to be removed to the colony-houses in May, to be in turn,
sold off to market in September. This plan of an annual rotation
of laying-stock will undoubtedly give the best financial returns
from egg-farming, and as by the adoption of the dry-feeding method
of handling the fowls the labor is reduced to the minimum, the
results, with intelligent management of the business should be quite
satisfactory; the profits will be liberal for amount of capital
invested and labor engaged.

In Fig. 29 we give a single pen of the one hundred and twenty feet long
house, with a door opening into each pen from the board-walk along the
front. Each pen has two windows, which light the interior when the
weather is stormy and it is necessary to keep the curtain closed; the
curtain is open every day when the weather is fair. There are banks of
nest boxes at each end of pens, and coops for breaking up broody birds
above the nest boxes. The twelve by four feet curtain in the pen-front
is hinged at top so it may be swung up against the roof and hooked
up there; the roosting closet is up three feet from the floor, the
platform is three feet wide, and the curtain which closes the front is
the whole length of the pen, and also swings up against the roof, where
hooks secure it up out of the way. The whole floor of the pen is open
for exercise, and is an enclosed out-of-doors pen all the time.


THE CONTINUOUS CURTAINED-FRONT SCRATCHING-SHED POULTRY HOUSE

The tendency in poultry house construction in recent years has
been to more and more open up the house to fresh air and sunshine,
and this opening up of the houses, and getting more and more fresh
air and sunshine into them, has been a decided step in advance in
poultry work. There are many modifications and adaptations of the
scratching-shed plan of house, perhaps the best known of them being
the “scratching-pen” plan, and the enclosed-roosting-closet plan,
the latter being the one evolved at the Maine Experiment Station
and illustrated on page 16. In this enclosed-roosting-closet house
we see the entire floor of the pen a curtained-front scratching
pen and the roosting apartment lifted up and enclosed by another
curtain-front; in the one we have the shed one department and the
roosting-laying department another (one a “living-room” and the other
the “bed-room”), with wide range of adaptability in the way of opening
up the roosting-laying room; in the other the enclosed roosting-closet,
or “bed-room,” and scratching-shed, or “living-room,” are in the
one apartment. Certain it is the curtained-front scratching-shed
type of house that has been growing very rapidly in favor with
practical poultrymen, and probably combines more advantages with fewer
disadvantages than any other one style of poultry house.

Each combined pen and shed covers eighteen by ten feet, the
curtained-front shed being ten by ten feet, and the roosting-room
adjoining being eight by ten feet, room sufficient for twenty-five
to thirty fowls of the American or thirty-five to forty of the
Mediterranean varieties. No “walk” is required because the walk is
through gates and doors, from shed to pen and pen to shed, and so
on to the end of the house and out the other end. The much-desired
ventilation of the poultry house is very varied in this plan, at the
discretion and according to the judgment of the operator, and can be
adapted to the different seasons in half a dozen different ways. In
summer the doors and windows are all wide open and the curtains are
hooked up against the roof out of the way. (It is to be remembered
that the doors between two pens are never to be left open when there
are birds in the pens, they are always kept closed except when opened
for the attendant to pass through from one pen to another). When the
nights begin to be decidedly frosty in the fall close the windows
in the fronts of the roosting pens, but leave shed-curtains hooked up
and doors between pens and sheds open. When it begins to freeze nights
close the curtains (at night) in fronts of sheds, but still leave
doors between pens and sheds open. These doors (including the slide
door) are never closed excepting on nights of solid cold, say when
the thermometer runs five to twenty degrees below zero; and for real
zero weather, from five above to away below zero, close the curtains
in front of roosts and all doors and windows are closed. An additional
protection against cold in extremely cold latitudes would be to
double-wall the back of the roost-pen, from the sill up to plate and
then up the roof-rafters four feet, packing the spaces between the
studs and rafters with planer shavings, straw, swale hay, or seaweed
(the latter is vermin-proof), then have a hinged curtain to drop down
to within about six inches of front of roost platform, and extending
a foot below it; this curtain we would close only on the very coldest
nights.

We would build this house seven feet high in front and five feet high
at the back. Sills and plates are all of two by four scantling, halved
and nailed together at joints. The rafters, corner studs, and studs in
centers of fronts of sheds are all two by four; the intermediate studs
are two by three. Set the sills on stone foundation a foot and a half
above the ground level, or on posts set into the ground below the usual
frost line, the posts being set five feet apart excepting in front of
roosting pens (where they come four feet apart)—there being a post at
corner of each pen and shed, with one between. The rafters should be
two feet between centers; as lumber comes twelve, fourteen, or sixteen
feet in length, and two-feet-apart rafters allow the lumber to be used
with almost no waste. The sills we would set a foot and a half above
average ground level. When set on posts put hemlock (or some hard wood)
boards from bottom half of sill down to ground, nailing them firmly
to sill and foundation posts; then fill up inside to bottom of sills
and slope the ground outside to same height, as illustrated in Fig.
1. Toe-nail studs to sills firmly, plates to studs ditto, and rafters
to plates. Set the studs in front of roosting pens to take the window
frames (or the window sash, if no frames are used), and in partitions
a stud should be set to take the two and one half feet wide doors and
gates. All of the framing is simple and easy, and any man who can
saw off a board or joist reasonably square and drive nails straight
can build this house; the slight bevel at each end of rafters being
perfectly simple. All boarding is lengthwise, the boards firmly nailed
and good joints made all over. Cover the roof and sides with Paroid,
and the house will be wind and waterproof.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: FIG. 32—The Continuous, Curtained-Front Scratching-shed
Poultry.]


THE ALL-OPEN-FRONT POULTRY HOUSE

This “Fresh Air Poultry House” has been evolved by Mr. Joseph Tolman, a
practical poultryman of eastern Massachusetts, some twenty-five miles
south of Boston, and differs from most other plans in that the front is
wide open night and day all the year around; the south front is always
open, being closed by one-inch mesh wire netting only.

[Illustration: FIG. 33—The All-Open-Front Poultry House.]

The roof and sides are one inch boards nailed to two by four inch
rafters and studs, and covered with sheathing paper and two-ply Paroid;
this makes a tight roof, and east, west, and north walls, excepting
that there is a window in the center of the west side and a door
opposite it, in center of east side. In operating this house in summer
both the door and window are removed and wire netting tacked to a
light frame set in the places; for convenience we recommend that the
door-screen be hinged to outside of door frame, and when not in use
hooked back against the wall. There are many nights in spring and fall
when it is desirable to leave the door open excepting that the opening
is closed by the wire screen, and possibly the very next night it is
better that the door be closed; having the door-screen hung to the wall
enables adapting to weather changes at will.

[Illustration: FIG. 34—Ground plan.]

The house here shown is made eight by fourteen feet in size, four feet
to eaves and seven feet to apex of roof, and makes a fine home for
twenty-five fowls; a larger size of this house is recommended to be
made twenty-one by fourteen feet on the ground, with five feet posts
in north and south ends and eight feet to apex of roof; this would
comfortably house fifty head of layers.



2. BARNS, STABLES, ETC.


There is a very great diversity in plans of barns and stables, the
taste of individual owners seeming to favor this or that plan, which
they think is best adapted to their needs. Observation of various types
of farm buildings, however, will convince the thoughtful man that too
often a single point of convenience is magnified till other points
are wholly obscured, and to secure the one advantage several decided
conveniences are sacrificed; in a study of conveniences all possible
points should be considered and a decision arrived at which will give
the greatest and sacrifice the least number.

Talking with a dairy farmer living in central New York, who had just
completed a dairy barn which cost him about three thousand dollars,
he told that he had waited a dozen years to build that barn, and had
studied and figured to get the two most important conveniences of a
cement floor to preserve the liquid manure and a drive-way onto the
main floor; to get those he had let go one or two others which he
considered of far less importance, and had at last got a barn exactly
to his liking. One of the conveniences which he had let go was a
covered-way to the barn, and this one point is considered of so great
importance by many that almost everything else is sacrificed to gain
it. We were discussing this point with a farmer whose barn was about
a hundred and fifty feet away from his house, and he was positive
that the advantage of having the barn near to and connected with the
dwelling house was over-estimated; that there were but a very few days
in a year when the covered-way was of so great advantage, and there
were decided advantages in having the barn a little distance from the
house,—among them absence of barn-odors, flies, and noises. With the
barn off a little distance he avoids those, and gains the (to him)
great advantage of a drive-way onto the main floor, a fine basement for
composting the manure and housing the farm carts, etc., and a drive-way
out of the basement with only an insignificant rise to the level of the
fields.

This same farm-barn had one defect, to remedy which we offered the
suggested shed shown in Fig. 35. The barn extended very nearly east
and west, consequently the linter door was exposed to the cold west
and northwest winds of winter, and during the winter the farmer wanted
his cows to have the exercise-room of the barn yard on the south side
of the barn. To overcome the difficulty we suggested an open-front
shed along the west side of the barn yard, and a covered-in walk down
from the linter door to the shed; as subsequently built the shed was
extended five feet beyond the corner of the barn, so as to cover the
linter door, and a broad door in the shed-end gave out to the lane
leading to the pasture. By closing that broad door in the end of the
shed and opening a gate to the barn yard a covered-way was made for the
cows to pass from the linter to the barn yard, without being exposed to
the cold winds of winter, and gaining the complete shelter of the shed
on the west; a simple expedient, and yet a very decided convenience.

[Illustration: FIG. 35—A convenient shed-shelter for west end of barn
yards.]

Driveways onto two or more different floors of a barn or stable are
most substantial aids to the economical doing of the farm work. On
a large Essex county (Mass.) farm which we recently visited a new
hay-barn was being erected, the site for it being especially selected
so that an easy grade could be built to the top floor, permitting the
hay wagons being driven into the top of the barn, under the high roof,
and all the hay was pitched off and down into the twenty-feet deep
mows. A recent letter says: “The new barn is practically done, and
already some twenty loads of hay are in one corner of it. We find it
a great saving of labor; four men in the barn will take better care
of the hay and keep ahead of the gang in the field easier than seven
men and a horse could put it into the top of the barn with a fork.”
A second drive-way leads out of the ground floor of this barn to the
high road, practically on a level, and a third out of the west end of
the basement, whence an easy grade rises to the farm roads. By these
convenient driveways much hard work is eliminated—a most important point
in these days of growing scarcity of farm help. Because of this great
scarcity of help, especially of dependable help, it is a necessity that
the farmer take advantage of every convenience, or labor-saving device,
which will aid him in his work; it is both good economy and good
business policy for him to do so.

We have thought it wise to give here a few simple, practical plans,
which have approved themselves in everyday use. Barns and stables
need not be expensive in construction nor elaborate in fittings;
the important considerations are the comfort of the animals, the
convenience of the owner and the adaptability of the building to its
purpose.

In Figs. 36, 37, and 38 we give a plan for a village stable, for the
man who keeps a horse and one or two cows, and the ground floor also
provides room for the work-bench (which is most desirable where there
are boys in the family), besides standing room for the carriage, wagon
and sleigh.

[Illustration: FIG. 36—A village stable for a horse and cow.]

[Illustration: FIG. 37—Cross-section.]

[Illustration: FIG. 38—Ground plan.]

This stable is planned to be twenty-six feet long by eighteen feet
wide, is ten feet from floor level to eaves, and fourteen feet from
floor to ridge of roof. More pitch can be given to roof if desired, but
with a good roofing like Paroid the roof slope may be slight. It would
be better to make the walls two feet higher if more storage space is
desired above the scaffold floor. The doorway is eight by eight feet,
and stall space eight by eight feet is made in each front corner; a box
stall is provided for the horse and two cow stalls in the left-hand
corner, with a small door opening into the cow linter. Hay scaffolds
seven feet above the floor extend across each end and may be joined at
the rear if desired; a scaffold floor above the large doors extends
from front to rear, or to the drop-scaffold walk connecting the two
side scaffolds at the rear. A basement six or seven feet deep under the
whole is a valuable addition to such a stable, making room for storing
and rotting the manure, and a storage room for roots, etc., in one
corner.

Six-inch-square sills, posts, and floor stringers are amply strong for
the strain usually put upon a small stable, and the center posts, set
at corners of box stall and cow stalls, help carry the main floor and
the storage floor above. If preferred, the intermediate posts may be
set in the center and the stall-spaces extended a foot, making them
eight by nine feet. With the roof covered with Paroid Roofing, and
the sides with Neponset Red Rope Roofing battened on laps and halfway
between laps, a very neat and economically constructed stable is made.
If desired a richer appearance may be given to the roof by adding the
ornamental battens shown on page 28 and painting the whole a dark red.

The farm-barn is a most important aid to economy of labor, if rightly
planned, and we give on this page the plans of a small barn, for a
farm where eight or ten cows are kept, such as is quite common in New
England and the Middle States, and which gives excellent satisfaction
everywhere. On the farm where this plan was studied the pair of horses
were housed in a small horse barn nearer the dwelling house, the
Democrat wagon, canopy top carriage and sleigh, etc., being under the
same roof.

[Illustration: FIG. 39—A barn for a small dairy farm.]

[Illustration: FIG. 40—Ground plan.]

[Illustration: FIG. 41—Cross-section.]

This barn is forty-four feet long by thirty-four feet wide, and is
built in four “bays” of eleven feet in length each. The main floor is
twelve feet wide, and hay wagons drive in at either end and out at the
other. The cow stalls occupy all of the linter on the south side, a
door at the end opening into the lane to the pasture. The first bay
on the north side is ceiled up with tongued and grooved boards, has a
tight floor overhead, and is used as a grain storeroom; the other three
bays on that side are hay mows from floor to roof.

Over the main floor and fifteen feet above it is a floor for hay, or
corn, or used for general storage at different seasons. There was no
floor on the collar-beams when the present owner bought the farm.
Strong poles had been laid across the space and surplus hay thrown
on them; since being floored over the owner says it is the best part
of the barn, and invaluable for drying out crops not fully cured. A
basement about six feet in depth receives the manure from the cows,
and three or four logs have the run of the cellar and manure heaps,
thoroughly rotting and “fining” the manure for the next season’s crops.

The frame of this barn is of eight-inch square hemlock timber, the
braces three by four inch hemlock mortised into posts and stringers,
the floor stringers three by nine inches, two feet apart and well
cross-bridged, the floor of three-inch plank. The scaffold floor is of
inch boards laid on two by six inch stringers three feet apart, and is
amply strong for any load put upon it.

Grain bins along two sides of the grain room may be four feet wide,
and, fitted with drop fronts may be five feet high and divided into two
or more compartments. Two small bins may be fitted in each side of the
window; the window may be in the end if preferred.


A COMPLETE DAIRY BARN

[Illustration: FIG. 42—A complete dairy barn, with silo.]

Modern dairy farming means an up-to-date dairy barn, and we give
herewith the plans of one which is warmly endorsed by the owner and
carries fifty cows in perfect comfort. This is a truss-frame barn,
ninety-three feet long by forty feet wide, the basement (or ground)
floor being wholly occupied by cow stalls and calving pens, the main
floor being a hay-storage room. Two bays on one side are used for grain
storage, all the remainder of the bays on both sides being for hay; a
drive-way fifteen feet wide extends through this floor, and inclined
driveways at each end give access from the fields in either direction.

The ground floor is concrete throughout. A walk five feet wide extends
along each side and cross walks three feet wide are between each row
of stalls at both front and rear, one for breeding and the other for
the cows and the milkers. A shallow gutter, eighteen inches wide by
six inches deep, extends along the rear of the stalls to receive the
droppings and urine, which is removed twice a day and drawn at once to
the fields or heaped for tramping over and rotting under wide-roofed
sheds. The calving stalls, four at each end of this floor, are eight by
seven and three quarters feet in size, and one or two of them can be
occupied by bulls, if desired.

The watering system may be either a wooden gutter extending along the
front of each row of stalls or a cast-iron semicircular pan set between
each pair of stalls so as to supply a cow on either side. Whether
troughs or pans are used there should be an automatic cock and tank,
which keeps the water always at the desired level, and check valves
which prevent the water once in the trough or basin returning to the
pipe and contaminating others.

[Illustration: FIG. 43—Cross-section showing truss-frame
plan.]

All the food is stored on the main floor, whence convenient chutes
convey it to feeding troughs or push-carts on the walks below. The
ensilage from the silo is loaded directly into the push-carts just
outside the door, or could be chuted to the walk inside. The soiling
crops fed in summer are cut up on the main floor and sent down to the
waiting push-carts in the walks below. The roof and sides of this barn
are covered with Paroid roofing.

[Illustration: FIG. 44—Ground floor plan of basement story.]

[Illustration: FIG. 45—Floor plan of main floor.]

The tying arrangement may be either chains, straps, or swing stanchions
as desired, and all three methods are in use on up-to-date dairy barns.
The stock kept may have an influence upon the length of the stalls;
those given are seven and one half feet long by three feet three inches
wide.


A STABLE FOR A SUBURBAN PLACE

[Illustration: FIG. 46—A stable for a suburban place.]

A convenient and well-arranged stable is greatly appreciated, and we
present plans for a stable for four horses, with carriage room, harness
room, man’s room, etc., hay-loft, platform for drying the bedding, and
other accessories of a modern stable for a suburban home. It is built
without cupola or other ornamental features, is just a plain, simple
stable.

This building is forty-four by twenty-four feet in size, the sides and
roof rough boards covered with Paroid Roofing. There is a basement
under the whole.

[Illustration: FIG. 47—Second story plan.]

[Illustration: FIG. 48—Floor plan.]

The walls and ceiling of the entire lower floor are sheathed with hard
pine, a wooden partition separating the stalls from the carriages, and
abundant windows give light and air to all parts. The ventilation of
the horse room is such that no gases reach the carriages, and “Hydrex”
waterproofing felt between the floorings of the carriage room cuts
of the steam and gases from the manure pit. The iron gutter along
the rear of the stalls is covered with maple or birch plank, and the
stall floors are either maple or birch. Running water is piped to the
water basin in the horse room, and a hose cock on the other side of
the partition receives the hose for washing carriages, or a revolving,
overhead hose-fixture can be installed, just above the washing floor,
if desired. A hot-water heater may be installed on the main floor, but
better be in the basement, where the coal bin would be; radiators may
be set as desired, with one at least in rear of the box stall and one
on the carriage floor, and a small one in the man’s room on second
floor. The roof is drained by galvanized iron pipes emptying into blind
wells. The carriage room floor is concreted, and a drain pipe leads
from the depression where carriages are washed to a blind well. At one
end is a platform for drying the bedding, and ventilation is so well
provided for there are almost no odors. As it is planned this is a
practical, convenient, well-arranged stable, adapted to the needs of a
family of moderate means on a suburban place.


A COMBINED HORSE AND COW STABLE

AS DESIGNED FOR C. H. LINVILLE, ESQ., BALTIMORE, MD.

Desiring a stable which would give him room for four cows, three horses
and carriage room under one roof, Mr. C. H. Linville, of Baltimore,
Md., wrote and asked about enlarging the plan of a stable for a
suburban place, and wished to place the carriage room at the other end
of the stable, because the slope of the ground was such as to favor
getting the basement under that end in the location on which he desired
to build; the result was a re-drawing of that plan and presenting it as
given herewith. A comparison of these two plans will aid any intending
builder to change and adapt to his especial purpose such plan as he
prefers, but which may not be, as here presented, the best for him.

[Illustration: FIG. 49—A combined horse and cow stable.]

This stable is planned to be forty-eight feet long by twenty-five
feet wide, outside measure, and the space is so divided there is a
good seven by ten feet box stall and a good harness room in the horse
apartment; in the west end a grain room ten by twelve feet gives space
for four grain bins and the stairway up to loft opens out of this room.
The carriage room is sixteen by twenty-five feet, and the manure pit
is in the basement beneath this room; to prevent the escape of ammonia
from the manure pit into the carriage room a good cement floor should
be laid down.

This building is planned to be fourteen feet high to the plates and
twenty feet to the ridge, which gives liberal hay-lofts; should more
hay space be thought desirable we would carry side walls to sixteen or
eighteen feet height, six feet, or even five feet of height from plates
to ridge gives ample slope to roof where Paroid is the roof covering.
An ornamental cupola could easily be placed at the junction of the roof
of the gable with the main roof, and would aid in the ventilation of
the hay-loft.

[Illustration: FIG. 50—Floor plan.]

The partitions between the different divisions and about the stalls
give ample opportunity for studs to be set to support the hay-loft
floor excepting in the clear span over the carriage room, and the floor
stringers there should be doubly heavy to support the weight over so
large a space. Another way to gain the desired strength here would
be to tie the roof-rafters securely and carry the strain on hangers
dropped from the ridge; the three or four hangers necessary would
interfere but slightly with the hay storage space.


AN ATTRACTIVE DAIRY BARN

[Illustration: FRONT ELEVATION

FIG. 51—An attractive dairy barn.]

Sometimes it is desired to have more attractive looking buildings than
the severely plain ones seen on many farms, and to illustrate the
decidedly attractive appearance which can be given to buildings which
are covered with Paroid roofing, we have had prepared plans of a dairy
barn and a village stable, with the roofs treated with ornamental
battens and the whole roof painted with a dark green or red paint,
which gives the rich effect of copper sheathing and is most pleasing to
the artistic eye. A cross-section of the battens we recommend are given
here. Paroid can be laid more rapidly when battens are used, and enough
labor is saved to pay for the slight extra cost of the battens.

[Illustration: FIG. 52. SIDE ELEVATION.]

[Illustration: FIG. 53—Ornamental battens.]

The same idea may be carried out on the sides of all kinds of
buildings, and especially farm and poultry buildings, at a less expense
than clapboards and shingles. Parine Paint, which is made especially
for Paroid Roofing, is a dark brown and produces very neat results.
Paroid one-ply is the best weight for the sides and we would recommend
two-ply for the roof.

This dairy barn is spread out extensively, instead of being built up
into the air, the front being eighty feet long by twenty-six feet wide,
and there being two wings twenty feet wide extending forward thirty-two
feet, enclosing three sides of a quadrangle. A dairy room is set out in
rear of the end containing the pens and yards for the bulls, and is
connected with the cow stable by a covered walk; this semi-detached
dairy room avoids having the stable odors contaminating the milk, and
aids to cleanliness of dairy utensils by ample equipment for washing
and refrigerating.

[Illustration: FIG. 54. FIRST FLOOR PLAN.]

[Illustration: FIG. 55. SECOND FLOOR PLAN.]

The second floor of the main building is utilized for hay and grain
storage, and in one end are rooms for the stablemen, including a
bath-room; this latter is a most important adjunct of a good dairy
stable, it having been demonstrated that facilities for cleanness
promotes cleanness, and absolute cleanness of men, animals, and all
utensils is demanded in the up-to-date dairy.


A SUBURBAN STABLE

[Illustration: FIG. 56—A suburban stable.]

[Illustration: FIG. 57—Ground plan.]

The smaller stable, designed for a modest suburban residence, or
country summer home, gives space for a pair of horses and three or four
cows. It is planned to be built fifty-three feet long by thirty-three
feet wide, the end being planned to be the front, with a drive-way
onto the main floor in the front. The hay is pitched into the storage
loft through a trap-door in the ceiling, or, as some might prefer,
a hay-door could be set in place of the window over the drive-way
doors. The dormer windows and ornamental cupola combine with the
copper sheathing effect of the Paroid-covered roof to make a most
attractive stable building and at comparatively moderate cost. If it
was desired this plan could be altered to give a more roomy hay-loft
by adding either two or three feet to the length of the posts, and
correspondingly flattening the roof, carrying the dormers very nearly
out to the eaves. The added height of the posts could be added to the
height of the stable, keeping the roofs as steep as at present, if
preferred, but it is one of the many advantages of Paroid covering for
a roof that the roof need have but slight pitch, when a shallow pitch
is desired. The ground plan can be arranged differently; an improvement
might be to place the harness room where a calf-pen is indicated,
making the space gained into a clothes and wash-room for the stableman.


A PLANK-FRAME BARN

The plank-frame barn has been very popular in several sections of
the country; the considerable saving in lumber and ease of building
recommending it to practical men. Less men and time are required to
build one of these barns; they are stronger, the excellent “bracing” of
the frame making them effective to stand the pressure of hay and grain
within or strong winds without.

[Illustration: FIG. 58—A plank-frame barn.]

In some sections a solid frame foundation is used, in Maine the entire
structure is of plank; the barns are built either with or without
basement, according to the taste of the owner. A good, firmly built
stone and cement foundation is advisable; with this foundation to rest
the plank upon the frame is raised. Do not be sparing of spikes, they
are an essential feature.

[Illustration: FIG. 59—Cross-section.]

[Illustration: FIG. 60—Ground plan.]

No sills are used, and the upright studs take the place of posts. Two
for each post are set on the foundation on each side, between these is
placed and spiked the cross-plank, which extends the width of the barn
and ties the two sides together. The scantlings on each side of barn
floor, forming center posts, are then raised and spiked in place. Upon
outside of each upright is spiked a plank of same size as, and parallel
with, the first cross-plank; this gives three 2 × 8’s for cross sills
through center of barn, each joint or band being fixed in this way.
End joints, using boards instead of plank on outside, give the bedwork
of the barn. At the sides, between uprights in place of sill, a plank
is firmly spiked; this holds the uprights firmly in place and prevents
working sideways, while the thoroughly spiked cross planks prevent all
movement in other directions.

Some barns are boarded diagonally, some horizontally; both methods give
excellent satisfaction. Many of these barns are built with a hip-roof,
as in the illustration given, and these give a great amount of storage
room in the loft. The steeper single-slope roof gives equally good
results, looks well, and is a little more economical to build.

Paroid on roof and sides make it wind and waterproof.


A PRACTICAL SHEEP SHED

(FROM A WISCONSIN FARM-INSTITUTE BULLETIN)

[Illustration: FIG. 61—Perspective of sheds.]

[Illustration: FIG. 62—Frame plan.]

It is in the nature of sheep to dislike dampness. In the pasture they
will fold at night always on the high and dry elevations. In selecting
the site of a sheep shed these facts should determine the choice of a
site that is drained and dry throughout the year. Dryness is one of the
essentials of a good foundation for a healthy shed; second only to this
in importance is the ventilation. Warm, close sheds mean the downfall
of the sheep that are folded in them. A sheep is warm in body, as its
blood temperature is high, and then the nature of the fleece is such
as to be very retentive of the body’s heat. The cause of most failures
to keep sheep profitably has been from housing them in warm, close
buildings.

[Illustration: FIG. 63—Ground plan.]

Closely connected with the question of ventilation is the size of the
shed. The amount of room required by a sheep will vary considerably,
ranging from ten square feet for the Merino and Southdown to fifteen
square feet for the larger breeds, including the Cotswolds and larger
Downs. It is not advisable to crowd breeding ewes into a small area.
The crowding is most injurious when it results from restricted room at
the feeding rack and when it occurs through narrow doors. A breeding
ewe weighing one hundred and fifty pounds will require fully one and
one-quarter feet of space at the fodder rack.

A desirable attribute of a shed is the entrance of sunlight; this
particularly encourages the growth of the lambs, and it is to them that
the shed will do the most good. To further the entrance of sunlight
the windows should be higher than they are wide, which will materially
assist in diffusing the rays over the greatest amount of inside space.
In addition to these a shed should be large enough to supply storage
space for sufficient fodder to feed the sheep while they must be
sheltered. Estimating that a ton of hay requires five hundred cubic
feet, and that a sheep will not eat over three pounds of hay per day,
it would require about one hundred and twenty-five cubic feet of space
to contain the hay needed to maintain a sheep during six months. There
should also be room available for a root cellar and for the storage of
straw.

[Illustration: FIG. 64.]

[Illustration: FIG. 65. Rack for inside feeding.]

[Illustration: FIG. 66.]

[Illustration: FIG. 67. Rack for outside feeding.]

The plan here given is of a building forty feet wide and sixty feet
long. It has two stories, the first being nine feet high and the
second six feet from the floor to the eaves. It is advisable to make
the height of the lower story nine feet to secure the best results in
ventilation. The sills are six by eight inches, resting preferably
on stone foundation, and if set on posts they should be heavier. The
ground both on the inside and outside should come close to the sills,
so that no obstruction is offered by the sills to the free passage of
the sheep through the doors. The doors are all four feet wide, and
those that are used by the sheep should be sliding; the windows are
three feet wide and four and one-half feet high. In the center of the
sheep apartment there are double doors ten feet wide. When both are
opened and the center post removed a wagon can be driven through to
remove the manure from the pens.

The arrangement of the lower floor has been adjusted so as to give
the sheep the smallest amount of space and yet have easily accessible
feed racks that would give sufficient room to the sheep for feeding.
The feed racks are all permanent, as there is no necessity for their
removal, and they form a wall for the passage way which runs through
the center. In this way it is easy to put hay in them, and it is very
easy to put grain into the troughs in front of them. As will be seen in
the ground plan there are two chutes at each end, down which the hay is
thrown from the loft. From where it falls it is easily distributed into
all the racks.


HOG HOUSES

(ADAPTED FROM BULLETIN NO. 109. ILLINOIS EXPERIMENT STATION.)

[Illustration: FIG. 68—Individual hog house.]

_Individual Houses._—Individual hog houses, or “cots,” as they
are sometimes called, are built in many different ways. Some are built
with four upright walls and a shed roof, each of which (the walls and
roof) being a separate piece can easily be taken down and replaced,
making the moving of these small houses to another location an easy
matter. Others are built with two sides sloping in towards the top so
as to form the roof, as shown in Fig. 68. These are built on skids
and when necessary can be moved as a whole by being drawn by a horse.
They are built in several different styles: some have a window in the
front end above the door, while all may have a small door in the rear
end, near the apex, for ventilating purposes. These houses are built
in different sizes; indeed, there are about as many different forms of
cots as there are individuals using them.

The arguments in favor of this type of house for swine are that each
sow at farrowing time may be kept alone and away from all disturbance;
that each litter of pigs may be kept and fed by itself, consequently
there will not be too large a number of pigs in a common lot; that
these houses may be placed at the farther end of the feed lot, thus
compelling the sow and pigs to take exercise, especially in winter,
when they come to the feed trough at the front end of the lot; that the
danger of spreading disease among a herd is at a minimum; and in case
the place occupied by the cot becomes unsanitary it may be removed to a
clean location.

_Large Houses._—Individual hog houses have certain advantages in
their favor, and large houses, if properly planned and built, have many
points of advantage; among them being good sanitation, serviceability,
safety in farrowing, ease in handling hogs, and large pastures
involving little expense for fences. In order to be sanitary a hog
house should admit the direct rays of the sun to the floor of all the
pens and exclude cold drafts in winter, be dry, free from dust, well
ventilated, and exclude the hot sun during the summer.

[Illustration: FIG. 69—Large hog house.]

The illustrations show a hog house built with this purpose in view. The
building is one hundred and twenty feet long by thirty feet wide, and
has an eight-foot alley running lengthwise through the middle, between
the two rows of pens. It stands lengthwise east and west with the
windows on the south side, the windows being so placed that at noon
of the shortest day of the year, the rays of sunlight passing through
the upper part will fall upon the floor of the south side pen on the
opposite side from the window. This allows the total amount of light
coming through the window at this season of the year and at this time
of the day to fall upon the floor within the pen; consequently, during
the latter winter months, there will be a maximum amount of sunlight
on the floor of the pen; the window in the upper part of the building
performs the same function for the pen on the north side of the alley.
By this arrangement of windows there is possible a maximum amount of
sunlight on the floor of the pens in winter, which will serve to warm
the interior of the house, and especially the beds, during the latter
months of winter, thus making it possible to have pigs farrowed very
early in the season. Sunlight not only warms and dries the building,
but destroys disease germs, thus making the building both warm and
sanitary.

The upper window, which throws light into the pen on the north side is
long, and this necessitates a flat roof for the part of the building
south of the alley, which must necessarily be covered with some
material, such as Paroid Roofing, that will shed water at a slight
pitch. Dryness should be secured by thorough drainage, freedom from
dust by sprinkling with water, and the direct sunlight should be
prevented from entering the pens during the hot part of the summer
days; this is done by the manner of constructing the building—the
lower window is shaded by the eaves and the rays passing through the
upper windows fall upon the floor of the alley.

In order to be most serviceable a hog house should be constructed so
that it can be used every day in the year. In order to be an economizer
of labor the house should be planned so that the largest amount of
work may be performed with the smallest amount of labor, which, with
the present scarcity of labor, is a very important factor. Farrowing
pens should be supplied with fenders, which prevent the sows crushing
the pigs, and should be built so the attendant may lend assistance, if
necessary, with both convenience and safety. By having all the hogs
under one roof handling becomes simpler, and in case of bad weather
much more convenient.

[Illustration: FIG. 70—Ground plan.]

The alley through the middle of the building is eight feet wide; this
permits driving through the building with a wagon, which allows the
bedding to be hauled directly to the pens, and the manure to be loaded
on the wagon directly from the pens and hauled to the fields. The pens
are ten feet wide and eleven feet deep. Each pen has a slide door
opening to the outside, and a door opening to the alley; the latter is
hung so that when it is opened it will turn the pigs towards the front
end of the house, for weighing, etc. It also permits changing pigs
from one pen to another, and gives easy access to the attendant. The
trough is placed on the side of the pen next the alley, and a swinging
panel above the trough, shown in the illustration of the interior,
makes feeding a very easy and convenient operation. The “fender” is
shown in the ground plan, and consists of a two-inch iron pipe placed
on posts of the same set in concrete in the floor. This fender should
be placed eight or nine inches above the floor and about six inches
from the wall, it is to prevent the sows crushing the pigs at farrowing
time; the sow will necessarily make her bed in this corner as the other
three corners are occupied, two of them by doors and the other the feed
trough.

There is a four-inch drain tile laid from each pen to the main lines
on either side, which are placed on the outside of the pens, leading
off down the ravine. The tile opens up through the floor of the pens
by means of a perforated iron disk, which is laid in the bell-end of a
length of sewer pipe. The floor is made to slope toward the drain so
that it can be flushed with water.

All the gates and partitions of the interior are made of wire netting
panels. Wire is better than lumber for this purpose, for several
reasons. They are no obstruction to light, the rays of light coming
through the windows are not cut off from reaching the floor, where they
are most needed; they keep the floor and bedding warm and disinfected.
In case the hog house should become infected with disease germs it can
be flushed out and disinfected much more easily and thoroughly. Wire
partitions allow the hogs always to be in sight of each other and of
the attendant. By this means the sows, when they are shut up to farrow,
will not become estranged from one another, and will not be so likely
to fight after returning to a common pasture.

[Illustration: FIG. 71—Large hog house—interior.]

A hog house built and operated according to the above outlined plan
makes it possible to perform a maximum amount of work with a minimum
amount of labor, and to put the pigs on the market at seasons of the
year that are out of the ordinary; it can be expected that pigs thus
marketed will sell for higher prices than those that are marketed along
with the general supply.

_The Question of Space._—A question which most frequently comes
to the front is: “How much room is required for a horse, cow, hen,
etc.?” and there is no one question about which there is greater
difference of opinion. A good size of horse stall is four feet wide
by nine feet long, and a good size of cow stall is three feet wide
by five feet long; of course these dimensions taking no account of
gutter-space at rear of stalls for catching the manure. Another good
dairyman will tell us that he wants his cow stalls four feet wide,
and will present strong arguments in favor of the greater amount of
room; it is obvious that twenty-five per cent. increase of width of
stalls decidedly increases the space-cost per cow. The best testimony,
however, is in favor of being liberal in space, as, for example, is
said about the sheep sheds: “Crowding is most injurious when it results
from restricted room at the feeding rack and when it occurs through
narrow doors. A breeding ewe weighing one hundred and fifty pounds will
require fully one and one-quarter feet of space at the fodder rack.”

The same suggestion applies to floor space per hen. It has been
demonstrated that it is unprofitable to crowd fowls too much, and
well known writers have urged that ten square feet of floor space be
given to each bird; in practice, however, very much less space per
bird gives good results in health of flocks and average egg-product.
In the scratching-shed plan of house, on pages 18 and 19, the floor
space is recommended as seven and one-fifth square feet per bird with
twenty-five fowls of the American varieties per pen, and six square
feet each with thirty birds of one of the Mediterranean varieties per
pen. In the Gowell Poultry Farm house, on pages 16 and 17, four square
feet of floor space is allotted to each bird, and it is the plan there
to keep the birds wholly confined to the pens for the five cold months.
These illustrations show that there is wide range in actual practice,
but we believe it is wise to allow at least five to six square feet of
floor space to each fowl.



PAROID ROOFING


[Illustration: Partial View of Our Mills on the Neponset River at East
Walpole, Mass. Paroid is Made from Start to Finish Right in Our Own
Mills.]

Our products are for the man who is planning new buildings, or about to
make repairs to old ones; and we have tried to tell in the following
paragraphs how each one of our materials is particularly adapted to
the different kinds of work for which it is made. Our claims are
based on actual experiences and if you are in the market for roofing
or sheathing papers, you will find that our materials will save you
money. First of all, we are going to tell you about our Paroid Roofing,
because the roof is one of the most important parts of every building.
If it is not right, there is no end of trouble.

THE DIFFICULTIES OF CHOOSING A GOOD ROOF. There are about thirty
different brands of ready roofing, and for most of them the same claims
are made. Under those conditions, how are you going to choose the one
that will prove most economical for you? There is only one test that
will tell, and that is the test of time. Of course you can’t make that
test yourself, but it is for your interests to find out if others have
made it and for how long.

The most economical roofing is not the one that costs you the least per
roll when you buy it, but the roofing that costs you least per year of
service. We are going to tell you here the most important facts about
Paroid; how it compares with shingles, metal and other kinds of ready
roofing, and then you can be your own judge.

PAROID vs. TIN AND IRON ROOFS. The best quality of tin, iron and steel
roofings cost much more than Paroid at the start, and then there is
always the additional cost of painting each year. In spite of all you
can do, a metal roof will rust out and spring leaks which cannot be
permanently repaired. Paroid cannot rust; it costs less than metal
roofs when you buy it, and less to apply. Anyone can lay Paroid. One
example that proves the superiority of Paroid over metal roofs was
shown when the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, who had tried different
kinds of roofing on their Chicago train sheds, including a good tin
roof, used Paroid when the tin roof failed. The Paroid Roofing is still
in good condition.

PAROID vs. SHINGLES. If you have recently asked your lumber dealer for
a price on shingles, you are probably looking for a substitute because
of the exorbitant price asked for them. Lumber is scarce everywhere,
and shingles are growing poorer in quality and higher in price every
day. The test of time has proved that Paroid is the real substitute for
shingles, and it has many advantages which shingles do not have. Figure
this out for yourself. The first cost of Paroid is less than that of a
medium grade of shingles. You can lay Paroid yourself and it requires
an experienced man to lay shingles. Shingles catch fire easily, while
Paroid is practically fireproof against sparks, cinders and embers.

Read what a large lumber dealer in Maine says about the comparative
cost of shingles and Paroid Roofing. He is right in the heart of the
shingle belt, and naturally the difference is not so great as in other
sections of the country where shingles are not so plentiful.

[Illustration: Colony chicken houses on farm of G. M. Gowell, of the
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono, Maine. The roofs are
covered with PAROID, sides with NEPONSET.

See plans and description on page 17.]

One-ply Paroid, which is usually heavy enough for the roof and sides of
most farm and poultry buildings, will save you at least 35% over the
cost of shingles. Here are the figures showing the comparative cost of
one-ply Paroid and B. C. Cedar Shingles.

    Clear cedar shingles per square        $3.10
    4 lbs. nails at 3¢ per lb.               .12
    Average cost of carpenter labor         1.25  4.47
                                           ———
    Cost per square foot             45¢

    1-ply Paroid per square                $2.50
    Laying                                   .35  2.85
                                           ———
    Cost per square foot            28½¢

Lumber dealers all over the United States and Canada who previously
sold shingles exclusively, now sell large quantities of Paroid Roofing.
That tells the whole story.

In the core of each roll of Paroid sufficient nails, rust-proof caps,
cement, and complete directions for applying are packed. You can lay
it yourself with a hammer and knife. One-ply Paroid, costing about one
half as much as shingles, is heavy enough for most farm and poultry
buildings. For barns, stables, and other large buildings we recommend
two-ply, which is heavier and thicker.


PAROID _vs._ OTHER READY ROOFINGS

There are certain qualities that all ready roofings must have, but the
important question is, How long do they keep these qualities? We have
made our story short, but at the same time complete enough, so that you
can be your own judge when you compare our claims for Paroid with the
claims of other manufacturers.

[Illustration: A hog house on a Vermont farm, covered with PAROID.]

READY ROOFING EXPERIENCE. You have probably read the advertisements of
some manufacturers who claim that because they have had fifty to one
hundred years’ experience (in some business or other), that they
make the best ready roofing. We have been making felt, paper and
roofing materials here in our own mills for nearly one hundred years
(established in 1817) but WE REFUSE TO CLAIM that the length of time we
have been established has anything to do with the real merit of Paroid
Roofing. It shows only that we have had the right kind of experience.
We maintain that the test of time is the only real test of a roofing.
Paroid has stood this test.

[Illustration: Paroid covers the Plant Industry Buildings, U. S.
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.]

THE OLD CRY OF THE IMITATORS. Most manufacturers warn you against
“imitations” of their “genuine” ready roofing. Investigate, and
you’ll find that the imitators themselves are the first to talk about
imitations. The question of imitations has nothing to do with the
merits of a particular roofing. Some imitations are often better than
the originals; but there is only one way to prove it—the test of time
is the test that tells. Paroid has stood this test.

PAROID IS MADE BETTER THAN OTHER READY ROOFINGS. There are three
important things that enter into the manufacture of ready roofing;
namely, the felt, saturation and the coating.

We make the felt for Paroid Roofing in our own mills because we could
not entrust to others the making of the most important part of Paroid.
If the felt is not right the roofing will not be. Do not run risks. Buy
your roofing from manufacturers who make their own felt.

SATURATION AND COATING. The strong, well-made Paroid Roofing felt is
soaked, not merely dipped, in a compound of our own, rendering every
fibre of it absolutely proof against water, cold and heat. The felt is
then given a thicker, smoother and more pliable coating than that on
any other ready roofing. Compare samples and you will see and feel the
difference. It is more flexible in cold, and it will not melt or run
in the heat. It is more sightly, and lays easier and smoother than any
other ready roofing.

[Illustration: Roof of Brooder house, covered with PAROID, White
Leghorn Poultry Yards, Waterville, N. Y. See plan and description on
page 12.]

WE WERE THE ORIGINATORS OF THE COMPLETE ROOFING KIT

Inside of each roll of Paroid is packed cement, nails, rust-proof caps,
and complete directions for applying. Anyone can lay Paroid and get
good results if the directions are carefully followed.

OUR PATENTED RUST RETARDING CAPS

Paroid is the only ready roofing supplied with rust retarding caps for
applying the roofing to a building. They are square, and therefore,
have more binding surface than the ordinary round caps. The nails are
also coated with a rust retarding preparation.

[Illustration: Largest stock barn on the largest stock farm in
Minnesota. Eight hundred squares of PAROID put on roof of this barn by
the farm hands themselves.]


PAROID FOR FARM AND POULTRY BUILDINGS

Paroid is adapted to all kinds of buildings and especially farm and
poultry buildings. It makes a building warmer in winter and cooler in
summer than other kinds of roofing. It will not taint rain water and is
not affected by gases and fumes.


PAROID FOR SIDING

The next time you put up a poultry house, shed, or other farm building,
lay Paroid on the roof yourself, and then apply it to the sides with
battens. You will be surprised at the neat effect it gives, and it is
more economical than clapboards and shingles.


OUR GUARANTEE

You run no risks when you buy Paroid. Every roll is sold on this
guarantee.

Buy a roll of Paroid; open it; examine it; apply it to your roof; and
then, if you are not satisfied that you have the best ready roofing on
the market, send us your name and address and we will send you a check
for the full amount you have paid for the roofing, including the cost
of applying it.

[Illustration: D. J. Lambert says, “PAROID is all right;” and he knows.]

Our dealers all over the country who handle Paroid will also make you
this offer. If your dealer does not carry Paroid in stock, send us your
order and check or money order direct. We will pay the freight.

[Illustration: Bird’s-eye View of Egg Plant. W. Harry Owen’s Farm,
Vineyard Haven, Mass. All buildings are covered with PAROID.]


PRICES

You can pay most any price for a ready roofing, and, like everything
else, you get as much quality as you pay for. Paroid may cost more than
other ready roofings the day you buy it, but it is less expensive after
it is applied to your roof, because it will last longer. We maintain
that the test of time is the test that tells, and Paroid has stood that
test. Don’t make a mistake and buy a roofing that will go to pieces in
a short time. If you would save money, choose the roofing that lasts
the longest.

PRICE LIST

    Paroid Roofing, 1-ply, $2.50 per square (100 sq. ft.).
    Paroid Roofing, 2-ply, $3.50 per square (100 sq. ft.).

These prices include extra roofing for laps and nails, rust-proof caps,
cement, and directions for applying.

[Illustration: Meadow Brook Farm poultry plant, Dallas, Pa. Roofs are
covered with PAROID.]

[Illustration: Monmouth Poultry Farm, Freneau, N. J. Roof covered with
PAROID.]

                                AMBOY, ILL., Dec. 29, 1905.

        F. W. BIRD & SON, Chicago, Ill.

           Please send me your up-to-date poultry and farm
         building plans. I use Paroid, and can find no equal.
         I am going to build a hog house, and will cover it
         with Paroid.
                             Yours respectfully,
                                        F. M. BLOWERS.

                                              Aug. 15, 1905.

         MESSRS. F. W. BIRD & SON,
             East Walpole, Mass.

            _Gentlemen_: Of three kinds of paper used this
         season on my bee hive covers, your Paroid has given such
         satisfaction that I would use nothing else in future.

                             Yours respectfully,
                                        E. H. DEWEY.

          Great Barrington, Mass.

                                  AKRON, OHIO, June 11, 1906.

    F. W. BIRD & SON,
              Chicago, Ill.

      _Gentlemen_: Enclosed you will find the slip
    that I received from you filled out with my address and
    a two-cent stamp, for which please send me the book
    “Practical Farm Buildings,” and oblige.

      In regard to your Paroid Roofing will say that it
    is the best that I have seen to date, for durability,
    easiness to lay, and its wearing qualities.

      I have used it on my poultry buildings for the last
    ten years, and if occasion demands that I shall need
    any more roofing for any additional poultry buildings
    PAROID it shall be.

      So hoping to receive the book as soon as convenient
    for you to send it, I remain,
                             Yours respectfully,
                                        PAUL C. BORK.

    343 Hickory St.

[Illustration: PAROID covers a Vermont barn and silo.]

[Illustration: The Largest Duck Farm in the World. Duck breeding house,
roof and sides covered with PAROID, Weber Bros., Pondville, Mass.]

[Illustration: Willow Brook Farm, Berlin, Conn. All poultry buildings
are covered with PAROID. See testimonial below.]

                           BERLIN, CONN., Jan. 24, 1906.

    F. W. BIRD & SON,
          East Walpole, Mass.

      _Dear Sirs_: We find your Paroid roofing paper
    the very best we have ever used. We have thousands of
    visitors who are looking for information in regard to
    roofing paper each year, and in each and every instance
    we recommend your roofing paper. We have done this
    because we think it is the best out, and will take
    pleasure in recommending it in the future.

                             Very truly yours,
                                    WILLOW BROOK FARM.

[Illustration: Pigeonry on Jordan’s Hackney Stud Farm, Plymouth, Mass.
Covered with PAROID.]

[Illustration: Round House of the New York Central & Hudson River
Railroad, near High Bridge, N. Y.]


                             CITY OF DETROIT, MICH.,
                             DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS,
                             March 28, 1906.

    F. W. BIRD & SON,
          East Walpole, Mass.

      _Gentlemen_: Please send me a copy of your book
    of farm and poultry building plans, and oblige. I have
    one building covered with your Paroid, and like it very
    much. It wears well and gives no trouble.

                              Yours truly,
                    (_Signed_)    PORTER MURPHY.

    82 Perry St., Detroit, Mich.

[Illustration: Tongue Point Lumber Co., Astoria, Oregon. Covered with
PAROID.]

[Illustration: Woodbury & Walker Block, Burlington, Vermont. Roofed
with PAROID.]



NEPONSET RED ROPE ROOFING


[Illustration]

[Illustration]

For over twenty-five years Neponset has been the standard low cost
roofing and siding. It must not be compared with tarred felts just
because it costs about the same. Neponset will usually outlast them
three to one.

Neponset won’t run and dry out like tarred felts. It is easier to apply
and cleaner to handle.

Figure it out for yourself. A tarred felt costing the same as Neponset
lasts only a few seasons. Neponset lasts at least from five to seven
years and in most cases longer. If you are going to use a low cost
roofing, Neponset will save you money.

Neponset makes a practically permanent siding, and if Paroid is too
expensive for both roof and sides, we recommend Paroid for the roof and
Neponset for the sides.

Neponset is put up in rolls 36 inches wide, containing, 100, 250 and
500 square feet. Fixtures and directions for applying Neponset are
packed inside of each roll.

NEPONSET BLACK WATERPROOF PAPER is made especially for sheathing
purposes, but it will last a year or two on the roof or sides of
buildings. It costs less and is cleaner to handle than tarred felts.
Neponset Black is put up in rolls 36 inches wide containing 250 and 500
square feet.


NEPONSET WATERPROOF SHEATHING PAPER

One of the most important items that every house builder ought to
consider is that of sheathing papers. This important question, unless
decided right, means an additional expense of many dollars in fuel
each year. Sheathing papers are used to keep out cold and dampness,
but only a few fulfill their purpose. Cold draughts penetrate cheap
papers, and in a very short time these cheap papers disintegrate and
become mere dust. A good waterproof paper repels dampness, keeps
out the cold and lasts the life of a building. For over twenty-five
years Neponset Papers have been the standard. Actual experiences have
proved that Neponset saves one-third of the fuel required to heat a
house, therefore, a big saving each year. Neponset acts as a blanket
on a house it keeps out the cold and keeps in the heat. Don’t lay the
foundations for an annual loss, save one-third of the money you would
spend on fuel. That’s what Neponset has done for others, it will do it
for you.

[Illustration: Bird’s-eye View of Chas. F. Thompson & Co.’s Poultry
Plant, Lynnfield Centre, Mass. See testimonial.]

                                LYNNFIELD CENTRE, MASS.,
                                    April 3, 1906.

    MESSRS. F. W. BIRD & SON,
            East Walpole, Mass.

      _Gentlemen_: Replying to yours of the 2nd, there
    is no photographer here that can take views. I am
    sending you a catalogue showing views we have half-tone
    plates for. If they will do I can loan them to you.
    The original photographs are lost. The long buildings
    shown, bird’s-eye view are covered with Neponset, put
    on nearly ten years ago; one coat of paint put on at
    the time, nothing done since and not a leak; appear in
    good condition now. Anything we can do for you let us
    know.
                                CHAS. F. THOMPSON & CO.

                       NEWBURGH, N. Y., April 13th, 1906.

    F. W. BIRD & SON,
          East Walpole, Mass.

      _Gentlemen_: Your favor at hand. Samples of
    leaflets only had Neponset on. Hope that you will
    also send some with Paroid as we find, in many cases,
    customers prefer to pay the difference.

      One of our roofs, about twelve hundred square feet,
    was covered with Red Rope some ten years ago. It had
    no care, but kept OK. until this season. Pretty good
    record for a cheap roof.
                              Yours very truly,
                                   THE NEWBURGH LUMBER CO.

[Illustration: A Pennsylvania Duck Farm. NEPONSET is especially adapted
for poultry houses.]

                             KANSAS CITY, Nov. 24, 1905.

    THE KANSAS CITY ROOFING & CORRUGATING CO.,
          Kansas City, Mo.

      _Gentlemen_: Replying to yours of the 22nd
    inst., we covered our large lumber shed and barn with
    Neponset Red Rope Roofing two years ago this fall,
    and painted same at once, and to this day is in good
    condition and has given us entire satisfaction. Other
    kinds of roofing which we paid more money for do not
    seem to have given us the service that this has. We
    ask you to kindly advise us what is the best paint to
    repaint this with, and which is the best season of the
    year to use same.
                              Yours very truly,
                                     BADGER LUMBER CO.,
                          (_Signed_) L. J. GILLES, Agent.

                         WAYLAND, N. Y., Oct. 20, 1906.

    F. W. BIRD & SON,
          East Walpole, Mass.

      _Gentlemen_: Will you please send me sample of
    sidings and roofings, and also prices? I want to get
    Neponset unless you have got something better. Neponset
    beats anything of the kind I ever used.

                                  Yours truly,
                                      W. E. MOULTON.

[Illustration: Dancing Pavilion, Easton, Pa. Roof is covered with
NEPONSET.]



PROSLATE ROOFING AND SIDING


PATENTED MAY 13, 1906

DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR PITCH ROOF HOUSES AND FOR A PERMANENT SIDING

[Illustration]


SPECIAL FEATURES

DESCRIPTION. Proslate is our regular Paroid roofing material with an
additional wearing surface (not a colored coating) of a mixture of
paint and sand, making a _slate-like_ surface, _slate_ in
color and effect. Proslate is an entirely new material—patented.

FOR PITCH ROOFS. Proslate is especially designed to take the place of
shingles and clapboards for residences. Attractiveness and economy
are both secured by using Proslate for pitch roofs. It is finished in
18-inch rolls, ready to lay, with ornamented edge.

Proslate is applied in the usual way—lapped, cemented and nailed—no
waste by excessive overlapping—cement and fixtures of same slate color
with complete directions for laying are packed in each roll. Any good
carpenter can apply it.

Proslate is finished in rolls containing 122 square feet, sufficient
to cover 100 square feet of surface and is sold on a basis of material
enough to cover 100 square feet.

FOR FLAT ROOFS AND SIDING. For flat roofs and as a siding, we furnish
Proslate in rolls 36 inches wide, plain straight edges. By the use of
broad cleats, a very neat effect can be made on the sides of houses.
Proslate for a siding is warmer than clapboards or shingles. It acts as
a blanket.

GENERAL USE. As a permanent all round roof, we believe that Proslate
represents the best material for the money yet made. It is good
enough for residences, factories and railroad buildings. Shingles are
unsatisfactory and cannot be used on flat roofs, porches, etc., and
slate is too expensive. Proslate fills every requirement of a good
roofing, well made with an extra weather surface, economical—permanent.



FLORIAN SOUND-DEADENING FELT


This material is used between floors as an insulator against sound.
It is, without any exception, the cleanest and most effective
sound-deadening felt made. The corrugations make small dead air cells
when the felt is placed in position and this is considered to be the
most effective method of deadening sound. Tests have proved that one
sheet of Florian is equal to six sheets of ordinary deadening felt.
Florian is also a good non-conductor of fire, heat and cold. It should
be used between floors in every house to insure a well insulated
building.


OTHER THINGS WE MAKE

We make Neponset and Kosat Insulating Papers for cold storage work;
Parine Paint, especially for our own roofings, and all kinds of outside
work; Tack, Screw, and Shoe boxes, all kinds of special papers and
paper boxes.

We have had a large experience with all kinds of building and roofing
construction, and if we can help you on any of your problems please be
sure to write us.

[Illustration]

                       F. W. BIRD & SON, MAKERS
                           ESTABLISHED 1817

                          EAST WALPOLE, MASS.
                 NEW YORK      WASHINGTON      CHICAGO

              CANADIAN FACTORY AND OFFICE, HAMILTON, ONT.
                WESTERN CANADIAN OFFICE, WINNIPEG, MAN.



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