144 POULTRY BREEDING 
farm animals require. Thus the laying hen must have 
lime in liberal quantities to furnish the material for egg 
shell, phosphorus and silica in supplying material for 
feathers and the other mineral elements (usually spoken 
of as ash) in order to supply the material for eggs, if 
they are produced in more than the average numbers. 
A good laying hen not infrequently produces eggs toa 
weight that will exceed her own within a period of three 
months. This rate of production requires a very liberal 
quantity of feed stuffs so composed that the several com- 
ponents of an egg shall be properly distributed in the 
feed. 
Three methods of feeding fowls are recognized. These 
are the all-grain, grain and dry mash and grain and wet 
mash methods. The all-grain method consists of feeding 
whole grain alone, no ground grain being used. This 
method is not now considered economical and the most 
advanced poultrymen do not use it. The grain and wet 
mash methods consist in feeding whole grain once a day 
and ground grains, meatmeal or beef scraps and clover 
or alfalfa meals once a day, with often a feed of vege- 
tables at midday. This method has many advocates and 
is much used by those poultrymen who adhere to the 
older methods. The grain and dry mash method con- 
sists in feeding’ whole grain once a day and ground 
grains, meatmeal and clover or alfalfa meal dry once a 
day. Very often those who feed “dry mash” put it in a 
self-feeding hopper and allow the fowls constant access 
to it. 
The time at which grain and mash should be fed is a 
matter over which poultrymen disagree. Some think the 
mash should be fed in the morning and the grain in the 
afternoon. Others reverse the time, while many of the 
