Showing the number of pounds of different substances contained
in every 100lbs. of grain, &c., &c.
[When a (--) is used it signifies that the quantity has not been exactly
ascertained.]
Column Key
B - Water.
C - Flesh-forming Food (Gluten, &c.)
D - Fat or Oil.
E - Warmth-giving Food (Starch, &c.)
F - Husk and Fibre.
G - Bonemaking Substances. &c., &c.
+-------------------------+------+-----+-------+------+-----+-------+
| Every 100 lbs. of | B | C | D | E | F | G |
+-------------------------+------+-----+-------+------+-----+-------+
| | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. |
|Wheat contains| 12 | 12 | 3 | 70 | 1 | 2 |
|Bran, Middlings, &c. ” | 14 | 18 | 6 | 53 | -- | 5 |
|Oats, with husk ” | 9½ | 15 | 6 | 47 | 20 | 2 |
|Oatmeal ” | 9 | 18 | 6 | 63 | 2 | 2 |
|Barley ” | 11 | 11 | 2 | 60 | 14 | 2 |
|Malt Dust ” | 6 | 30 | -- | -- | -- | 8 |
|Indian Corn ” | 10 | 11 | 8 | 66 | 5 | 1 |
|Rice, husked ” | -- | 7 | -- | 80 | -- |a trace|
|Dhoors ” | 12 | 11 | -- | 70 | 4 | 2 |
|Buckwheat ” | -- | 11 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
|Peas, &c. } | | | | | | |
|Beans } ” | 15 | 25 | 2 | 48 | 8 | 2 |
|Tares } | | | | | | |
|Lentils } | | | | | | |
|Potato ” | 75 | 2 |a trace| 19 | 3 | ¾ |
+-------------------------+------+-----+-------+------+-----+-------+
My position in connection with the _Cottage Gardener_, has given
me the opportunity of examining more dead and diseased fowls than
perhaps ever fell to the lot of one individual; and, as the most
certain result of my experience, I can state that more than one half
the cases that come under my care, or that are examined by me after
death, are caused by errors in feeding.
Inflammation of the digestive stomach (which is situated between the
crop and the gizzard), caused by the use of peas, beans, hemp seed,
or by the endeavour to force fowls forward for exhibition, or to make
them up for the sale room, is a most frequent result. Apoplexy from
over-feeding, especially in laying hens, and paralysis from the same
cause, are frequent. Inflammation of the egg passage is a common,
and unless timely treated, another fatal complaint, generally taking
its rise in over-stimulating food; and leg weakness, from the weight
increasing faster than the strength, is common in Cochins.
[Illustration]
_Water._--A daily supply of fresh clean water is indispensable to
the health of fowls. Many diseases are caused by their drinking from
stagnant ditches and the impure and filthy drainings of manure heaps,
&c. A cheap fountain, the best that I have ever seen, inasmuch as
it is capable of being cleansed internally, may be made out of any
wide-mouth earthenware jar and common glazed flower-pot saucer; by
boring a small hole in the jar, an inch or an inch and a half from
the edge, then filling it with water, putting the saucer on the top,
bottom upwards, and quickly turning them both together upside down,
when the water will be found to flow into the saucer to the height of
the hole in the jar.