196 POULTRY CULTURE 



compared with wheat. The feeding value of all these things is 

 not so much in the principal nutrients as in their succulence and 

 the elements peculiar to the green state. In the grasses these 

 may be preserved in part by careful curing, but the vegetables are 

 useful only when green. 



Cabbage. Because it is easily kept green, cabbage is the most 

 valuable of all foods of this class for poultry. Cabbage, sown thickly 

 in rows and fed from these sowings without waiting for heads, has 

 been found one of the most economical of green foods. 



Lettuce. Poultry often, if not usually, prefer fresh lettuce to cab- 

 bage, but it has not the keeping properties of cabbage. 



Spinach and beet tops. Unless very young and tender, the leaves 

 of spinach and beets are eaten freely only when the poultry are 

 short of favorite green foods. 



Rape. Rape may be pastured or cut continuously, and is much 

 in favor with poultry keepers for sowing in yards, or for feeding 

 to birds in close confinement. 



Onion tops. The tops of onions are eaten in small or moderate 

 quantities by all kinds of poultry. They are usually kept from birds 

 about to be used for table purposes, and from those producing eggs 

 for the table, because they impart their flavor to flesh and eggs. 



Green-corn leaves and stalks, wheat, barley, oats, rye, etc. Any 

 succulent fodder may be used for green food if cut up so that the 

 birds can eat it. Such things are usually fed where green crops 

 in considerable quantities must be grown especially for poultry 

 and must be available before crops like lettuce and early cabbage 

 are harvested, and the unmarketable surplus can be used for 

 poultry food. 



Ensilage. All kinds of ensilage can be fed to poultr}^ but it is 

 usually found more convenient to use cabbage and succulent roots. 



Clovers and alfalfa. The only hays that specially interest the 

 poultry feeder are the clovers and alfalfa. It is desirable that both 

 be cut while immature and very succulent, and that the green color 

 be preserved as much as possible in the curing. These hays, as 

 cured for other stock, usually contain a large proportion of coarse 

 stems. When they are fed to cattle on the place, it is a common 

 practice to reserve for the poultry the leaves shaken off in handling 

 the hay. 



