28 THE PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPER. 



have much bread-scraps denotes of course great waste in a 

 household. In any case, all the scraps used should go into 

 the breakfast, and not be given in addition, as many do. 

 Table scraps always need care and judgment in use. 



If a tolerable stock of poultry be kept, such a source of 

 supply v/ill be obviously inadequate ; and in purchasing the 

 food there is much variety to choose from. Small or " pig *' 

 potatoes may be occasionally bought at a low price and 

 similarly treated, though experience proves that regular 

 potato diet is not suitable, leading after a little to few eggs 

 and derangemeut of the digestive system. Potatoes are 

 nearly pure starch, and destitute of egg-making material. 

 The peelings are, in fact, better than the inside alone, as 

 food. The same may be said of rice. An equal mixture of 

 barley-meal and u sharps," or of Indian meal and sharps^ 

 will make a capital food. Bran in place of the sharps some- 

 times seems to do very well, but has an awkward habit of 

 every now and then causing inflammation of the bowels. In 

 some places a cart-load of swede or other turnips, or mangel- 

 wurtzel, may be purchased ; these when boiled and mashed 

 with middlings or " sharps," we believe form the best soft 

 food a fo\vl can have, especially for Dorkings ; but they 

 cannot everywhere be obtained at a cheap rate, and the 

 buyer must study the local market. Sharps should form 

 two-thirds of all these mixtures. 



A change of food at times is necessary, and in making it 

 the poultry-keeper should be guided by the season. When 

 the weather is warm, and the production of eggs abundant, 

 the food should abound in nitrogenous or flesh-forming 

 material, and not contain too much starch or oil, both of 

 which, being carbonaceous, have warmth-giving and fatten- 

 ing properties ; but when the cold weather approaches, and 

 the eggs even of good winter layers are fewer than in 

 summer, some addition to the amount of carbonaceous food 



