No. 4.] POULTRY KEEPING. 73 



of this trouble, and it extends all over Massachusetts. It is 

 going to be a very serious problem. 



Question. I think you have said nothing about the ab- 

 solute necessity of having an abundance of fresh water with 

 the fowls at all times, especially if they are being fed dry 

 mashes. 



Professor Paige. Of course fresh water is as essential 

 as air and food. 



Mr. B. W. Potter (of Worcester). I have found it 

 harder to have the hens on my farm taken care of than 

 anything else. I have never had a man on the farm who 

 liked to take care of hens ; they always regard it as a thankless 

 job, and don't like to do it. I found, when I was feeding 

 mashes three times a day, that they would not get romid at 

 night to feed in season, it being too dark in winter time, so I 

 changed my system. Now, in the morning we give the hens a 

 feed of cracked corn and buckwdieat, and a sort of mixture put 

 in the straw for them to scratch. I have a box arranged 

 so that they can reach up and eat without getting the feed 

 on the floor, and in it T put ground grain, corn, oats, any- 

 thing like that, so they can get it any time they want it 

 through the day. Then we leave them alone, and don't go 

 near them much except to gather the eggs, when there are 

 any to gather. I have been doing this for about a year, and 

 T do not see but what we get just as many eggs and have the 

 hens do just as well as when we were fussing with them 

 two or three times a day. 



Professor Paige. It seems to rae Mr. Potter has a very 

 good system of caring for his hens. One of the essentials 

 in feeding I believe to be this, — that the hens should be 

 thoroughly filled with food when they go to the roost at night, 

 particularly so in cold weather. That has been the objection 

 raised to the feeding of mashes at night, rather than corn or 

 ground grain. If ^Fr. Potter has a hopper full of food before 

 his birds, so they can get their crops full before retiring to 

 the roosts for the night, I see no objections to the system he 

 has adopted. 



Secretarv Ei.I-sworth. One thing* mav seem of minor 



