POULTRY AND EGGS.- 239 



dollars with swine. I keep from eight to ten cows, and the 

 fowls and chickens take all the milk. It answers for grain 

 and meat and all things combined. I believe it is the testi- 

 mony of chemists that milk contains more of the constituents 

 of the Qgg than any other food. 



Question. I would like to ask the speaker to what time 

 of the year his remarks with regard to the food giv^en in the 

 morning apply ; whether the year round or only in the 

 w^intcr ? 



Mr. Hawkins. That was only for winter food. I men- 

 tioned that that was cold-weather feeding. When the season 

 grows warmer take a different food. 



Mr. Ballard. I let my fowls run at large. 



Mr. Hawkins. It makes a great deal of diirerence whether 

 they are at large or confined. I mentioned that they would 

 not need some of those articles when they were allowed to 

 run at large. 



Mr. Ballard. Have you ever used soap-chandler's 

 scraps ? 



Mr. Hawkins. I have used them, but I have meat that I 

 like better for the purpose. It is selected from the markets 

 in the city every day, and boiled for the tallow, and the 

 meat that boils from the bones I have saved for me. It 

 comes in a cooked form, ready to feed. It will not keep 

 long in Avarm weather, but I feed so much of it that I get 

 it fresh every day. 



Mr. Ballard. I tried some of the animal meal. I don't 

 know what it is. It is like a good many other things that 

 we buy, that we don't know much about. Finally I went 

 down to the soap-chandler's and bought five hundred pounds 

 of scraps, and I have followed it up every winter. I put it 

 where my fowls can go and eat it whenever they wish, and I 

 have had very good success with them in the winter. 



QuKSTiON. How do you keep eggs from freezing in 

 winter? 



Mr. Hawkins. If the house is constructed as I advise it 

 should be, the eggs will not freeze during the day in the 

 building. I do not want to leave them in the nests more 

 than one day. In cold weather the eggs should be collected 

 every night, and there will be no trouble from freezing. 



