1906.] THE NEW POULTRY CULTURE. 1 25 



ing of the poultry business. That there may be many con- 

 tributing causes to the unsatisfactory resuhs has been conceded 

 by poultry writers, among them unsanitary conditions in the 

 houses and ground of yards poisoned by the droppings, ver- 

 min infestation, stock debilitated by inbreeding and breeding 

 from late hatched and consequently immature pullets and cock- 

 erels, bungling methods of feeding, shutting the birds up in 

 tight houses, etc., etc., etc., — any or all of these may have 

 helped to the unsatisfactory results above noted. 



In the last few years observing poultrymen have been ex- 

 perimenting along two dififerent paths, in the hope of finding 

 aids to better results ; one of these paths being to more and 

 more open up the houses to fresh air and sunlight, the other 

 being a better and more common-sense method of feeding; 

 the first of these we have not time to study in detail, merely 

 pausing to observe that it is a decided gain in method, and sub- 

 stantially improves the conditions of health in the flocks — the 

 second, that of feeding, gives us all the range we have time for 

 today. 



That quite a good deal of the trouble we have been having 

 with our flocks was due to defects in methods of feeding has 

 come to be the opinion of many observers, and of late the 

 feeling has been gaining ground that the feeding of a cooked 

 mash is a serious rnistake. One reason for this is found in 

 the fact that the fowls gobble the food down very quickly, far 

 too quickly for the digestive organs to properly perform their 

 allotted task, and the results have appeared in the form of indi- 

 gestion, looseness of the bowels, and other symptoms of the 

 birds being out of condition. Not infrequently the birds have 

 become over fat, the organs become engorged, a blood vessel 

 bursts, and a fowl is found dead under the roost in the morn- 

 ing. The explanation of this is that feeding a cooked mash is 

 " forcing " the birds beyond their ability to digest and assimi- 

 late ; it is analogous to " forcing " for rapid growth of tender, 

 delicate flesh for market, and the process is all right for chick- 

 ens that are to be early killed for the table; for that definite 

 purpose the quicker the growth the greater the profit. But for 

 birds that are to endure the strain of persistent egg-produc- 

 tion, and are to be the parents of strong, vigorous, bound-to- 

 live offspring, the " forcing " process invites disaster, because 

 it induces and continues a condition of tenderness, which is 



