In a Nutshell
What is a patriotic citizen to do when the birds come close to the house and demand largess? Feeding animals, whether dogs, cats or birds, is a difficult business in war-time. Some people evade it. Numbers of dogs go ranging out of the towns to farms and private houses, seeking food and doing damage. In their case it would be kinder to destroy' than starve. Our duty to the birds is less compelling, but their demands are less ; and they may be freely fed without diminishing the nation's food supply by the taking of more trouble. Much may be done with a mill or grinder. Anything nutty, from an acorn downwards, is agreeable to most birds if it is ground small enough. Sunflower seeds are in this category. They are, of course, an admirable poultry food when whole, but a good many hens are shy of their size, and find them difficult to manage. The acorn and the beech mast are probably the most generally wasted forms of fodder and food, and they arc in abundance where the animals and birds have allowed them to be. Sunflowers have been most grossly wasted on some farms, as well as in gardens, from mere ignorance of the method of harvesting. The process has been often left too late, after the appearance of mould.
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