FOODS AND FEEDING. 
At the first of May the clover fed fowls had laid 
468 eggs and the cabbage fed fowls had laid 588. 
Analysis of the eggs showed that the cabbage 
fed fowls laid a richer egg. The eggs were given 
to different cooks who knew nothing of their 
source to try. The verdict was that the eggs 
from cabbage fed fowls were strong. The 
superior richness of the egg apparently made 
them strong in flavor. One woman said the 
clover eggs were the finest she ever ate. 
The result of the test indicates that we cannot 
with profit substitute clover entirely for cabbage 
or other succulent food. Some have obtained 
good results by using bright corn silage as a 
vegetable food for hens. If the poultry-keeper 
has other stock and feeds silage, this would 
undoubtedly be the cheapest and most conven¬ 
ient green food. It is so difficult to keep silage 
satisfactorily except where large quantities are 
used, that a silo for poultry alone is not practi¬ 
cal. 
—H. M. Thomson, in Reliable Poultry Journal. 
THE DRY FEEDING METHOD. 
Practical Pointers by an Expert—Facts from 
Four Years of Dry Feeding—Results with 
Chickens and Adult Fowls. 
BY P. R. PARK, READING, MASS. 
Since his boyhood days the writer has been 
deeply interested in the subject of feeding stock, 
and has marked the similarity of animals and 
plants in their manner of assimilating nutriment 
offered them. Whatever the subject under 
treatment, it should be fed with some object in 
view. If plant life, either for foliage, fruit or 
seeds; if animal life, for whatever feature the 
grower is aiming to excel in. 
The plant has no power to create, it can only 
assimilate such component parts as come within 
its reach. Some gather them from the roots 
largely, others gather quite a litt le from the air. 
The combined product makes the result sought. 
In feeding poultry the same general law exists. 
Birds have no power to create and can only 
gather such food as comes within their reach, 
which we regret to say in many cases is a very 
pitiful supply. In the state of nature with an 
unlimited range and inexhaustible variety, they 
seldom, if ever, have a new disease. In the 
state of domestication, having an appetite which 
eats almost anything, it is usually given the 
opportunity , and the feeds distributed to poultry 
would wreck nearly any other organization in 
the animal kingdom. We think hogs would 
have to take liver pills as a steady regulator if 
they were asked to eat the composite mess dis¬ 
tributed «n many poultry plants. 
The skillful feeder should aim first, at what 
his market pays best for, and if he has had ex¬ 
perience, can then study the field of foods, buy¬ 
ing those which are offered at the lowest rates, 
if the quality is what it should be. There is 
money enough in the business to buy the best of 
everything and still show a splendid margin on the 
the right side of the ledger, with almost any 
market in the world, if we can get over the mor¬ 
tality of young chicks which is discouraging so 
many beginners and not a few of the so-called 
“ professionals.” 
A growing chick has without doubt, as eco¬ 
nomical digestion as the steer, sheep or hog, 
and a pound of chicken meat can be produced 
for as small a number of cents as any of these. 
With poultry still regarded as a luxury in 
ninety per cent, of the homes of America, it 
seems that the market is yet very poorly supplied 
and the field for the producer practically un¬ 
limited. We think the poultry (tapers would 
serve the public demand even better than they 
do, if they taught us how to make money with 
flocks of birds averaging from 120 to 150 eggs 
per year, rather than trying to teach that we 
should aim to produce 200 eggs in the same 
length of time. A 200-egg hen may be nearly 
Mr. Park’s Dry Food Hopper. 
101 
