Green Feeds Absolutely Necessary 



I have written so much and so often on green feed for poultry that 

 this may seem a repetition to my readers, but the truth is so important 

 that I wish continual suggestion to convert all. 



You may have every condition for hens and if you lack green feed 

 you will not make them pay. It is an impossibility, and the greater 

 the variety of green feed the better the results. It takes fertile soil 

 and plenty of water to grow good green feeds. Slow-growing greens 

 become bitter and tough and have not the food value and are not 

 palatable. Greens need to be grown quickly and to grow them quickly 

 requires a rich garden loam soil, well watered. A poultry ranch without 

 rich garden soil and plenty of cheap irrigating water is handicapped 

 here in California. 



The three best green feeds are kale, mangel wurzel beets, and alfalfa. 

 If your soil is rich and well watered, you can pick a crop of kale leaves 

 and beet tops every three weeks during the warm months. Alfalfa, to 

 be best relished, should be, also, cut every three and not over four 

 weeks, but to do this it must have plenty of poultry manure and water. 

 If you have these three green feeds before the hens as many months in 

 the year as possible, or from May to December, then you can rest 

 assured that hens will pay. From December to May we use the root 

 of the beet and whatever kale is left over at that time, and manage to 

 have a crop of green barley come on in the alfalfa patch for the winter. 

 Barley sown in September or October and cultivated in with a fine 

 alfalfa cultivator will make several crops during the winter. Cabbage 

 is, also, a fine crop to grow in the Fall for winter feed. It should be 

 put in in August or September. 



Rape is another good winter crop and can be mowed with the scythe 

 several times. Barley, beets, cabbage, and rape for winter, and kale, 

 beet tops, and alfalfa for summer. These green feeds save hens, save 

 feed, cause better assimilation and produce more eggs. 



I am no book farmer, and if you care to visit my ranch here at 

 Palo Alto you will see this system of feeding carried out day after day. 



