DRY-MASH FEED 153 
birds, and one may surmise that the competitors are now sending 
at least some of their best pens to the dry-feed section. 
For the benefit of English poultry-keepers I give the menu of the 
competing birds in the dry-mash section: 48 Ib. pollards, 33 Ib. 
oatmeal, 20 Ib. bran, 16 Ib. pea meal, 10 Ib. ground oats, and 
2 lb. of brown sugar. The whole was well mixed and placed in an 
automatic hopper, to which the birds had access during the day. 
Animal food, generally consisting of boiled liver, at the rate of 
one ounce to each bird, was given three or four times per week. 
Green lucerne, silver beet or clover was chopped and fed at midday. 
The evening meal consisted of wheat and oats, and during rough 
or cold weather maize was added. 
It would appear that we have still a good deal to learn from the 
Australians regarding egg-production. Men of science have been 
specially retained to study and report on the subject, and the egg- 
farmers are reaping the benefit. It is surely possible for our 
Government to do something similar. Our efforts so far have 
either been made by those who have not made the matter a deep 
scientific study, or else they have been the work of mere theorists 
—those who have had no practical dealing with egg culture on a 
large scale. To get the best results we want the scientific man 
who is also a successful poultry-farmer. Is it too much to hope 
that our Board of Agriculture will take up the matter in this spirit ? 
The following clever parody on the dry-mash controversy 
appeared in a poultry paper :— 
ScENE, a poultry yard, enclosed by walls of cyclopean masonry. In the back- 
ground a medieval gateway, through which may be seen a waving field of 
Solanum tuberosum. To the right an automatic feeder. To the left a 
mash tub. 
Enter the DUENNA. 
Dry or not dry? That is the question! 
Whether it were better for us feathered folk 
To take up seriatim, one by one, 
Between the upper and the nether mandible, 
The floury particles and cereal seeds 
As they descend the valley of the Hopper ? 
To seize the nimble granule, to gulp, to swallow, 
