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Show v Molting. Molting period generally lasts from July to December. The old faded feathers become deficient in the nitrogenous nitro-genous and mineral matter that compose com-pose them and are cast off. The molting season may be shortened shorten-ed so as to cover a period of but six to ten weeks. To do this and to bring about an early molt breed from those pullets, or hens rather, which molt the earliest and most rapidly and which prove your earliest winter layers. During the molting season give the fowls the following care: .'Feed systematically sys-tematically and scientifically. Provide plenty of g::od drinkir.g water, given j fresh twit e a day, in a drinking vessel that is kept clean and in the shade. If fowls are confined give plenty of shade and scratching material in a cool, airy place. Provide plenty of good grit and ground oyster shells. If they have no gra.is run provide clover meal for mivlng in the morning mash. Provide plenty of road dust and see that the hens use it. Be sure and keep down the lice. Provide charcoal. Keep the hens healthy and condition powders pow-ders are not necessary, but use them twice a week if the hens show the need of it. Feed a variety and only all that they will eat up clean. For a morning feed take one quart of coarse corn meal, oi.e pint of good beef meal, one quart of wheat bran and one quart of white middlings and one quart of ground oats; mix thoroughly. thor-oughly. Take one quart of clover meal which has been scalded the evening before by enough boiling water to wet the whole and left to steam and stir the clover and clover tea into the mash until it is thoroughly mixed and feed to your flock. In this mash every other morning stir in while dry one tablespoon of . sulphur to every twenty-five hens. Stir in charcoal every other morning. Every other morning omit the quart of middlings and substitute oil meal one quart. The oil meal and the sulphur will aid in hastening the molt and are needed in the composition of the new feathers. In the evening feed whole grain, oats and barley, which are flesh and' bone forming; rotate this with corn and wheat. Use charcoal as a corrective for bowel trouble and as a preventive of indigestion. Use linseed roeal-t loasen- tb-e feathers. As feathers contain lime, sulphur, oil and nitrogen, clover meal and beef meal or a run in a clover field among the grasshoppers is a necessity to produce rich, brilliant-colored feathers. feath-ers. Pea meal and sunflower seed are rich in nitrogen. Corn helps to hasten the molt; wheat is rich in nitrogen. An all-round all-round ration is necessary to produce healthy birds, and only healthy, vigorous vig-orous birds on plenty of food rich in nitrogen, as beef meal, corn meal, clover meal, sunflower seed and linseed lin-seed meal, can product glossy, rich colored plumage. W. E. Dean, in American Poultry Journal. Popularity of Incubators. The great increase in the use of incubators is a matter worthy of special spe-cial note. Poultrymen generally are realizing the advantage of using incubators incu-bators found that thousands of fan- i ciers have adopted the incubator as a more satisfactory hatcher than the hen. They are made in different sizes and capacities to fill the needs of both the large and the small breeder. breed-er. An immense amount of time and thought has been devoted to incubator incu-bator construction and wonderful strides toward perfection have been made during the past few years. Manufacturers Man-ufacturers have such confidence in their machines that they are willing and anxious to sell them on trial and risk the machine and the chances of a sale in the hands of amateurs who never before saw an incubator. The result is that thousands of them are being sold and the business this season sea-son bids fair to figure up to an almost al-most incredible amount. The old prejudice against incubators is fast disappearing as a result of improved machines and the unqualified success suc-cess of breeders with them. Nothing counts like facts before, one's eyes, and in the case of the incubator the evidence of this character is overwhelming. over-whelming. Incubator chicks properly proper-ly raised will make just as hardy, vigorous, healthy fowls as will those hatched under hens, and it is a common com-mon thing to see them win the best, prizes in the show room. The fact of the matter is that a poultryman who pretends to do any business at all cannot afford to ignore the incubator and brooder. They are practically necessities if we wish to get the most from our work. It is well to bear in mind that while old methods are good ones, the, world moves and progress is the watchword all along the line. Twentieth century methods count In the poultry business the same as they do in other lines of trade, and it is best to keep up with the procession. |