GROWING FEED FOR POULTRY 



111 



The seed should be sown not too thickly in rows 10 to 

 12 inches apart. Seed should be sown to produce several 

 times the number of plants required, thus giving a good 

 selection when transplanting. The young plants should 

 be cultivated enough to keep the soil loose and free from 

 weeds. 



Cabbages do best on strong but friable black soils, 

 but with proper management and liberal applications of 

 manure heavy crops can be grown on any soil that is in 

 good tillage To grow cabbage economically, however, 

 the soil mrsi: be reasonably well suited to the crop. 



Tb<; plot selected for the crop should be one not 

 fo* it the previous season. If the land carries a 

 liberal amount of fertilizer from previous crops and i? 

 in a very good state of tillage, or if manure is available 

 for a heavy application to the entire piece, it will be least 

 work to put the manure on broadcast and plough under. 

 On lands less heavily fertilized to begin with, better re- 

 sults may be obtained by furrowing deeply where the 

 rows are to run. manuring in the furrows and turning the 

 soil back into them before setting out the plants. For 

 horse cultivation the rows should be from 3 to 4 feet apart, 

 and the plants from 2 to 2 l / 2 feet apart in the rows. The 

 best distances will depend upon the variety of cabbage 

 used and the fertility of the land, and can be determined 

 only by experience and knowledge of both. 



Growing Turnips 



The advantage of growing turnips for poultry is that 

 a crop can be obtained from plantings made when it is too 

 late to st?rt beets or ?et out cabbage. The time for sow- 

 ing rutabagas is about a month later than the latest date 

 that mangels can be sown with expectation of a fair crop; 

 the common varieties are sown still a month later in the 

 last of July, and in the latitude of southern New England 

 turnips may be sown as late as the first of September, and 

 give a good supply of small roots. Unlike mangels and 

 cabbage, turnips are best grown on light soils and without 

 fresh manures. The best land fcr them is land that is in 

 good tillage and contains a moderate amottrt of old 

 manure remaining from applications for previous crops. 

 Rutabagas and the larger varieties of other turnips should 

 have the rows 18 to 24 inches apart and be thinned to 

 leave the plants 6 to 10 inches apart in the row, ac- 

 cording to the variety and the time of planting. When 

 planted too late to make full growth the plants can stand 

 closer. 



Growing Stock Carrots 



Carrots are not often especially grown for poultry, but 

 if one happens to have a piece of sour land upon which 

 the other crops mentioned will not thrive, it will often be 

 found that such a plot will grow a good crop of carrots. 

 The earlier it is planted the better the crop will be. A 

 fair to good crop is often obtained from sowings made as 

 late as the early part of July. For these late sowings, 

 however, the half-long and large stump-rooted carrots are 

 preferable to the long stock carrots. 



Carrots are usually sown in rows from 14 to 20 or 

 more inches apart, according to size and season. On rich 

 land they can be grown, if desired, without thinning. The 

 roots will not be as large or as uniform in size as when 

 thinned to a few inches apart, but the total weight of the 

 crop is usually considerably greater. 



Storing Vegetables for Poultry 



As far as such space is available or can be provided, 

 permanent cellars are best and most convenient for storing 

 cabbage and roots for poultry. Barn cellars, special root 

 cellars, and incubator cellars are equally satisfactory. The 

 latter, of course, are available for this purpose only 



through the early part of the winter. For storage of cab- 

 bage in any considerable quantity in cellars, shelving 

 should be provided upon which the heads as taken up with 

 the loots can be spread in single layers. In large heaps 

 in a cellar, cabbages are likely to heat and rot badly. 

 Roots can be stored in cellars either in bins or in piles 

 on the floor. They should never be stored with tops on, 

 for the tops, if packed at all close, will heat and rot quickly 

 and communicate the rot to the roots. 



Outside pits for storing cabbage, and sometimes other 

 roots, serve in emergencies; but the labor of making them, 

 the tiouble of taking stuff from them as wanted, and the 

 larger proportion of waste in stuff so stored, make the 

 cost of building a pit annually for a few years equal to that 

 of a permanent root cellar of considerably more capacity, 

 and immeasurably more convenient. 



Growing Grain for Poultry 



The question of growing grain for poultry is on a very 

 different footing from that of growing vegetables. As a 

 rule, the only way that one can be sure of having mangels 

 and cabbage in quantity is to grow them. On most farms 

 that carry large stocks of poultry the greater part of the 

 grain used must be bought because there is neither land 

 nor labor available to grow it. Even when land is avail- 

 able it is generally difficult to get the labor. Hence, in 

 general, the question of growing grain for poultry is a 

 question of using to advantage the manure not needed for 

 vegetable crops, fruit or grassland, and the usual practice 

 is to plant as much land to corn as can be conveniently 

 taken care of, or as the available manure can be spread 

 over. The average cornfield on a small farm devoted to 

 poultry is probably under two acres. A great many are 

 less than an acre. Occasionally on larger farms fields of 

 four or five acres are planted. These corn plots are not 

 always manured with collected manure. Frequently they 

 aie on land close to the poultry buildings and have only 

 the fertilizer left on the land by the birds. The great 

 advantage of planting corn in such places is that it affords 

 shade for "the poultry, can be grown on the same land 

 indefinitely year after year, and in any medium-loose and 

 well-drained soil will keep the land pure enough to prevent 

 troubles due to contaminated soil. 



The average yield of corn grown under either of the 

 above conditions, cultivated as long as practical, and 

 then used for range for fowls or chickens, is about 100 

 bushels to the acre. It is seldom under 60 or 70 bushels, 

 and occasionally over 150. Instances have been reported 

 of more than 200 bushels to the acre, but this was accom- 

 plished by careful spacing of the stalks in the rows and 

 extremely high culture. Two or three acres at average 

 yields provide a quantity of corn that materially con- 

 tributes to the feed supply, while the stalks, cut in lengths, 

 make good scratching litter. 



Oats are often grown by poultrymen to provide 

 straw for scratching litter, and incidentally for what 

 grain the oats threshed by the birds on the poultry 

 house floor supply. Oats, however, appear to be of much 

 less interest to those limited for land than corn, for most 

 poultry farms are on rather light land not especially 

 suited to oats, and, besides, the poultry must be kept away 

 from the oats while growing. 



Millet is sometimes grown, like oats, for the stra\v 

 and what grain' it may contain.. It is better adapted to 

 light soils than oats, has a later season, and stands 

 drought better. 



Growing Green Rye For Poultry 



Winter rye is probably the most widely adaptable 

 and most effective crop for the purification of foul 

 ground. It also affords supplies of green feed in open 

 winters and in the early spring. It can be sown at any 

 time that the ground can be worked, but to get the most 

 benefit, both in cleaning the land and in supplies of green 

 feed, it should be put in early in the fall so that it will be 

 well established and cover the ground well before win- 

 ter. Then poultry can feed on the rye as it stands, any 

 time that the snow does not cover it, while it will be 

 ready either to pasture or to cut for feed the first thing 

 in the spring. Rye on poultry land should be sown 

 rather more thickly than as ordinarily grown to make 

 long straw. 



