The laying hens have about three acres for yards. This is divided into three different yards, one for the four hundred best pullets which I take the time to trap-nest, and the third one to be alternated with the other two so that they can all be ploughed and seeded, in order to keep the ground from becoming contaminated. I have planted cherry trees in one yard and will in the others later, to furnish shade for the fowls. I chose cherries for various reasons. They can stand the enrichment and the treatment of the land necessary for poultry; also, if they are well cared for, sprayed, etc., I can get a fancy market for them at home. The place had been noted in former years for its fine cherry orchard, so I believed the soil and location to be well adapted to them. We felt we could not afford to build an incubator cellar, so we moved the furniture from a north-east bedroom where we placed three four-hundred-egg incubators. We closed the east shutters so that the morning sun would not interfere with the temperature and used the north window for ventilation. It was successful and convenient. The brooder houses are located near the house as long as the little chicks need heat. I have started a hedge for a windbreak in front of them, which will also screen the poultry part of the plantation from the house. When the chicks no longer need heat the hovers of the brooder houses are removed and roosts put in. The houses, which are on runners, are drawn to a cornfield as soon as the corn has grown enough not to be injured by the chicks. Here they have free range all summer. By moving the first hatches to some shack houses, which are cheaply built, when the chicks no longer need heat the brooder houses can be used once again. There are two cornfields for growing the pullets, to be used in alternate years so the ground will be fresh. The corn gives shade and a sense of security, besides furnishing a considerable part of the winter feed. I hope to be able to grow corn for several successive years on the same ground by sowing either clover or rape at the last cultivation to furnish humus for the land. The following were our initial expenses: 3 400-egg incubators $111.00 8 brooder houses 320.00 4 shack houses 60.00 Laying pen for 1,200 hens 1,500.00 Fences 94.00 Tools and equipment for poultry 100.00 --------- Total $2,185.00 Last year I cleared two dollars over the cost of feed from each of my layers, from the sale of eggs alone. The pleasure and freedom of country life are worth much. A garden with high quality vegetables, fruit of all kinds and varieties, fresh eggs and poultry, goes a long way in making the cost of living less. (We save cracked, small, or misshapen eggs for our own use.) With a saddle horse and a tennis court, life in the country is far from dull.