FOODS AND FEEDING. 
We have no difficulty in getting birds to one, 
two or three pounds above standard weight upon 
this system. We believe that ninety per 
cent, of the chickens raised in the country do 
not have sufficient food to develop as they 
should. Overfeeding, we think, would be 
much better expressed as improper feeding. 
There are very few breeds that would get too 
fat to lay if properly exercised, and we have yet 
to find one of our birds in that condition. It is 
not a fact that the bird which is ignorantly con¬ 
demned as being over fat and out of laying con¬ 
dition will usually, when killed, show that it was 
really one of the workers of the flock? The egg 
is a surplus product and unless the bird is well 
nourished, it cannot produce them. As to 
fertility, we think no system of feeding can equal 
this method. The eggs uniformly test well and 
the germs live right through and hatch good 
strong, bound-to-live chicks that are ready to 
take up with the dry-food method where their 
ancestors began. No weaklings result, provided 
the other conditions surrounding the birds are 
properly met, one of the most important of 
which is an abundance of fresh air; and the fowl 
will stand an almost unlimited amount of this if 
free from draughts and not subject to the daily 
sweating over a hot mash. Each generation of 
chicks seems hardier than their ancestors, are 
more cheaply raised, for any increase in the 
general health of a flock must be reflected in the 
decrease of the mortality of the youngsters. 
Labor and Expense Saved. 
The labor saved is no small item, for the 
difference between feeding the chicks three 
times per day dry, hard grain right from the 
bag, and cooking johnny-cake, et cetera fed five 
times per day, the heating of water and the stirr¬ 
ing of the mash for a large flock of hens, all of 
which we have demonstrated, to our satisfaction 
at least, is useless labor. This labor directed 
toward other details, and the poultry business 
is full of them, will grow the chicks and c^re for 
the flock much better, or will allow double the 
numbers to be kept with the same number of 
steps taken daily. Perhaps not quite so many 
eggs would result asbythe mashsystem of feeding 
laying hens the first season, but if any old stock 
is kept over it will be found to lay nearly as 
well the second as the first year; the birds lay 
better through the molt; there is less mor¬ 
tality among the adult birds, and the profits 
will be found on the right side of the ledger of 
the dry system. 
In order to give the thing a proper trial make 
up your mind to try half the flock, if not the 
whole, for one year with this scheme, starting 
with the chicks from the eggs, or at any other 
time that seems best, and continuing the ex¬ 
periment until the year is through, carefully 
noting results. Remember that January to 
January is the test through which poultry must 
be fed and from which profits should be ex¬ 
pected, and it is the books at the end of the year 
which tell the tale. The general health of the 
flock is no small item in reckoning up your assets 
for the coming season, be sure and take 
account of it. 
We think the science of feeding farm animals 
very little understood in this country, or in any 
country in fact, and the feeding of poultry is 
less comprehended than anv other branch of it. 
Doubtless as the importance of the industry is 
impressed upon managers of the different ex¬ 
periment stations throughout the country, 
tests will be made, but many of these are mis¬ 
leading as the results themselves are very un¬ 
satisfactory, and the careful noting of details is 
usually left to assistants who have no interest in 
the matter and who may report correctly or 
otherwise. The poultry business is hardly in 
its infancy yet, and we look for ranches that 
will carry birds in the thousands to be successful 
in the near future. At present very few of these 
exist and we think the cause is largely through 
improper feeding or the ignorance surrounding 
the whole subject. From our observation we 
are very sure that for best results we should 
feed animal protein and vegetable fat in some 
form. Gluten meal has nearly as good a 
protein analysis as the best beef scraps, but 
when fed, birds do not like it and fail to thrive or 
produce the results desired. Animal fat tends 
to disturb the digestive system and we do not 
get the results hoped for, but a feeding com¬ 
posed of fifty per cent, corn in some form with 
beef scraps constantly before the bird, from the 
hatch to the hatchet, seems to promote the 
general health and thrift from start to finish. 
Corn has been sadly abused by the poultry 
press in the past, but we find it one of the safest 
foods in the list. The birds always like it, and 
our experience has shown that what they like 
usually agrees with them. We do not think it 
possible to over-feed upon any good meat. 
Given plenty of it, they eat only such as they 
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