Il8 MAINE AGRICULTURAI, EXPERIMENT STATION. I913. 



of the individual preferences of the component units, with a 

 minimum labor cost. The larger the flock and the plant as a 

 whole, the more machine-like the methods of feeding and hand- 

 ling must be. They must of necessity be calculated to suit that 

 mythical creature, the average hen. Coincidently the total pro- 

 duction or profit per bird will diminish. Presently a point is 

 reached in size of plant where the outgo exceeds the income 

 over a period of years. Such a plant if it has a hustling busi- 

 ness man at the head takes a fancy name to itself, advertises a 

 great deal, invents a "system." writes and sells a book about it, 

 manufactures incubators and supplies, in general endeavors to 

 make a loud noise about what a profitable thing the poultry 

 business is, and finally goes dismally, completely and perma- 

 nently "broke." 



In the practical feeding of flocks of poultry large enough to 

 be a commercial proposition, the methods which have been 

 worked out empirically by the successful poultryman are essen- 

 tially attempts to satisfy the individual tastes of the birds to as 

 great a degree as possible, at a minimum labor cost. This result 

 is obtained in practice by offering to the flock a variety of food 

 materials so that they may have some opportunity of choice as 

 to what they shall eat. If we feed corn, wheat, and oats the 

 fowl which likes corn has the opportunity to live on corn, 

 whereas the fowl which likes about three parts wheat and one 

 part oats is able to satisfy her taste in this regard. 



As a result of this manifest need for a variety of food it has 

 come about that the practice now generally accepted as best is 

 to put regularly before fowls food substances belonging to four 

 different categories. These categories are : 



1. Dry whole (or coarsely broken) grains (e. g., corn, wdieat 

 oats, barley, etc.). 



2. Ground grains (e. g., bran, middlings, corn meal. Unseed 

 meal and other finely. ground grains). 



3. Animal products ( e. g., beef scrap, blood meal, fish scrap, 

 green cut bone, etc.). 



4. Succulent or green foods (e. g., mangolds, cabbages, 

 beets, sprouted oats, green corn fodder, etc.). 



The proportions in which these different kinds of food mate- 

 rial are fed differ to a considerable extent among different 

 poultrymen. The e.rocf proportions in wdiich they are given 



