1 6 THE PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPER. 



by overcrowding upon it. But it is of no use attempting 

 a grass-run unless sufficient space can be given for it. 

 Six fowls of good size, such as Wyandottes or Rocks, 

 will need a grass-run not less than twenty-five by fifty 

 feet, which is at the rate of 200 fowls per acre ; ^nd 

 at this rate each run ought to be vacated for purification, 

 say, three months in the year. The grass will not be 

 kept down by the pen of birds, and must be cut when 

 too long, lest it form balls of tangled long grass in the crop, 

 and lest they eat blades, part of which may be contaminated. 

 Such fouled grass is poison, and all is avoided, and the 

 grass also freshened, and insects and worms made more 

 accessible, by mowing ; also the droppings are more quickly 

 washed into the actual soil to be absorbed by the crop, 

 instead of remaining adherent to the long grass. This is 

 very important in managing grass-runs. If the plot cannot 

 be vacated, it ought to be nearly double the size ; but this 

 comes to still more, and grass-runs for larger numbers will 

 have to be proportionately increased. 



Unless this requisite space can be .afforded, grass should 

 not be attempted, but the earth kept bare. It is generally 

 best to let it get hard and trodden, when much impurity 

 can be swept or scraped up. It should have the surface 

 pared off occasionally to use as manure, and now and then, 

 if necessary, be dug up a spade deep. Some prefer to keep 

 it loose, and dig up frequently, but we think the other plan 

 best. 



We must now consider briefly what arrangements should 

 be made for more extensive operations, reserving, however, 

 any really " farming " aspects of the matter for more special 

 treatment, and rather dealing here with the breeder or 

 fancier, who wants to breed from more pens of birds, and 

 rear an annual stock of chickens, but still keeping a com- 

 paratively small number in one breeding-pen. 



