BALANCING A DIETARY. 



37 



Here the nutritive ratio is 83'2 : 380' i, or slightly 

 under l : 4A, which a little more flesh will bring 

 as high as desired. Both these mashes are, 

 however, excessively nitrogenous, and it would 

 be better to use maize in the form of meal, 

 " balanced " as in Table I. above, for the break- 

 fast ; when good heavy white oats given as grain 

 at night would well keep up the total ratio. 



Potatoes and bread are dangerous foods as 

 commonly used, but are often very cheap, and 



can be dealt with upon the same 

 Potatoes in principle. Let us see what we can 

 Dietary. do with potatoes, taking oats for the 



evening feed in order to lessen the 

 difficulty of the balance : — 



common mash is composed of sharps and barley- 

 meal ; we will test this : — 



Here, the potatoes being watery, the 2f lbs. of 

 mash are not more than sufficient against 2 lbs. 

 of dry oats. We find we have brought the 

 ratio (60 : 242) up to 1 : 4, so that less malt dust 

 would suffice, or the little more would quite 

 balance a less rich grain than oats, such as buck- 

 wheat or wheat. Pea-meal would have the same 

 effect ; but with potatoes, above almost any food, 

 the digestive qualities of malt dust make it 

 much the best corrective where possible. The 

 above is still rather deficient in fat, which can be 

 easily supplied by a little animal fat, or a little 

 ground oil-cake, or oily seeds. 



Or let us examine by itself the very common 

 mash of potatoes and bran, taking equal parts : — 



Theratio here is high, i : <\\, and will answer with 

 any grain not very inferior at night. The de- 

 ficiency is in fat, and we must also keep watch against 

 any signs of chronic intestinal irritation. If we 

 can add a little fat the one fault will be remedied ; 

 and if we can add even a little malt sprouts, the 

 digestibility of the bran will be much improved, 

 and a really good mash produced. Another 



The ratio here is i : 4i, which is good, and the 

 chief deficiency is in fat, which is easily supplied. 

 Yet again, in America a mash of two parts 

 of bran to one of maize-meal is in practice 

 very common for chicks in brooder-houses. 



This gives a ratio of nearly i : 4^, quite vindi- 

 cating practice by science. The mash is usually 

 supplemented by a little animal food. 



In the case of fowls kept on good grass runs, 



it is often a great saving of labour to give a diet 



of grain alone, and they will do well 



upon it when thus circumstanced, if 



the grain is properly chosen. Good 



white oats should form one of the 



components, for the sake of the albuminoids and 



fat. Let us take : 



Grain alone 

 as Diet. 



This ratio (25 : 127) is pretty good, very nearly 

 1 : 5, and contains a fair amount of fat. The next 

 best grains are barley and wheat, both of which 

 are poor in fats and oils. Here, perhaps, the 

 best of all dry correctives, if obtainable, would 

 be sunflower-seed, v/hose food-value comes out 

 especially in such a case as this ; it is so rich in 

 fats, and at the same time in albuminoids, that, 

 where it is obtainable, a small quantity will fully 

 correct even such dry grains as wheat and barley. 

 If one entire feed could be given of it, it would 



