870 Journal of Agricultural Research voi.xx, no. h 



average daily gain or selling price was concerned, by those steers receiving 

 varying amounts of silage over those receiving only dry feed, except that 

 the gains were made in the former case at a slightly reduced cost as 

 compared with the latter, due largely to the fact that silage is cheaper 

 than clover hay. 



OBJECT OF THIS INVESTIGATION 



Since sprouted oats seemed to be inefficient in preventing chick mor- 

 tality, an attempt was made during the year 191 9 to find some means of 

 checking intestinal putrefaction, which postmortem examinations have 

 shown to be the principal cause of mortality. Accordingly it was de- 

 cided to try a series of different compounds which might be expected to 

 have an antiseptic effect or might serve to prevent impaction by reason 



of their bulk. 



THE EXPERIMENT 



The stock used was 160 White Leghorn day-old chicks, which were 

 divided into 10 lots of 16 chicks each. Every precaution was exercised 

 to distribute the chicks so that they would be uniform in all lots. During 

 the first four days the chicks in all lots were given water and granulated 

 corn and had access to sand. Thereafter they were given their respective 

 rations. At this time each bird was leg-banded and its weight was re- 

 corded. They were weighed individually at the end of each 14 days 

 thereafter until the close of the experiment, at the end of 14 weeks. The 

 weight of feed consumed by each lot was recorded each time the chicks 

 were weighed. 



The basal ration used was one which had proved most satisfactory dur- 

 ing the past two years of feeding trials, including two different experi- 

 ments — one with White Leghorns and the other with White Plymouth 

 Rock chicks. All lots received the basal ration consisting of 50 parts 

 cracked corn, 35 parts corn meal, 15 parts corn bran, 3 parts ash, 8.86 

 parts meat scrap, and 10.9 parts soybean meal (all parts by weight), and 

 were provided with 1 inch of sand on the floor. In addition to this, some 

 other factor was included in all lots, except in lot No. 1 which was the 

 control pen. Lot No. 2 was provided with oat straw litter to note what 

 effect the increased exercise or consumption of straw would have. Lot 

 No. 3 was fed like No. 2, except that it received green feed in the form of 

 tops of sprouted oats. The care of this lot represented the management 

 usually given brooder chicks, since it provided a well-balanced ration and 

 in addition supplied scratching litter and green feed. The exception to 

 the usual brooder practice was that the birds were kept in confinement. 

 Lots 3, 11, 13, and 14 are the lots reported in the tables as receiving green 

 feed. 



The idea has been advanced by some that the benefit of the scratching 

 litter was derived not from the exercise it promoted but from the large 

 quantities of the litter that were consumed by the birds, providing an 



