Show CONSUL TEllS OF f f BM mim m m f BOUT Interesting Fowl Trial Held in Tasmania RESULTS DUE TO FEEDING COMPETITIONS ARE ALSO HELD IN AUSTRALIA New York April 9 Consul suJ Henry D Baker having visited the Springvale Gar Gardens Gard Gardens dens d ns near Hobart Tasmania where an egg laying competition Is being held fur furnishes furnIshes the following account of what he learned The competitions are quite popular in Australia lIa and at the t present time each Australian state Is running at I Il least l t one competition th t state tate l poultry poul ry I experts having general gener 1 supervision over them tb m In nearly oil all allot of the Australian Au states wheat forms a leading part of the diet of at the poultry in these competitions In Tasmania however conditions are dif different ferent from tram the mainland of at Australia in that very little wheat is produced and much has to be Imported so that a wheat diet for or poultry 13 ns not pot a good business ls proposition for Tasmania farmers This has bas led to a trial of ot oats at the present competition which wl ch I 1 visited oats being boing very abundant In Tasmania always a surplus for ex export export port The competition has pow now been going on for seven months and the results so far having exceeded the tho most sanguine expectations of at the poultry expert The leading pen of six white Leghorns Leghorn laid Std eggs egga In seven months Including the winter period The oats o ts used are white heavy eavy food given all the year round at the tho evening meal In the morning mash there is s a amore amore amore more or lees less balanced ration For instance In ordinary weather the birds In addition to bran and pollard would have on con consecutive consecutive mornings a certain proportion of ground corn ground barley and ground peas mixed with the mash However It if the weather Is wet and cold the birds have ground corn added to the mash whether it Is the right morning for them to have It or or not Dot on the th other hand and dur during durIng ing lug a spell of at warm wann or hot weather the corn would be left out and but green food tood added adde addeR R J Terry the Tasmanian poultry ex expert expert expert pert In connection with this competition has nal put Into successful practice an original origInal original inal and novel idea of at feeding green food to the fowls so that the food may be betaken betaken betaken taken as It t grows without however the fowls tearing It up at the roots The plan Is as follows A portion of the ground Is dug four tour Inches deep and sown with various seeds The green stuff as It grows Is covered by a wooden frame composed com composed posed pOled of Inch timber on which wire netting Is very tightly stretched so that it itIs ItIs itIs Is seven inches above the roots of the crop which the birds are thus prevented from tram scratching or disturbing The birds ap apparently apparently apparently take pleasure In walking on o top of ot the wire and eating the green leaves that hat protrude through the netting Their manure fertilizes the soil and increases the he luxuriance of ot the growth At the time of my visit a thick tl ck crop of ot Algerian oats had been sown together with lucerne or alfalfa the Idea being that hat that the tho oats formed a nurse Durse crop for the lucerne came up very Very try quickly and after they hey were finished the lucerne was a per permanent permanent permanent manent crop to take theIr place The frames which I 1 saw at the competition were about 95 feet teet and were sufficient for a dozen birds each Of course any ny sized frame might be used and quite a variety of at crops sown to suit the various vano s climatic or soil conditions The idea seems to have remedied a longfelt trouble in fowls scratching hing up the food toOd growing for their diet Where there Is plenty lenty of land for tor the fowls to get about this his trouble may not be serious but b t for tor forthe the he small farmer who has only a limited i amount of space available for growing green stuff for tor his fowls the Idea seems to o have much practical value Mr Terry the poultry expert who showed me mo the hens In the competition stated that for tor Intense egg production a large arge amount of lime and material must be supplied to the birds lIe le remarked You have to feed teed them unnaturally aril arid has It ever occurred to you what you are asking the modern hen to accomplish against what nature Intended her to do doA doA doA A natural hen would lay at the most moat eggs In the year she would be o called upon to produce egg gg shells and frames qt chickens because remember that the frame rame of the chick has to be contained In Inthe inthe the he egg or the egg Is s not laid Now the tha thalen hen len has bas days dars to gather and store this material materia but we ate are at ask askIng asking Ing ng the modern commercial hen to lay to o eggs with to shells and therefore to frames of chickens must be formed Therefore you have to i assist her by what might be bo termed un I Fortunately ground bone bona and shell grit Is cheap che p I find that green food toad can be fed in much larger quantities than I was aware of and take the place of bran to a considerable extent I place placa lucerne first clovers next and then green grains At this competition Mr Terry has also experimented successfully with feeding curds c of skimmed milk obtained by using rennet It being his contention that in a dairy d country It will pay farmers better betterto to fe feed fed d skimmed milk to laying hens than to pigs The competition will last lut twelve months altogether and at the end of that time I 1 will forward the results with statistics as asto asto to the sort of at foods and quantities given |