IN THE POULTRY YARD. 87 
out at times and feed them with cabbage, and I did so with good 
results, In winter I use clover hay cut very fine in a hay cutter, 
steamed and mixed with meal of corn and oats, ground together. 
Ihave been told that I cannot grow clover many years, how- 
ever; that in time my land will get “clover sick ’"—whatever that 
may mean—and the plants will die off. Perhaps this is so, but 
as I see no signs of such a calamity at present, I shall not 
trouble myself. “ Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof,” and when 
my land refuses to grow clover, I will try something else. I am now 
experimenting with the Southern Cow Pea and with Prickly Com- 
frey, and I think that if necessary I may possibly be able to do with- 
out clover, but as yet it is the best plant I have found—requires the 
least labor in proportion to the amount of valuable green food ob- 
tained. 
I therefore set out to provide a plot of very rich gréen food 
for my hens, and I laid off a strip 200 feet long and 75 feet wide 
along the edge of the paddock, to which I have already alluded. 
This I proposed to plow up in the fall, manure heavily and sow to 
winter rye. The following spring it would be top-dressed and sowed 
to,clover, so that after the rye was gone, its place would be sup- 
plied by another plant. ‘lhis plot of land I intended to fence in, 
and I also intended to run two dividing lines of movable fence 
across it, so that I could feed it off in strips of about 48 feet wide. 
‘Thus, after the plants had got a fair start, the fowls would be ad- 
mitted to a strip at one end, 48 feet wide. As soon as this strip 
showed signs of giving out, the fence would be move@, the hens 
excluded from the 48 feet on which they had been feeding, and 
another 48 feet would be given them. I chose 48 feet because 
this was the length of three fence panels each 16 feet long. 
I found that it took three weeks for the hens to clear off such a 
plot, and that by the time the rest of the plot had been gone over, 
the grass and clover had become taller than was necessary. ' We 
sometimes had to mow it and give it to the cattle. When- 
ever a good rain came shortly after the fowls were shut off a plot, 
the growth was very rapid, and we took the hint; and if a dry 
