Many poultry feeders are in the habit of preparing the grain before use; some simply soak the barley or other corn, by placing it in water the previous evening, this lessens the time it has to remain in the crop, before passing on into the gizzard; others boil their corn, a proceeding which has the advantage of rendering it more digestible, as it effects an important change in the starchy part of the grain. Rice, especially, should always be boiled before use, and it should be cooked in such a mode as to allow the grains to remain separate, which may be easily managed by boiling it in a large quantity of water, to which a small piece of fat, as lard or dripping, has previously been added. The experience of all experimental agriculturists is in favour of cooked food for live stock of all descriptions: from the change effected in the starch it is more nutritious, and is more rapidly digested; hence, there is less work for the stomach and digestive organs to perform, and therefore they are less liable to become diseased. From considerable experience in its employment, I can strongly recommend the following cooked food, as being exceedingly well adapted to supply all the substances requisite to support a healthy and vigorous existence. A quantity of middlings, with or without half its bulk of barley-meal, or a corresponding proportion of malt-dust, is placed in a coarse red ware pan, and baked for about an hour in a side oven, or until the mixture is thoroughly heated throughout; water is then poured in, and the whole stirred together until it becomes a crumbly mass; if too much water is added, the mixture becomes cloggy, a defect which is easily remedied by stirring in a little dry meal. The advantage of this method is that the food is prepared with scarcely any trouble, and there is no fear of its being burnt as in boiling. Sometimes the barley meal is omitted, and the baked middlings mixed with rice which has been previously boiled. This mixture forms the stock food of my old fowls, a liberal supply of grain being given during the day. I have found that since its adoption they cost less in food, and that they are in equally good or even in better condition than when fed on an unlimited supply of grain alone. Should the convenience for baking not exist, it will be found more desirable to scald the middlings and meal with boiling water than to mix them with cold. If grain of any kind is broken or crushed, it should only be done shortly before use, unless it is thoroughly kiln dried; for when this is not done, the grain, from the moisture it contains, soon becomes musty, sour, and unwholesome. Inferior samples of grain contain so large a proportion of husk that they are not desirable, and if regarded with reference to their nutritious properties the best will be found the cheapest.