114 THE FAT OF THE LAND 
«JT 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. Ill see the 
mason at once and have him ready by the time 
