Report of the Director 



xlv 



All the work of hatching, rearing, feeding, and the like, is performed 

 by students or persons who have received instruction in class. The farm 

 is a laboratory for the teaching and " trying out " of as many students as 

 the facilities will permit. The working force, therefore, is frequently 

 changing. The inexperienced persons are constantly taking the places of 

 the experienced, the latter being recommended to positions of greater 

 responsibility. 



A breed-testing project will soon be under way. The Poultry Depart- 

 ment expects to give important assistance to poultrymen by trap-nesting 

 flocks of fowls that are sent to be tested for prolificacy, quality of eggs, 

 fertility, hatching power, and constitutional vigor. The chicks that are 

 hatched from eggs laid by " qualified " hens are leg-banded and returned 

 to the owners. By making it possible for poultrymen to breed from the 

 most desirable hens, the Department has provided a way by which it is 

 expected that the quality of the poultry in the State will be greatly 

 improved. 



The superior laying qualities of certain of the college flocks justify the 

 expectation that similar results can be secured by poultrymen generally, if 

 they practice proper methods of selection, breeding, and care. The most 

 productive hens (three-years records) bred or owned by any agricultural 

 experiment station in the United States or Canada, so far as has been 

 reported, are the following : 



Lady Cornell 



Madam Cornell 



Cornell Supreme 



To September 30, 1912 



Total 



643 

 534 

 653 



3,211 — 3d year ends December 6, 1912. 

 9,363 — 3d year ends November 24, 1912. 

 3,418 — 3d year ends December 10, 1912. 



The fifteen highest-producing pullets averaged 236 eggs each ; best single 

 flock of pullets averaged 182 eggs each per year. 



Twenty-nine flocks are used for investigative purposes, the following 

 projects being now under way: 



I The testing of eight methods of feeding fowls. 



2. A comparison of close confinement and range for egg-production. 



3. Breeding to increase egg-production. 



