204 



A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 



killed. It can be stored and kept just like wheat bran. 

 Formerly it was called beef scrap. 



One can not get profitable results from fowls without feed- 

 ing some kind of animal food. The town poultry keeper has 

 enough table scraps to answer the purpose, and in the sum- 

 mer the fowls can get insects easily, which accounts for the 

 fact that summer laying is much more common than winter 

 laying. If hens produce winter eggs, they must be fed 

 meat scrap or some other animal food. If the farmer can 

 profitably do so, he should use skim-milk or buttermilk. The 

 fowls will drink this, and the meat scrap may be omitted. 

 The meat scrap is the most expensive element of the ration, 

 costing about S 1 ^ cents per pound. Feeding buttermilk to 

 hens is one of the most profitable uses that can be made of 

 that by-product. 



Poultry keepers should feed oyster shells. These help to 

 form the eggshells. Analysis shows that the composition of 

 the oyster shell and the eggshell is almost identical. The 

 oyster shell dissolves rapidly enough to provide the calcium 

 carbonate. Grit must also be fed, though many people think 

 that either one is enough. Grit is a granite or any material 

 hard enough to grind the food. Coarse sand or gravel is 

 used by many poultry raisers, but the round particles in the 

 sand or gravel are not sharp enough to grind ; the prepared 

 chicken grit or ground granite is much more satisfactory. 



In addition, the chickens should have some kind of suc- 

 culent feed. That may be apple parings, potato par- 

 ings, cabbage, beets, etc. Sprouted oats are now be- 



