162 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
of maize meal, 3 lb. of malt culms and 2 Ib. of middlings. For 
birds kept on large grass runs grain alone will provide an effective 
food for the warmer summer months, but if grain only is fed, oats 
should form about one half of the diet. In the severe winter 
months I think all birds should get a certain proportion of animal 
food to compensate for the loss of insects, etc., that are picked up 
in spring and summer. 
Science teaches us a great deal, but unless combined with 
practical experience we may occasionally be led astray. Certainly 
science does not approve of the heavy maize feeds given to poultry 
in America, but experience teaches that it is excellent for all the 
purposes required. Climate may have something to do with the 
different effects of maize in America and in Britain, although Mr 
Hanson tells us that he has fed his White Leghorns on maize to 
the exclusion of all other grain for a considerable time without any 
evil results. Certainly it will not do to give heavy breeds in this 
country an exclusive diet of maize. 
All sorts of fancy menus may be composed, but excepting to 
give the birds a little variety a very large assortment of foods is 
not necessary. J know of one successful egg-farmer who has re- 
duced his menu to simplicity. His dry-mash formula is three 
parts bran to one part blood meal. The albuminoid ratio in this 
menu is very high, but while hens are laying they rarely are any 
the worse for a copious supply of egg-forming material, and if the 
fowls get plenty of vegetables, or have access to a grass run, they 
will see to it that the proportion is restored. Elsewhere I have 
given an Australian dry-mash formula as well as a simple English 
mixture, and I now give two other dry-mash formule that are 
considered excellent : 
Bran a ‘ ; ‘ - I part (by weight) 
Middlings 
Maize meal 
Sussex ground oats 
Fish meal 
Charcoal 
Clover meal 
” ay 
BPR He HR 
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