50 COMMON SENSE.. 
part of the time of one man and a girl, and so much of my own time 
as was not occupied with the oversight of the rest of the place, 
and such other calls as are usually made upon a man in a similar 
position. 
3. My present accommodations would enable me to care for 
about 125 fowls. 
1 4. That by hiring a good, steady, elderly woman, who would 
give all her time to the fowls, I could easily increase the number 
to 1,000 birds. I proposed to oversée and direct; as well as to aid 
in actual work; the man would do the heavy work, and the girl could 
find time for a little general assistance, and as she was very much 
interested in the hens and chickens, she was always very willing to 
do so. 
These points being reached, several important questions pre- 
sented themselves, amongst which were the following:—1. How 
many birds can I keep successfully on the land that I have available 
for such a purpose? 2. How much extra house room must I pro- 
vide? and, 3, How should I arrange the houses and yards ? 
I calculated that the paddock must be reserved for the horse 
and cow; one acre was already devoted to asparagus, so that this 
left about two acres of arable land, two acres of . shrubbery, and: 
half an acre of orchard, making about four and a. half acres, to 
which might be added the barnyards for the older fowls in winter, 
and the lawn for small chickens in summer. How many chickens 
could I keep in this space ? 
Upon no subject did I find such great diversity of opinion as 
upon the extent of ground that should be given to the flocks—in 
other words, in regard to their range. The author. of the “Egg 
Farm,” allows 624% acres to 5,000 birds, which is at the rate of 
544 square feet to each bird; Wright, the author. of “The Prac- 
tical Poultry Keeper,” in his own yards, allows 44 feet to each 
bird, and tells us that they thrive well. He also tells us that he has 
known of “fowls” being kept on a space of 12 feet by 3. This 
is at the rate of 36 square feet for several birds—say 3 to 5—or 
with an allowance of from 12 to 7 square feet for each. 
Geyelin in his “ Poultry Breeding in a. Commercial Point of 
