BACON AND EGGS 333 
pounds of either meat meal or cotton-seed meal. 
At noon they get 100 pounds of mixed grains — 
wheat and buckwheat usually — with some green 
vegetables to pick at; and at night 125 to 150 
pounds of whole corn. There are variations of 
this diet from time to time, but no radical change. 
I have read much of a balanced ration, but I 
fancy a hen will balance her own ration if you 
give her the chance. 
Milk is one of the most important items on 
this bill of fare, and all hens love it. It should 
be fed entirely fresh, and the crocks or earthen 
dishes from which it is eaten should be thoroughly 
cleansed each day. Four ounces for each hen is 
a good daily ration, and we divide this into two 
feedings. 
Our 1600 hens eat about 75 tons of grain a 
year. Add to this the 100 tons which 50 cows 
will require, 200 tons for the swine, and 25 tons 
for the horses, and we have 400 tons of grain to 
provide for the stock on the factory farm. 
Nearly a fourth of this, in the shape of bran, 
gluten meal, oil meal, and meat meal, must be 
purchased, for we have no way of producing it. 
For the other 300 tons we must look to the land 
or to a low market. Three hundred tons of 
mixed grains means something like 13,000 bushels, 
and I cannot hope to raise this amount from 
my land at present. 
Fortunately the grain market was to my liking 
in January of 1898; and though there were still 
