A GUIDE FOR KEEPERS OF POULTRY 239 
take orders one trip for deliveries the next. If one family 
is satisfied the members tell their friends and the business 
will increase, if the poultry proves all it should be. In 
seeking a private trade it is a good plan to have each fowl 
in a neat pasteboard box by itself, as it makes an attrac- 
tive package that increases trade. When dealing with 
families never deliver a fowl that is not in perfect con- 
dition. If there are some that are not quite first-class sell 
them to the stores. It does not require a very large town 
to use a large quantity of poultry and many poultrymen 
make a good profit on such a trade. 
MASH.—This is ground grain, mixed into a dough 
with water or milk. Usually the word is used to desig- 
nate a mixture of ground grain made into a dough before 
feeding. Later methods have brought ‘into use the 
words “dry mash” to designate a mixture of ground grain 
fed dry. There is some difference of opinion as to the 
relative value of wet and dry mashes. Experiments have 
shown that for feeding chicks there is not much differ- 
ence, but in feeding laying hens some careful experiments 
at Cornell indicate that dry mash was preferable to wet. 
MATING.—There is no system of mating cross-bred 
or mongrel fowls by which any improvement can be 
brought about because so many bloodlines enter into the 
composition of such fowls. We assume that no one will 
try to mate mongrel fowls for the improvement of the 
flock and proceed on the assumption that this section 
relates to pure-bred fowls only. In the mating of his 
breeding pens the poultrvman shows how much progress 
he has made as a breeder. When he has learned so to 
mate his fowls that he can produce a large percentage 
of standard fowls and a smaller one of exhibition fowls 
he has taken his place as an expert breeder. In mating 
