134 COMMON SENSE 
the grain for our fowls, we had the stalks for the cow, and the cobs 
for kindling—a most useful article in our position, and there is'no. 
better kindling than dry corn cobs. 
My experience with the artificial foods, or so-called “ egg-foods,” 
has been so limited that I have little information concerning them 
to give the reader. At one’ time I tried 25 Ibs. of an egg food 
that is extensively ailvertised and highly recommended, but the re- 
sults did not warrant me in repeating the experiment. It must be’ 
borne in mind, however, that it is exceedingly difficult to deter- 
mine questions of this ‘kind. The individual characteristics of the 
members of any fleck may have quite as much to do with egg pro-: 
duction as has the food given to them, and there are so many other 
conditions which it is exceedingly difficult at all times to observe 
or to control, that the results must always be somewhat uncertain. 
The experiment in my hands was not carried out with that atten- 
tion to details that would preclude all error. The way I did it was 
this: I selected two coops and yards of exactly the same size and 
similar location. I then chose fourteen hens as néarly alike in 
age, size, breed and general appearance as possible. ‘This flock 
was then divided into two lots of seven each, the best hens being 
drafted alternately for each coop, just as boys used to be drafted 
under their several captains for some contest. The best went into 
coop A; second best to coop B; third best to A; fourth best to 
B, and so on until all were drafted. These two lots were then fed 
and treated in all respects as nearly alike as possible, except that 
one lot was fed with egg food, and the other had what was sup- 
posed to be an equivalent in wheat bran. The experiment was con- 
tinued until 25 Ibs., of the food had been used. At first the fowls 
that had the egg food produced considerably more eggs than the 
others, but after a time they fell behind, and at the end of the ex- 
periment the two flocks were very nearly even. 
The coiclusion that I reached was that “ egg-food” consists chiefly 
of stimulants, and that the use of these, beyond a very limited extent 
at the beginning of the season, is an injury rather than a benefit to 
the hens. The high price of most of the “foods” in market 
precludes their use as food, while for a stimulant we have never 
