ipO/.j DISCUSSION. 89 



I recommend the use of buckwheat straw, and also the 

 broken pieces of buckwheat which are so often mixed in with 

 it. They do not eat the hull. There is much of that food that 

 is very good. I used to be greatly afraid of feeding grain, but 

 I think a great many do not feed their hens enough. Hens 

 need some strong food. I remember one time there was an 

 old gentleman came to the institute where we were going to 

 have a two or three days talk, and, by the way, that is some- 

 thing we do occasionally up in my section. We get together 

 and talk " chicken," and we keep it up until the subject is 

 pretty well thrashed out. Then we take up another topic and 

 we talk that over, and we learn very much from each other. 

 One day when we were holding one of those meetings an old 

 farmer got up in the back part of the hall and he said, " I wish 

 you would tell me why my hens don't lay." He was asked 

 what sort of hens his were, and he said that he had Plymouth 

 Rocks ; that he had been careful to select his pullets, but that 

 his hens did not lay. Mr. Rice, who was talking, said that he 

 could not understand why Plymouth Rock pullets should not 

 lay at that time of year. So at the noon hour they went out 

 to visit the farmer's poultry yard, and when they went in the 

 pens nearly all of those chickens tried to get at the man and 

 acted fairly crazy. " Why," said Mr. Rice, " those chickens are 

 hungry. What did you feed them this morning? How much 

 did you feed them? " " Why," he said, " I gave them this pint 

 cup full of " — whatever it was. Mr. Rice reached over and 

 picked up one of the birds, and the bird had scarcely any 

 solidity at all. It came up just like that. Those birds could 

 not lay. They did not have vitality enough to make them lay. 

 Hens have got to be fed generously. ' Feed what you have got 

 on your own place, and then buy what you need to make up a 

 good balanced ration as a supplement. It is always a good 

 thing to put in everything that comes from the house in the 



