GENERAL VIEWS. 



As wheat is the most nutritive grain for hu- 

 man food, with the exception of rice, it might 

 be supposed that it is also the best for fowls ; 

 and as they will eat wheat greedily, we might 

 thence be induced to conclude that they would 

 cat more of it than of barley or oats. Yet when 

 fowls have as much wheat as they can consume, 

 they will eat about a fourth part less than of 

 oats, barley, or buckwheat; the greatest quan- 

 tity of wheat eaten by a fowl in one day being 

 about three sixteenths of a pint; nevertheless, 

 the difference of bulk is compensated by the 

 difference in weight, for these three sixteenths 

 of wheat will weigh more than six tenths of 

 oats. 



The difference in weight in different sorts of 

 grain is not in every instance the true reason 

 why a fowl is satisfied with a larger or smaller 

 measure of one sort than another; for though 

 rye weighs rather less than wheat, a fowl will 

 be satisfied with a much smaller measure of 

 this even, in most cases, so little as one-half. 

 The seven hens and the large cock just men- 

 tioned consumed daily a pint and a half meas- 

 ure of wheat, while of rye they only consumed 

 three-quarters of a pint measure, and hence the 

 average consumption of the rye by each, was to 

 their consumption of wheat in the proportion 

 of one to two. 



Indian corn was found to rank intermediate 

 between rye and wheat. When corn was ex- 

 clusively given, the greatest eaters only con- 

 sumed the first day about one-eighth of a pint 

 measure, but by usage they came to relish it 

 more; and the cock and seven hens, which 

 were rather above the average rate of eaters, 

 consumed daily one pint and a quarter of corn. 

 Accordingly, five fourths of corn to them were 

 equivalent to six fourths of wheat, and to three 

 fourths of rye. 



The consumption of each sort of grain daily, 

 l>y a common barn -yard fowl, will be rather too 

 great, if we take the data furnished by what 

 \vas taken by the cock and seven hens, as some 

 of these were of very large size, and great eat- 

 ers ; though it is more convenient for the prac- 

 tical purpose of estimating the expense, to be 

 above rather than below the average; what is 

 spent less than what one is willing to spend, 



becomes, in one sense, clear profit. We may 

 therefore safely estimate that a barn-yard fowl 

 of the common size, having as much as she can 

 eat during the day, will consume 



Pint measure. 



Of oats, barley, or buckwheat 8-32 



Of wheat 6-32 



Of corn 5-32 



Of rye 3.33 



Although, from the experiments already de- 

 tailed, as made with wheat and rye, it appears 

 that the average consumption is not always in 

 proportion to the specified weight of the corn, 

 yet it is of importance to know the relative 

 weights of each grain in all such experiments. 

 M. Reaumur, in order to ascertain the differ- 

 ence of weight of each in different circumstan- 

 ces, carefully weighed a pint measure of each ; 

 when he found the weights to be the follow- 

 ing: 



Oz. Dr. Gr. 



Wheat 19 1 52 



Rye 18 4 12 



Corn 17 5 48 



Buckwheat 16 7 12 



Barley 14 48 



Oats 10 3 12 



BOILED GRAINS. 



It is the custom of poultry-keepers in France 

 to cook the grain given to fowls which they in- 

 tend to fatten, boiling it in water till it is soft 

 enough to be easily bruised between the fingers, 

 the boiling causing it to swell till the farina 

 splits the enveloping membrane, and this they 

 term bursting. Although it is the popular opin- 

 ion that burst grain is better than when it is dry, 

 for fattening poultry, this opinion has probably 

 not been established on accurate experiments. 

 Be this as it may, it is of no less importance to 

 ascertain whether there is any difference of ex- 

 pense in feeding poultry on raw or on burst 

 grain ; that is, whether, under similar circum- 

 stances, fowls eat more or less of the one or of 

 the other. 



In order to ascertain this, we had two quarts 

 of corn soaked and boiled till well burst, and 

 found that the increase in bulk was over four 

 quarts. 



Two quarts of rice swelled considerably more 

 by boiling than corn. Two quarts of barley, after 

 being boiled to bursting, increased in bulk to 



