MAY 1, 1915 



385 



iliev liadii'L been having. 1 thought il was 

 more meat, and gave them more ground 

 bones; but it was about the same. Then 1 

 gave a bigger allowance of the wet-up 

 niiddling-s, and that seemed to " hit the 

 spot." When chickens have been lacking 

 something, and finally get it, they will all 

 go and sit down on a log, in a long row, and 

 look satisfied and contented — at least mine 

 do that way. To make sure it was the 

 toheat tliey wanted, I gave them some chick 

 feed that contained wheat, and they grab- 

 bed ravenously every bit of wheat. They 

 had gotten tired of corn, and wanted their 

 old ration. The egg-yield increased at once 

 after they got it. 



Well, I have been experimenting to find 

 out, especiall}' here in Florida, what we can 

 grow to take the place of the expensive 

 shipped-in gi'ain. Cassava answers finely, 

 as I have told you ; but it takes a long time 

 to grow it, and it can't be grown at all 

 where there is much frost. I told you, 

 whenever you set a hen, to sow some radish 

 seed ; and radish comes so quickly, and is 

 so greedily taken by the fowls, I think just 

 now it is one of the very best things, not 

 only for growing chicks, but for laying hens 

 as well. Mustard and turnips are too slow. 

 I get from the Kilgore Seed Co., Plant City, 

 Fla., an ounce of mixed radish seed for ten 

 cents, and I wish you all could see the row 

 of radishes from this one ounce sowed four 

 or five weeks ago. Of course I put on a 

 little guano; but the cost of the seed and 

 guano, compared to the basketful after 

 basketful of " greens " is but a trifle. 

 Sprouted oats is a fine thing, and we owe 

 a vote of thanks to Edgar Briggs for stir- 

 ring up the poultry world about it, as he 

 did. even if he did get pretty good pay for 

 so doing. Lettuce and cabbage are both 

 fine; but it takes ever so much longer to get 

 a crop of either than it does of radish. Col- 

 lards, a sort of cabbage gi'own here in the 

 South, I am just testing, and this reminds 

 me of a story I tell visitors. 



THREE PAYING CROPS FROM THE SAME 

 GROUND IN LESS THAN SIX MONTHS. 



The strip of ground is next to the mul- 

 berrj'-trees, where I had my poultry-houses 

 for perhaps three winters. In Novembei- 

 we dug the dasheens then on the gi-ound, 

 and planted Triumph potatoes. Tliese were 

 dug and sold in February ($2.00 a bushel), 

 and collard plants set out. These last, from 

 the start, were a " happy surprise." Some 

 of the plants are now (April 2) 18 inches 

 high and .'^0 across. I am told that down 

 here, on good soil, you can pull ofT the 

 lower leaves as needed, and the top will 

 keeji growing year after year. 



I have recently seen a statement from 

 some good authority, I think it was the 

 American Poultry Journal, that if one were 

 to give up either meat or green stuff for his 

 poultry he had better stick to the "greens." 



Some time ago I mentioned a little creek 

 that crosses near one corner of our five acres. 

 Well, this creek is mostly fed by the waste 

 from artesian wells, and, of course, takes 

 the drainage from excessive rains. One of 

 our neighbors. Dr. Braymer, brought some 

 watercress roots from New York and plant- 

 ed in this " run " some time ago. The roots 

 or seed finally came down stream, and this 

 winter there is a mass of watercress almost 

 filling the stream from bank to bank, for 

 almost one-fourth mile with some of the 

 stems as large as a hoe-handle. A few days 

 ago my neighbor Rood remarked he was 

 almost ready to give somebody $30 to clean 

 out the stream so the water could get away 

 during a freshet.. I suggested tivo things to 

 neighbor Rood: First, that the tremendous 

 growth of cress was largely owing to the 

 fertilizer that had been carried into the 

 creek from his fields by the unusual rains 

 of the winter. I think he has put on his 25 

 acres something like $1500 worth. My oth- 

 er suggestion was that I would take it ail 

 away, without any $50, for my 135 chick- 

 ens, big and little. With all our books on 

 poultry, why can't we have at least one on 

 green stuff for chickens? Will not some 

 one of our experiment stations get at if? 

 or, better still, the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington, D. C? 



THE "blind hen," ETC. 



Now for the second part of our heading. 

 Wliat breed of chickens will take most 

 kindly to green stuff in the place of grain? 

 When the Brahmas first came out it was 

 claimed they would live and lay almost 

 without grain, if given access to a clover- 

 field, and it is, I think, admitted that Rhode 

 Island Reds live largely on green feed if 

 they can get it. I have objected to them 

 in place of Leghorns because it cost more 

 to feed them ; but, wait a minute. I have 

 already mentioned a Rhode Island hen that 

 laid big yellow eggs in November wlien we 

 got here, and scarcely a Leghorn laid at all. 

 Two years ago I bought of neighbor Rood 

 two Reds because my Leghorns would not 

 sit. Well, this hen is one of them. She is 

 blind in one eye, and her egg is mucli dark- 

 er than any other, so you see it is no liouble 

 at all to " trap nest " her. When we got 

 liere in November she was laying two days, 

 and then skipped a day. Soon she laid 

 three days, and then a skip, and a little 

 later she laid every day. As T felt sure 

 from former experience she would soon 



