FOOW* AMI l'l'.i;i)IN(i 9S 



the trap-nest shows her to be the only pullet in the lot that is laying. 



The feeding enthusiast tells us that too liiueli whole grain will gel 

 our layers too fat and that to fatten old hens for market we must feed 

 corn meal mush as they will not fatten on whole grain. 



We are told that oats is the great eo-jr food, then again it i* wheat, 

 then eorn ; then it is mash in the morning-, or at noon, or at night, that 

 will do the trick. Then we get a dose of compound fractions and chem- 

 ical ratios that would force an egg a day from a crow, if we are to credit 

 the whole of all the stories. 



1 have mixed balanced rations according to my humble ability to in- 

 terpret the most approved method* of modern science and have also 

 tried the ultra-practical rations of the man who does not believe in any- 

 thing but ancient science. I have found nothing worse than the first — 

 except the second — and my hens manufactured eggs and deposited them 

 in the proper place in spite of either. I have a decided partiality for 

 genuine science, perhaps because I know so little about it. When I 

 get a chance to investigate the subject of foods and feeding I propose to 

 throughly test the Midland Poultry Foods, or something in that line, for. 

 if this matter is one-half as complicated as it is claimed to be. it is dis- 

 tinctly the work for specialists who will honorably take our good money 

 and give us real value in return. We do not get it in the "practical" 

 ration, usually. If, as I more than seven-eighths suspect, the complica- 

 tion lie* in the different tendencies of the di*liuct and separate birds that 

 compose our flocks that, for convenience and economy, we are obliged 

 to feed all together, then this problem of feeding is one that each poultry 

 keeper will have to *olvc for himself with such help as he can get from 

 experts, and other*. 



If most condition powder* and such were placed on the market accom- 

 panied by reasonable claims and sold at a price that would justify their 

 use I might take more stock in them than I do now. I have no doubt 

 that they are useful at times, but I can afford to get along without them. 

 It is no wonder that some who attempt to force eggs from a hen at an 

 expense of two or three cents each, object to any further expense or 

 trouble in recording them. 



Dr. Weston's preparation appeal* to me because it is reasonable in 

 price and. as far as egg production goes, claims only this; "It assists them 

 to lay all the eggs that nature calls for." That is all that any preparation 

 can do as far as a number of dollar's worth of experiment and a good 

 deal of trap-nest evidence has yet shown me. They generally give the 

 best results when served for about two or three weeks before the hens 

 would begin to lay anyway. The best of them are useful when their 

 use is indicated by some condition in the flock that experience only can 

 determine. The beginner should carefully guard against recklessly 

 dosinu' the flock merely because he doe* not know what else to do. 



