438 DRY LAND FARMING 



very excellent, because of the dryness of the air and its 

 temperate character. The relatively small amount of 

 grain food called for makes the growing of fowls a safe 

 and profitable business, where it is wisely conducted. 

 Even where grain could only be grown once in two years 

 on the same land, the business should be a safe and 

 profitable one. 



All the grain foods grown in dry areas may be fed 

 with profit to poultry if suitably blended. Of these 

 none is better or even quite so good as wheat. Hulless 

 barley is excellent. On southern areas the seed from 

 Milo maize and the sorghums will serve an excellent 

 end. These are frequently fed by suspending the heads 

 on a stretched wire and allowing the fowls to .help 

 themselves, thus furnishing them with needed exercise, 

 especially when they have to reach high for the food. 

 The varieties with a bent down head are most easily 

 suspended thus. The green food may come in the form 

 of alfalfa, rape and field roots. 



The demand for these products will always con- 

 tinue good, as they are staples that will always be 

 wanted, but the product can be readily transported and 

 at moderate cost for the value. In the home the product 

 is indispensable, and the food which it furnishes is 

 wholesome in character. There is probably no other 

 class of live stock that can be grown on the dry farm 

 that will yield a larger profit on the investment or that 

 is more easily conducted. 



The size for the dry farm. The size for the dry 

 farm should be determined by such considerations as : 

 (1) the amount of the precipitation; (2) the character 

 of the soil; (3) the capacity of the individual, and (4) 

 the style of the farming. 



It is, of course, impossible to determine the relative 

 influence which these considerations should exert, but 

 the first consideration is certainly one of much im- 



