She must be fed, then, so as to have what is generally termed a “balanced ration,” which really means a ration supplying all her different wants. She must be fed so as to be able to assimilate her food with ease. She might be fed a ration which she could easily digest, but the ration might not so assimilate and combine as to be an egg maker. The greatest factor in assimilation is proper green food, and the hen should have this in a crisp, succulent state, and plenty of it. The egg being to such a large extent formed of water, unless she is supplied with all the drinking water she will take, your labor will go for naught, and the hen will not be able to lay eggs. Her grain ration must be of the best, and it should be fed in such a way that she is forced to work for it. Perfect Health or No Eggs If Biddy is to lay, she must be kept in perfect health, and without exercise that is impossible. She must live in a house without draughts but in which the air is always fresh by means of perfect ventilation, and she must have sunshine. Her quarters must be kept clean and sweet, and a good supply of coarse oyster shell, sharp grit, or sifted, hard coal ashes, should be always accessible in quantities. Abundant Animal Food She must have an abundance of animal food, either in form of green cut bone, or beef scraps, and this should be mixed as we feed it in The Corning Egg Farm Mash, which is a mixture of different meals in which the animal food is thoroughly distributed. Of grain, to one hundred hens, eight quarts of a mixture of wheat, corn and oats, should be given; in Summer, about two-thirds wheat and one-third cracked corn, reducing the wheat to a third and increasing the corn to about two-thirds in cold weather, adding to this mixture at all times two quarts of oats. That is to say, six quarts of wheat and corn and two quarts of oats. The Corning Mash the Secret The amount of Mash fed in the troughs varies in accordance with the way the birds clean it up. The point aimed at being to feed in each House the quantity that the birds will about clean up, by roosting time. The intention is that their first food in the morning shall be obtained by their vigorous scratching in the litter. All the grain is fed at one time, in the afternoon, and is not forked into the litter, as the birds have worked all day up to this time, it is desired that they fill up rather easily from feeding time till dark. As they move and scratch they bury the surplus grain most effectively in the litter, thus saving considerable labor, which is expended on many poultry farms, by using the pitch fork to place the grain deep in the straw. When the pullets are first put into the Laying House, about ten pounds of Mash is placed in each trough, this being estimated as sufficient for each one hundred birds. If it is not cleaned up, the amount, the next day, is decreased, but if entirely consumed the quantity is increased.