POULTRY ON THE GENERAL FARM 
A supply of green food is one of the requisites of successful 
winter feeding. Every farmer should see that a patch of rye, 
crimson clover, or some other winter green crop is grown 
near his chicken-house. Vegetables and refuse from the 
kitchen help out in this matter, but seldom furnish a suffi- 
cient supply. Vegetables may be grown for this purpose. 
Mangels and sugar-beets are excellent. Cabbage, potatoes 
and turnips answer the purpose fairly well. Mangels are 
fed by splitting in halves and sticking to nails driven in the 
wall. 
Clover and alfalfa are excellent chicken feeds and should 
be used in regions where winter crops will not keep green. 
The leaves that shatter off in the mow are the choicest 
portion for chicken feeding, and may be fed by scalding with 
hot water and mixing in a mash. Hens will eat good green 
alfalfa if fed dry in a box. 
The feeding of sprouted oats should be practiced when no 
other green food is available. Oats may be prepared for this 
purpose by thoroughly soaking in warm water and being kept 
in a warm, damp place for a few days. Feed when the sprouts 
are a couple of inches long. 
Almest all grains are suitable foods for hens. Corn, on 
account of its cheapness and general distribution, is the 
best. The general prejudice against corn feeding should be 
directed rather against feeding one grain alone without the 
other forms of food. If hens are supplied with green foods, 
with mineral matter, some form of meat food, and are forced 
to take sufficient amount of exercise, the danger from over- 
fatness, due to the feeding of a reasonable amount of corn, 
need not be feared. 
As has already been emphasized, the variety of food given 
is more essential than the kind. Do not feed one grain all the 
time. The more variety fed the better. Corn and Kaffir-corn, 
being cheap grains, will form the major portion of the ration, 
but, even if much higher in price, it will pay to add a portion 
of such grain as wheat, barley, oats or buckwheat. 
Cleanliness. 
The advice commonly given in poultry papers would require 
one to exercise nearly as much pains in the cleaning of a 
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