No. 4.] POULTRY AND EGG PRODUCTION. 31 



Mr. PiERSON. You don't get as much of lactic acid in the 

 skim milk? 



Professor Lewis. No, but you get a high protein content 

 which is very desirable; you get a lot of casein which you do 

 not get in buttermilk. 



Mr. H. G. Worth. I would like to ask in feeding mature 

 birds, why you feed cracked corn with your wheat instead of 

 whole corn. 



Professor Lewis. Our idea in feeding our grain ration is to 

 get exercise, as much as anything else. If we feed whole corn, 

 a bird grabs a piece of whole corn and has got the equivalent 

 of six or eight pieces of cracked corn, and it will fill our birds' 

 crops up with much less exercise than cracked corn. Its food 

 value is absolutely the same, but we are strong advocates of 

 cracked corn for that one reason if no other. There are times 

 when whole corn is desirable; in the winter, when it is very 

 cold and we want to give the bird things that will fill it up 

 quickly, we feed whole corn possibly, at noon; otherwise we 

 feed cracked corn. 



Mr. Worth. Would not feeding the cracked corn be more 

 expensive? Wouldn't there be particles of it that the bird 

 would not get, and would not the bird get sufficient exercise 

 in finding the corn without being fed with cracked corn? 



Professor Lewis. We always feed a sifted cracked corn, and 

 there is probably no waste. 



Question. In regard to feeding snow, what have you to 

 say in regard to letting poultry eat snow instead of water? 



Professor Lewis. It is our practice, and the practice 

 throughout our section, never to let birds out, that we want 

 to get egg production from, after the first snow falls in the fall, 

 or after the ground gets frozen and muddy. Here is the prop- 

 osition: birds going out and eating snow, or going out on cold, 

 wet days, get chilled, and it is bound to reduce their produc- 

 tion. The chilling seems to retard their reproductive functions 

 and sets them back, and I should be strongly opposed to let- 

 ting birds out where they could get snow in the winter when 

 I was after egg production. With breeders, where I wanted a 

 full amount of vigor, I would let them run out all winter. 



Mr. J. W. Sanborn. What do you think is the best litter? 



