53 



Finely broken corn, wheat and rice are the most suitable grains 

 to be used for young chickens. For the mature fowl the writer has 

 nothing better to suggest than a mixture by weight of )^ cracked 

 corn, )'4 wheat and 5i barley. Commercial mixtures containing a 

 larger variety of grain are sometimes useful but relatively expensive. 

 The two samples of alfalfa meal reported fell 

 Alfalfa Meals, slightly below their guarantees. Their fiber con- 

 Page 32. tent was rather high, indicating that some of the 

 leaves must have been lost in curing, or that the 

 alfalfa was late cut. 



For special information on the raising and feeding of poultry, see 

 Bulletin No. 122 of this station. 



GRAIN SCREENINGS IN FEED STUFFS. 



Grain screenings are composed of the light, immature grain sepa- 

 rated from the good grain in the process of winnowing, together with 

 such dirt, chaff, straw and weed seed as may be present in the grain 

 as it comes from the field. It is quite obvious that screenings may 

 be of very uncertain character, depending upon the kind of weed 

 seed and other foreign matter present. 



There is a growing tendency on the part of the manufacturers of 

 certain feed stuffs to incorporate in their products such low grade 

 material, having an excessive amount of weed seeds. It is, of course, 

 not practicable to remove all weed seeds from commercial by- 

 products, but they can be made sufficiently free for ordinary pur- 

 poses. In case of malt sprouts and the by-products of wheat, it is 

 not an uncommon practice to add the screenings after they have been 

 once removed from the grain. This process cannot be too strongly 

 condemned unless the addition is clearly stated upon the guarantee 

 tag or label. Such a mixture should be labeled so as to represent 

 the true character of the product. 



Weed seeds having a known toxic effect should be absolutely pro- 

 hibited from entering into any commercial feed stuff. 



An increasing amount of screenings is being utilized as a com- 

 ponent for molasses feeds and other compounded cattle feeds. 

 The screenings from flax seed have been ground and put upon the 

 market under attractive trade names which hardly indicate their true 

 content. While screenings are a legitimate by-product and, if ground, 



