Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-28
Feedino Hens in Winter.

Feeding for winter eggs is line Of
work which the average farmer can
take up with profit, says L. B. Gardner,
in Successful Poultry Journal. A large
ma jority of the farmers are not over
rushed With work during the winter
and extra attention given to the poul-
try at this time will in most instances
be richly rewarded. We have in mind
a woman who divided her flock Of 100
hens, giving half Of them about the
treatment poultry usually receives on
the average farm in winter, the other
half she housed in reasonably warm
quarters with scratching shed accom-
They were not let out in
the snow at any time nor were any of
them exposed to cold drafts until
combs were frozen.
A supply of grit and ground oyster
shell was always in easy reach and
rngnt and morning grain was given in
litter. The noon feed consisted of hot
mash and animal food in various forms
was supplied regularly. The result was
that during the cold winter months
when the price was high she sold each
month from $40 to SIT worth of eggs
from the flock that was given good
care and attention, while from the 9TH
er she scarcely secured an egg. In this
connection it might be said that ex-
pensive foods are not necessary. What
the fowls need is wholesome grains in
variety, some green food in the way
of cabbage, potatoes, turnips, or the
like, also animal food in some form. 1t
should be fed regularly and in album
dance when the fowls are expected to
lay eggs and maintain animal heat at
the same time.
Given opportunity to exercise by
Of becoming too fat is very remote. 1t
is the hen confined without a chance
reimbursement to exercise and to which
feed is dumped out promiscuously that
becomes too fat to lay. Another thing,
lighthouses are not necessary, but not
many eggs should be expected if the
house is so open that the wind will
blow through from all sides, or the
fowls are forced to run through the
snow for their food supply.
Renewing Old Grass Lands.
AS pastures and meadows get old
they become sod bound and less pro-
ductive, says Kansas authority. The
available fertility of the soil has
largely been exhausted, and much of
it is locked up in the immense root sys-
TEN which has developed by the thick
growth of the grass. If the field is one
which can be used in growing other
crops, the best plan is to break the
sod when the grass has reached the
stage described, and seed new fields to
grass. If it is desirable, however, to
continue the use of the meadow or
pasture, a new growth may be secured
with some grasses by thoroughly disk
ing and narrowing the sod early in
the spring This will have the effect
of destroying part of the grass plants,
whose roots will soon decay, furnish
ing plant food for the growth Of new
grass. The disking also breaks up
the compact condition caused by the
tramping of the stock, and aerates the
soil. and the mulch of mellow earth
acts to conserve the soil moisture,
thus favoring the growth of grass.
Now. if with the above treatment
fertilizers be applied, the yield of grass
may be profitably increased. No bet
ter fertilizer can be applied to grass
than barn yard manure. The top
dressing applied in the fall or early
winter serves during the winter as
cover to protect the grass roots from
the extremes of temperature. AS
spring opens the rain carries the nu-
triment from the manure down to the
roots Of the grass, stimulating an early
STRONG growth, which continues thru
ont the season During the summer
the manure acts as a mulch to keep the
water in the soil, thus protecting the
plants more or less from the influence
of drouth. There is no more conven-
lent Mace to haul the manure than on
the grass land, and there is no crop
which responds more readily and gives
more profitable results than does grass.
and n ia not necessary to wait until
the ma sture or meadow is old and worn
out before making liberal applications
of manure. When the purpose is to
pillow ND the sod, the manure should
be annlied a year previous to the
u,L;c will not cause larger