44 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



we believe this and act on it by giving the hens animal food, green 

 food and grain. We also want to get the food as cheaply as poss- 

 ible to save our pocketbooks, and yet give the hens food that will 

 bring the best results, this is usually eggs when eggs are dearest. 



The protein is the most expensive part of the food, consequently 

 when we find a food that is inexpensive but contains a large amount 

 of protein, we are glad to buy it, and then we must find out how to 

 mix it or with what other food in order to get the right balance 

 of one part of protein to 4 or 4.5 of carbo-hydrates. A ration means 

 the food for a whole day. 



I am always glad to talk over the different foods and to help 

 beginners decide what is the best and cheapest food for them to 

 use in their locality. Several have lately asked about BEANS, 

 how to feed them to the best advantage. Some years ago I had an 

 opportunity of buying a large quantity of navy beans that. had 

 been held as seed beans but several sacks of them had become 

 weevily. I studied Professor Jaffa's bulletin and decided that it 

 would be a good plan to buy them, thinking that as they were small, 

 the hens would eat them, but my hens did not take to them at 

 first, so I sent the beans to the mill and had them coarsely ground, 

 and I then soaked them over night with a little bicarbonate of soda 

 in the water, and the next morning when the fire was lighted for 

 breakfast, I put on the beans and let them cook at the back of the 

 stove, taking them off at noon and mixing in bran and cornmeal, 

 also a little alfalfa meal, and seasoning with salt and pepper as for 

 the table. The hens like this mash made of bean soup, and never 

 hens laid better than these. It was certainly a famous egg food. 



Recently I received letters from several of our readers asking 

 about feeding beans, and I replied, giving Professor Jaffa's analysis, 

 but I afterwards received a letter asking me for the analysis and 

 the value of "broad Windsor beans," and as there was no analysis 

 of them in the bulletin, I sent some of them to the Agricultural 

 • College to have them analyzed. Professor Jaffa not only analyzed 

 them, but also analyzed some "horse beans," as I said that Windsor 

 beans were sometimes called horse beans and were largely fed to 

 horses in some places. The horse beans that he bought were 

 larger than the Windsor beans that I sent him and he found both' 

 of them so exceedingly rich in protein that, to be certain there was 

 no mistake, he had the analysis duplicated, done over twice. 



Analysis of Horse Beans 



Per cents 



Water . 14.05 



Ash 2.10 



Protein 25.10 



Fat 1.60 



Fiber 6.63 



Starch, etc 50 5? 



Total 100.00 



