Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-01-27

and day and the care of the young chicks must
be constant and in that care cleanliness is
Important, the scrub brush plays no inconspicu-
Gus part. During the Matching season there is
no time for anything but poultry. The work,
however, has its compensations. for n more
pleasing Sight than a hundred or more baby
chicks scratching for their living is not often
seen. The fiocks in winter are a constant source
of pleasure, n If handsome full bloods the
pleasure is much greater In proportion as they
are more beautiful and more profitable thar the
common fowl, though no word must be said
against the common hen, she does her part
nobly In the the supply of the farm income. So
large a part of poultry profits is in winter eggs
a.S,.s.,ia Mace to consider the feed for egg
- :. lie Of packed eggs | know
nothing for never packed o--
The feed programme is not given as the only
one or as the best one but simply as one that
has given fair results. The morning feed is of
wheat which has stood in the house and on the
stove all night and is therefor warm when fed
out. This is scattered III litter two or more
times to keep the hens scratching, and therefore
warm all the morning. The noon feed is ycget-
ables and table scraps. The vegetables are
served as much as possible, sometimes it is only
uncooked potato pealings and a proof of lack
of overlooking is in the eagerness with which
these are eaten, sometimes the pealings are
cooked with small potatoes or any other small
remnants Of vegetables are added. This sort of
Il boiled dinner Is a certainty,on a cold day at
our house, but tile feed is cooled before feeding,
for the feeding of hot food Is believed to be pro
ductiye of colds.
A cabbage hung so high that the hens must
jump to peck is one of the best means of giving
egg food and exercise at the same time that /
have ever tried. and there is no vegetable
better loved by the fowls, but the worms and
not the chickens nave the cabbages for us and
1 hope some one will give a remedy for this
trouble.
Last spring the farm men were persuaded to
plant at one end of the potato patch a few rows
of the common large sugar beet, eultiyating
them with the potatoes and this fall several
barrels of these were put into the cellar and up
to now but the very small ones are keeping
nicely and are now growing new tops, which
with the beet are much enjoyed by the fowls.
Sometimes the beetS are cooked but oftener fed
raw and as there is no root cutter at hand. they
are hung up or simply thrown Into the coops fol
the hens to peck at.
Glover as green food has never been a success
with us. The W would not eat it probably
because 1t was not properly cured.
The nights feed consists of warm soaked oats
or barley, on a very cold night corn sometimes
parched as the best heat giving grains, and ii ]
have 1t half the feed Is green cut bone. The
bone cutter has not been altogether a success,
because of the difficulty of running it and j
have never fed enough to know the effect upon
the egg yield. The feeding Of ground feed OF
mash has been too productive of fat with my
fowls and l. have entirely given it up for grown
chicks,
The fowls are given clean, Freshly pumped
water to drink in we'll scrubbed pals and also
warm SKINNED milk. They are very fond OF
the milk and it has always increased the egl
yield. The grit is oyster shells and boulders OF
which last we are all so plentifnlly supplied In
this section. The boulders that have beer
blasted in pieces with dynamite are so loosenet
that they are easily pounded up into any re
quired size and make excellent grit.
Millett is to be among the crops of mex
season and its worth as an egg food tested. II
has been a satisfactory food for young chicks
up to three months, beyond that age we have
never fed it, but it makes ~tasteless flesh. Last
spring M first market chicks were millett and
corn fed and they were not up to grade in flavor
One feed a day of ground corn and oats was sub
stituted for the millett and the chicks allowed
all the cracked corn they could eat and chicks
taken from the same pen two weeks later had
the true spring chicken taste. Nothing gives
poultry flesh the same flavor rs a corn diet fol
some weeks previous to use at the table. The
fowl will also be fat and very tender though
this last is very largely dependent upon the
amount of liberty they have enjoyed. The fat
tening pen is a regular institution with us ant
when the chicks are judged to be nearly read,
for broiiers, bakes or stews as the case may be
they are put Into the fattening pen, a small yart