114 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



" I think you put that pretty low, sir ; we 

 ought to raise more than four hundred pullets 

 out of four thousand eggs." 



" Everything more will be clear gain. I shall 

 be satisfied with four hundred. We must also 

 get at the brooder house. This is the order in 

 which I want the buildings to stand in the 

 chicken lot : first, the incubating house, 10 feet 

 from the south line ; 40 feet north of this, the 

 brooder house ; and 120 feet north of that, the 

 first hen-house, with runs 100 feet deep. We'll 

 build other houses for the birds as we need them. 

 They are all to face to* the south. If the brooder 

 house is 50 feet long and 15 feet wide, it can 

 easily care for the eight hundred chicks, and for 

 half as many more, if we are lucky enough to get 

 them. 



" We'll have a five-foot walk against the north 

 wall of this house, and a ten-foot space north and 

 south through the centre for heating plant and 

 food. This will leave a space at each side ten by 

 twenty feet, to be cut into five pens four feet 

 by ten, each of which will mother a hundred 

 chicks or more. There must be plenty of glass 

 in the south wall, and we'll use overhead water 

 pipes in each hover. 



"There's no hurry about the poultry-houses. 

 You can build one in the early summer, and per- 

 haps another in the fall. I expect you to do the 

 carpenter work on these houses. I'll see the 

 mason at once and have him ready by the time 



