Vol. LXXIII, Xo. 1248. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 28, 1914. 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEAR. 
ECONOMY IN RAISING CHICKENS. 
Pastured in the Cornfield. 
CHICKS IN GROWING CROPS—Economy, mean¬ 
ing a wise adaptation, rather than the limiting of 
cost merely. I have in mind in arguing for the 
rearing of chicks among growing crops. The ex¬ 
periment station up at Guelph, Ontario, has demon¬ 
strated that chickens may be grown at less cost in 
cornfields than upon sod. However, this is but one 
part of the story, for the relative worth of cliiek- 
ter than the novice would think. The most ap¬ 
proved house with its open front calls for the three 
remaining walls to be airtight, to ensure against 
draughts, and this for mature fowls amply pro¬ 
tected by feathers; for their plumage naturally 
adapts them to withstand cold, but not winds. But 
how often we see the tender, unfledged chicks 
thoughtlessly exposed to winds. 
NEEDS OF CHICKS.—To understand why a field 
of corn is so suitable a harbor for chicks, we must 
bear in mind their varied needs for shelter from 
by its influence upon the crop, how can we ignore 
the benefits resulting from the constant scuffling of 
the chickens' feet? 
CROPS SUITABLE FOR RUNS—The range of 
crops the chicks may be domiciled among with 
mutual benefit is a long one, embracing most vege¬ 
tables usually to be found in gardens. I am aware 
that current opinion is not favorable to chickens in 
the garden, but that is founded upon theory and 
poor management, not skilled practice. Not in its 
broad Western meaning, domestic fowls of any age. 
ens variously grown as well as the attendant ad¬ 
vantage to the crop are features well worth con¬ 
sidering. In my personal experience I have found 
the cornfield an unrivalled place for the young 
broods. I have listened to argument favoring the 
close yarding of chicks,, based upon the claim of 
more rapid growth. Within certain limitations this 
may be, as compared with underfed chicks at large. 
But we must not confuse mere bodily growth with 
proper development looking to the conserving of 
vigor, upon which egg production depends. And the 
test of the scales does not show this. Confinement 
in yards and forcing for growth is all right for 
cockerels destined for the market; but flesh is not 
synonymous with the full egg-basket later on. 
This matter of environment is a more serious mat- 
winds. a moderate degree of both sun and shade, 
and inducement to much active exercise with the 
rich reward it brings in the form of insect food. 
The fullest possible amount of exposure to the sun’s 
life-giving rays is indispensable for the greatest 
vigor, but this must be tempered at the seasons of 
greatest heat. An orchard gives too much shade 
and generally little protection from winds. In the 
cornfield the various extremes are corrected. From 
the time the stalks are a foot high the chicks begin 
to find protection. The yarded chick is generally a 
lazy one: but not so those in fields often cultivated. 
No field is so effectually tilled as that one where 
a flock of active scratchers have their home. The 
cultivator is an active factor one moment in a week 
or more. If its beneficent work is so well proved 
do I use this word "chicken,'* but in its proper 
sense of their innocent young, nor would I be under¬ 
stood as advocating an indiscriminate mixing of 
chickens and all garden crops. A chick’s natural 
appetite for greens must be allowed fox 1 , and eco¬ 
nomical feeding calls for as large a proportion of 
vegetable food as possible. This appetite is readily 
kept within a narrow range so long as that form 
of green food they have become accustomed to is 
abundant within their reach. The early broods 
which are eventually to range in the garden will 
have been put out on a piece of sod adjoining. 
From the time of planting no matui'e fowl is to be 
allowed to range, and so to teach the young the 
edible quality of any of the germinating plants. 
The habit of picking the young, tender blades of 
