Personal Experiences 57 



Every mill has its owir brand of flour, made from its own 

 special blend of grains. Some brans are squeezed more than 

 others and contain less flour, so you can see that the varia- 

 tions of brans are many. If the poultryman knows of these 

 variations, if he) only suspects that they are the cause of his 

 failures, he has a great part of his battle won; it is in not 

 suspecting the real cause that he loses. Knowing these varia- 

 tions, he can learn to balance his rations accordingly, this 

 he can learn only through practical experience. When he 

 thoroughly understands this he can make a success of the 

 poultry business almost any place or in any climate. 



It requires more knowledge to make a success of the poul- 

 try business than any other business that I know of. You 

 not only have to have the experience, but you must also have 

 the capital and you have my sympathy if you tackle it with- 

 out either. If you have the capital, you may employ one 

 who has the experience. 



In using wheat I use the red wheat, which is soft. In 

 California we get a good wheat called Russian Red. I do 

 not know that it is any better than the Turkey Red wheat, 

 and in fact it may not be as good, but I am more familiar 

 with it. 



Remembering how crazy the hens were for corn in some 

 of my other experiments and what a large quantity of mash 

 they would eat if it contained a little corn meal, I came to 

 the conclusion that the reason they ate so much of the mash 

 was in order to get the corn that was in it and that the 

 reason their droppings became loose was on account of the 

 laxative qualities of the bran they were forced to eat in 

 order to get the corn. 



Here were hens that wanted nothing 'but corn — quite dif- 

 ferent from those beautiful pullets I had years before. 

 Remembering how the other hens seemed to be crazy for 



