1906.] THE NEW POULTRY CULTURE, 143 



supplemented with what insects, worms, bugs, etc., they could 

 pick up on range. Not an atom of meat food of any kind 

 had been given them, no milk or other animal food, and here 

 we find the remarkable showing of Rhode Island Red pul- 

 lets reaching laying maturity at four and one-half months old 

 on wheat screenings alone, supplemented by the animal food 

 picked up on the range. We feel justified in calling this a 

 remarkable showing ! 



And the grand total of results, as evidenced by the testi- 

 monials coming from many different sources, all point to an 

 equally remarkable showing in favor of the dry-feeding method 

 of feeding both chicks and fowls. The general health of the 

 flocks is better than where the cooked mash was fed, the eggs 

 are larger, stronger-bodied, more fertile and hatch out strong, 

 vigorous chicks — chicks that are of the bound-to-live kind, 

 and that are the delight of their owner. Here is one reported 

 test of the fertility of winter eggs from dry- fed hens : 



A Mr. Boulton, living in Connecticut, was advised by a 

 neighbor to send to Dr. Nottage for some eggs from which to 

 hatch early chicks, and sent him an order for a hundred eggs, 

 in February. The following is his verbatim report upon them. 



" We put yours in one tray (100 eggs) and marked them, 

 and in the other tray put a hundred eggs from a man of a 

 great deal of reputation, who feeds mash. I wanted to test 

 the difference, thinking it might show in the fertility. Of your 

 hundred, sixteen were infertile, and of his, sixty-four ! I paid 

 the same price for both, and I think the result shows well for 

 your method of dry-feeding." 



Experienced incubator operators well know that the meas- 

 ure of fertility is (approximately) the measure of weak germs 

 left in the machines at the first test, and expect that about the 

 same proportion of the eggs will fail to hatch, that there are 

 infertile. As 64 per cent, of the eggs from the mash-fed hens 

 were infertile, it is fair to suppose that 64 per cent, of the thir- 

 ty-six eggs remaining would be weak germs and fail to 

 hatch. That would give 23 (plus) of weak germs, and a " fair 

 expectation " of thirteen chicks to hatch. Of the dry-fed hens' 

 eggs, there were but 16 per cent, infertile, which would indi- 

 cate but thirteen (plus) weak germs, and a " fair expectation " 

 of eighty or eighty-one chicks to hatch. Certainly, quite a dif- 

 ference there ! 



