110 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 



The former were in a small coop about four feet square, 

 with a covered run formed by throwing cornstalks on 

 some poles, and setting a hot-bed sash up against the 

 south side. The food for the two coops was scalded 

 Indian meal. They were both fed from the same dish, 

 and in proportion according to their numbers. The 

 Plymouth Kocks laid well, and gained in flesh all win- 

 ter. The Brahmas "went back/' both in eggs and in 

 flesh. The reason was that the former had the strip- 

 pings from the cornstalks to help in the assimilation of 

 their food, which the latter did not have. This proved 

 conclusively that some such coarse food must be pro- 

 vided if we would have the fowls thrive. Well-cured 

 green cornstalks, and young, tender grass and clover 

 should be provided for poultry as regularly as hay for 

 other stock. 



The soft or poor heads of cabbages, stored by them- 

 selves, probably are the cheapest and most easily ob- 

 tained green food for poultry during winter. Two or 

 three heads hung so that the fowls can easily reach 

 them, around the sides of their coop, and renewed when 

 necessary, will well repay the trouble. If one is going 

 extensively into the raising of young chickens for an 

 early market, it will pay to sow lettuce-seed in a box, 

 and place it in a warm, sunny window. The young and 

 tender leaves are easily grown, and will add greatly to 

 the health and growth of the chickens. Onions should 

 also be grown and kept for feeding. They are by many 

 considered as a remedy for the chicken-cholera. If 

 chopped moderately fine, they will be eagerly consumed 

 by fowls. Tobacco should also be grown by every poul- 

 tryman who wishes to keep his stock free from parasitic 

 pests. Pull the plants before frost, and hang them in 

 the barn or shed to dry. A handful of the leaves in the 

 nests of sitting hens, particularly, will add a great deal 

 to their comfort, and more to that of their young. It 



