1906.] THE NEW POULTRY CULTURE. 1 39 



" On the first of last November we began feeding 550 

 April and May hatched pullets wholly on dry food. They were 

 in the curtain-front houses with warm elevated roosting closets 

 and in flocks of 50, 100, and 150. At five o'clock in the morn- 

 ing the flocks of fifty birds were given two quarts of cracked 

 corn ; at half-past ten they had one quart of wheat and one 

 quart of oats. This dry material was all spread on the litter 

 on the floor but was not raked in. Along one side of the pens 

 were feed troughs with slatted fronts, in which was kept a sup- 

 ply of the dry material of which the moist mash, before de- 

 scribed, was composed. These troughs were never allowed to 

 remain empty when the supply was exhausted. The dry mash 

 was constantly within the reach of all birds and they helped 

 themselves at will. Oyster shell, dry cracked bone, grit, and 

 charcoal were accessible at all times. A moderate supply of 

 raw mangolds and plenty of clean warm water was furnished 

 them. When they were first put upon this ration they were 

 not acquainted with the dry mixture in the troughs and ate of 

 it sparingly, but in three or four days they were using as much 

 of it as at any later time until they got to laying heavily. When 

 the feeds of cracked corn, wheat, and oats were given, the birds 

 were always ready and anxious for them and would scratch 

 in the litter for the very last kernel before going to the troughs 

 where an abundance of food was in store. 



" It was very evident that they liked the broken and whole 

 grains better than the mixture of the fine materials ; yet they 

 by no means disliked it, for they helped themselves to it — a 

 mouthful or two at a time — whenever they seemed to need it, 

 and never went to bed with empty crops so far as we could 

 discover. They apparently did not like it well enough to gorge 

 themselves with it, and sit down, loaf, get over-fat and lay 

 soft-shelled eggs, as is so commonly the case with Plymouth 

 Rocks when they are given warm morning mashes in troughs. 



" Some of the advantages of this method of feeding are 

 that the mash is put in the troughs at any convenient time," 

 only guarding against an exhaustion of the supply, and the en- 

 tire avoidance of the mobbing that always occurs at trough 

 feeding when that is made a meal of the day, whether it be at 

 morning or evening. There are no tailings to be gathered up 

 or wasted as is common when a full meal of mash is given at 

 night. The labor is very much less, enabling a person to care 

 for more birds than when the regular evening meal is given. 



