THE COMMERCIAL FATTENING OF POCXTRY. 
29 
Rations Nos. 1, 3, and 4 have a feeding value about equal to ration 
No. 2 at 36 and 37 cents less per 100 pounds, due largely to the price 
of oat flour. Ration Xo. 1 fed with condensed buttermilk diluted 
with one and one-half parts of water has a much higher feeding value 
than any of the other rations fed with ordinary buttermilk, at a slightly- 
lower cost than ration No. 2. Rations Nos. 1 and 3 as fed proved 
in feeding to be the most economical rations, while ration No. 4 
gave very good results in cool weather, late in the feeding season. 
Table 15. — Comparison of the different rations on the basis of the cost per pound of gain. 
Ration 
No. 
Gain. 
Grain. Buttermilk. 
Total 
cost. 
Amount. 
Cost. 
Amount. 
Cost. 
1 
2 
3 
la 
Pound. 
1 
1 
1 
1 
Pounds. 
3.63 
3.33 
4.17 
4.20 
$0. 049 
.0676 
.0559 
.0567 
Pounds. 
12.72 
4.99 
6.27 
12.52 
$0.0272 
.0125 
.0157 
.0252 
$0. 0762 
.0801 
.0716 
.0819 
i Condensed. 
Ration No. 1 was fed with condensed buttermilk diluted with 1 
part of water, Nos. 2 and 3 were mixed with ordinary buttermilk, 
and No. la is ration No. 1 fed with condensed buttermilk diluted 
with one and one-half parts of water. Ration No. 2 was fed with 6 
per cent of tallow. These costs are figured on a uniform price of 
milk and grains at all of the stations, while the costs of gains in each 
experiment is the actual cost at each feeding station, where the price 
of buttermilk and grain varied. The amount and cost of the grain 
and buttermilk per pound of gain at each of the feeding stations is 
given in Table 16. 
COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTS OF 1910, 1911, AND 1912. 
Table 16 gives the average results of the feeding experiments 
covering three years at the four feeding stations, during which time 
1,196,646 birds were fed. The lots in Experiment A were fed longer 
in 1911 than in 1910, which explains the increased cost of the gains 
during 1911. The ration in Experiment B was cheaper in 1911 than 
in 1910; the feeding station was run at full capacity during 1911, 
which reduced the labor cost compared with 1910, when the station 
was not full. The milk used in Experiment C was much cheaper 
than that in Experiment B, which lowered the cost of gains in Experi- 
ment C. The price of the grains was higher in 1912 than in 1911, 
especially in Experiments C and D, which increased the cost of gam. 
Feather picking resulted in much loss of gain in Experiments A, C, 
and D. The" results secured in Experiment C were better, while 
those in Experiments A and D were not as good as those produced 
in 1911. 
