No. 4.] POULTRY AND EGG PRODUCTION. 33 



comb. Another flock of 100 Rocks and 100 Leghorns, in a 

 house with a solid glass front, where the temperature in the 

 house never went below zero, had their combs frozen and were 

 put entirely out of condition on account of the increased 

 moisture content due to lack of fresh air and ventilation. I 

 believe that birds will stand a very cold temperature, provid- 

 ing the atmospheric conditions are dry. I believe you will find 

 that the freezing of combs is not due so much to cold temper- 

 ature as it is to cold temperature combined with dampness, or 

 with dampness and poor ventilation, which means that the 

 birds are of low vitality. 



Mr. Carver. Do you advocate feeding wet mash? 



Professor Lewis. No, except in one or two instances; it 

 requires a good deal more labor, care and knowledge on the part 

 of the feeder, and if that care and knowledge is not present 

 it will put the birds out of condition. Dry mash will produce 

 just as many eggs. There are one or two instances where a 

 wet mash may be desirable, — for pullets coming in off the 

 range in the fall and that have not grown very well possibly a 

 little wet mash, just crumbly, with a little ginger or saltpeter 

 in it, may be desirable; and for yearlings that don't come back 

 so well when the molt is over, a little wet mash with a little 

 tonic in it may be desirable. A lot of our most successful 

 poultrymen feed wet mash and get along with it very well. 

 I am not condemning it, but it requires a personal application 

 and knowledge of the birds and their appetite which few of us 

 possess, and commercially or with a farm flock the same 

 results can be secured with much less labor by the feeding of a 

 dry mash. 



Mr. E. C. Barber. If we feed poultry six varieties of grain 

 at one time they will always pick the corn first; is that a sign 

 that it will do them the most good? 



Professor Lewis. No, I don't think so. We put some 30 

 grains and their by-products before a flock of 200 hens for a 

 year; corn was the favorite and barley next. I think they 

 need it, of course, to maintain themselves and provide heat 

 and energy, but wheat is a more evenly balanced ration for 

 poultry than corn, containing, as it does, considerable protein 

 and not as much carbohydrates or fat. Corn is a very de- 



