54 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Mr. Andrews of Rockville. I notice that the lady gives 

 directions how to feed chickens. I know parties who make 

 a practice of mixing different kinds of grain and keeping it 

 where the fowls can get it whenever they want it. 



Miss Reed. I think, if the fowls are in confinement, they 

 would eat too much, and be too fat. 



Question. Do you make a practice of feeding sparingly, 

 so that there is nothing left after each feed ? 



Miss Reed. It depends upon circumstances. If I wish to 

 be gone a day, I throw them enough in the morning to last 

 until I get home. I give them a little corn on the cob. If 

 they are hungry enough to pick it off of the cob, it will not 

 hurt them. But if given shelled corn, any ordinary hen will 

 eat too much. 



Mr. Maynard of Rockville. It occurs to me to ask about 

 heating the poultry -house in the winter. What has been your 

 custom about artificial heat ? 



Miss Reed, I have no artificial heat at present. I did 

 have it for a very short time, when the house was new. It 

 was built late in the season, and the floor became very wet — 

 too wet to be used with safety — and my father put in a stove, 

 exciting the laughter of some of the neighbors and the good 

 wishes of some others. I think it was an advantage, but it 

 was too much work to tend the fire, and "we did not feel that 

 it was quite safe. The house was not built with sufficient 

 safeguards against fire to allow us to use a stove. But I think 

 if a house was properly built, and one was going into the 

 business to make money, the true way would be to have arti- 

 ficial heat. 



Mr. TiLLiNGHAST of Berlin Depot. I would like to inquire 

 the most economical way of supplying fowls in winter with 

 green food, and whether ensilage has ever been used for that 

 purpose. 



Miss Reed. I have never used ensilage. The only green 

 food we have used has been cabbage and apple-skins. They 

 are always supplied with an abundance of hay. I should be 

 very glad to hear if any of the gentlemen have used ensilage. 



