78 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9IO. 



then needs less heat. This procedure leaves the desirable places 

 in the closet for the grain just beginning to sprout where high 

 temperature is needed. 



The oats are fed when they are from 4 to 6 inches in height. 

 They are fed at the rate of a piece of the matted oats and 

 attached green stalks about 6-8 inches square for each 100 birds 

 per day. In feeding, this 6 to 8-inch square piece is broken 

 into smaller pieces and scattered over the pen, so to ensure that 

 all the birds shall have an opportunity to get some. Fed at the 

 rate indicated, this material has never caused any bowel trouble 

 among the birds. 



It should be clearly understood that the purpose for which 

 green sprouted oats are fed is their tonic and stimulative influ- 

 ence on the digestive organs. They are not fed for the food 

 value of the oats themselves. If one wishes merely to feed 

 oats they can be most economically fed not sprouted. The point 

 of sprouting is to furnish fresh, succulent, green food during 

 the winter months. 



Keeping Poultry Free oe Lice. 



One of the most difficult and trying problems which the poul- 

 try keeper has to meet is that of keeping his poultry houses and 

 stock reasonably free from lice, mites, and other external para- 

 sites. There are many proprietary preparations on the market 

 designed to accomplish this end in one way or another. Most 

 of these preparations are, in proportion to their efficiency, very 

 expensive. Many of them have been tried at the Maine Experi- 

 ment Station. The Station has finally, however, come to follow 

 the procedure outlined in a circular, from which the present 

 section of this bulletin is adapted, to the exclusion of all others, 

 and with results Avhich are extremely satisfactory. Indeed, it 

 may be said that vermin on the poultry or in the houses no 

 longer cause any appreciable annoyance in the work of the Sta- 

 tion plant. 



Formulae for the preparations which are in use at the Station 

 v/ere in the first instance given the writers of this bulletin by 

 Mr. F. C. Lawry, formerly of the Poultry Department of Cor- 

 nell University. These formulae were presented by Mr. Lawry 

 to his classes for a number of years. The Poultry Department 



