FEEDS AND FEEDING 1 35 



ley (or buckwheat), wheat. Two feeds of cut bone 

 each week, one or two of whole oats, and one or two 

 of whole corn (according to season), give variety to 

 our ration, and to that are added whole cabbages hung 

 in the pens in cold weather to tempt picking them to 

 get green food; or turnips, beets or carrots are split 

 in halves and placed in the pens to be picked in pieces 

 and eaten. Grit and ground oyster shells are always 

 accessible, and fresh water, replenished three times a 

 day (warm in winter), and the water pans are care- 

 fully rinsed every day. 



"We vary from this program in "winter by feeding 

 a slightly lighter feed of mash in the morning, making 

 it a breakfast rather than a full meal, and then scatter 

 barley or buckwheat in the scratching material about 

 midforenoon, to induce even more scratching exercise. 

 To search and scratch for seeds, grains, insects, etc., is 

 the fowl's normal method of feeding, and the nearer 

 we approximate to Nature's way, the better; hence 

 the greatest possible amount of exercise should be 

 compelled." 



Prof. GoweU's Methods — The methods practiced 

 by Prof. G. M. Gowell of the Maine experiment station 

 in feeding poultry should command attention, for no 

 experimenter has done more or better work in the 

 breeding and handling of fowls for eggs. For 

 over twenty-five years Prof. Gowell has been 

 at work with the same family of barred Ply- 

 mouth Rocks and has learned several ways to 

 feed and handle them to secure eggs and to 

 avoid the losses which are so common to mature 

 hens of that breed from overfatness. Several years 

 ago he gave up the morning mash and fed it late in the 

 afternoon with far better results. The full meal in the 

 morning produces laziness, fatness and soft shelled 

 eggs, but these bad conditions and results were not 



