CARE AND FOOD 



51 



believe that many poultry keepers have. Further 

 than that we don't believe corn, wheat and beef scraps, 

 or corn, oats and beef scraps form a properly balanced 

 and satisfactory entire ration for laying, breeding stock 

 (green stuff in addition being included, of course). 

 We have found that we obtained a much more satisfactory 

 egg yield and better general conditions on a much wider 

 ration, including among the grains barley, buckwheat, kaffir 

 corn and sunflower seed, in varying quantities according to 

 season and price, in addition to the corn, wheat and oats diet 

 mentioned by the Doctor." 



We are inclined to believe and also regret that Mr. 

 Dudley has not read our writings on feeding poultry with 

 much care. In the first place, we have repeatedly stated 

 that there are many satisfactory rations for feeding poultry, 

 almost as many as there are poultry feeders. So far as we 

 know there is no one best ration. The corn, wheat and oats 

 mixture recommended by us in several articles, and from 

 time to time for a number of years in answers to corres- 

 pondents, was not original with us and is a ration that has 

 been used by practical poultry keepers in New England for 

 more than half a century with entirely 

 satisfactory results so far as the pro- 

 duction of market poultry and eggs is 

 concerned. It has stood the test of 

 time, and practical men would not 

 continue to use it if it did not give 

 good results. Being old in use and in 

 publicity, it surely is neither "so sin- 

 gular" or "out of the ordinary." 



To the best of our knowledge and 

 belief we have never recommended this 

 two and three-grain mixture to the 

 exclusion of all other grains, with the 

 possible exception of some answer to 

 a correspondent where it was advised 

 as a change or substitute ration where 

 elaborate mixtures had caused trouble. 

 In almost every instance we believe we 

 have stated that we recommend for 

 variety, adding to the ration from time 

 to time, such other grains and seeds 

 as may be available at a fair and 

 economical price, including among these 

 barley, buckwheat, kaffir corn and 

 sunflower seed, which are mentioned 

 by Mr. Dudley. 



Corn, Wheat and Oats the Leading Staple Feeding Grains 



In considering feeding problems and writing on the sub- 

 ject of poultry feeding we must take a broader view of the 

 subject than that which applies only to one small section of 

 this vast country. Our readers are located all over the world, 

 and even in our 'own great United States the conditions vary 

 widely in different parts of the country. With the excep- 

 tion of some of the northern-most sections, corn is the most 

 generally used and the most easily obtainable grain at a fair 

 price. Wheat and oats are also generally available. Other 

 grains and seeds are some times difficult to obtain at a price 

 which will permit using them for poultry food. We think 

 all authorities on the subject of feeding poultry will agree 

 that corn, wheat and oats are, as we have frequently stated, 

 the three leading staple grains for poultry feeding. 



We do not know what our critic found in any writing of 

 ours to lead him to believe that we consider that wheat and 

 oats take practically the same place in the fowl's diet. We 

 are quite familiar with the chemical composition of the several 

 feeding grains, but do not believe that it is necessary for the 

 poultry keeper to concern himself to any extent with chemical 



analyses of foodstuffs or with scientifically balanced rations. 

 The more he dallies with so-called scientifically balanced 

 foods the more liable he is to go astray. The many analyses 

 made by the United States government have shown that 

 various samples of the same kind of grain vary considerably 

 in their chemical make-up, in all probability dependent upon 

 the character of the soil in which the grain was grown, the 

 season and the climate. With the fact known that there is 

 such a wide variation in the chemical composition of grains, 

 we can only base our estimates upon the average chemical 

 content as estimated from the many analyses made. One 

 of the leading writers on poultry topics told us some time 

 ago that he wished he had left out of one of his books the 

 chapter on analyses of food stuffs and science in poultry feed- 

 ing, particularly that part pertaining to so-called scientifi- 

 cally balanced rations. He did not believe that it had done 

 any good to publish it and did believe that the element of 

 mystery connected with the "scientific balance" had tempted 

 many would-be scientific feeders into deep water where, fail- 

 ing to realize that they were beyond their depth, they made 

 a decided failure of their poultry feeding experiments. No 



Growing crops in small poultry yards to provide shade and green food, and to purify the soil 

 is good practice. Note the luxuriant growth of com shown in the above illustration. 



truer words were ever spoken that the old familiar quota- 

 tion, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing;" also "Fools 

 rush in where angels fear to tread." It is a good deal better 

 for the average poultry keeper to leave "scientific" poultry 

 keeping and the "scientific balance" of rations entirely in 

 the hands of the capable investigators in our government 

 experiment stations, and to give themselves no further con- 

 cern in the "science" of poultry keeping than to supply 

 their fowls with good, sound, wholesome grain in variety; a 

 liberal supply of succulent green food and vegetable matter; 

 good, pure beef scrap and the usual supply of pure water, 

 chracoal, grit and shell. With regard to wheat and oats, 

 both of these grains contain very nearly the same percentage 

 of protein or nitrogenous matter, so far as these elements 

 are concerned undoubtedly they may be satisfactorily substit- 

 uted for one another, but oats contain considerably less non- 

 nitrogenous matter and much more fibre than wheat, while 

 the fat content of oats is more than double that of wheat. 

 So far as practical feeding and my recommendations for the 

 substitution of these grains one for the other are concerned, 

 I did not advise using them interchangeably on account of 

 their chemical characteristics. They were recommended to 

 be fed interchangeably or together for the sake of varying 



