FOOD FOR POULTRY. 27 



and incessant feeder of all God's creatures ; but if the last 

 feed has been grain, the crop will still be found partially full, 

 and the birds will awake in the morning hearty, strength- 

 ened, and refreshed. 



With respect to the morning meal, when only a few 

 fowls are kept, to supply eggs for a moderate family, 

 this may be provided almost for nothing by boiling daily 

 the potato peelings till soft, and mashing them up with 

 enough sharps, slightly scalded, to make a tolerably stiff and 

 dry paste. The peelings must be boiled soft and mealy, and 

 chopped up rather small before mashing, and the sharps at 

 least equal them in bulk. The^e will be sufficient of this if 

 the fowls kept do not exceed one for each member of the 

 household ; and as the peelings cost nothing, and the sharps 

 very little, one-half the food is provided at a merely nominal 

 expense, while no better could be given. A very little salt 

 should be added, and in winter a slight seasoning of pepper 

 will tend to keep the hens in good health and laying. This 

 food may be mixed boiling hot over night, and covered with 

 a cloth, or be put in the oven : in either case it will remain 

 warm till morning the condition in which it should always 

 be given in cold weather. 



Potato peelings may be, if necessary, eked out by scraps 

 from the dinner table, and part of these are very valuable, 

 especially the lean meat ; but caution is necessary. Often 

 such scraps consist chiefly of bread-crusts and fat. In neither 

 is there any appreciable egg-material, and if too much of 

 them be given, prejudicial fattening with muscular weakness 

 is sure to occur. They can be used to a certain extent, but 

 if they abound, only to the extent that they shall not exceed 

 between one-third to one-half the bulk of the food, the rest 

 being made up of sharps, or sharps with a little bran. To 

 give more will be no economy, owing to the evil effects. 

 The green vegetables will be beneficial, if any are left. To 



