112 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



give the best results with the Leghorns. A heavy ration of this lat- 

 ter kind is being used on a pen of Barred Plymouth Rock pullets in 

 comparison with the new mash on another pen of the same breed. 

 The results indicate the advisability of using less meat scrap and 

 more bran and oats in rationing the general-purpose fowls. 



Among the vegetable protiens, gluten meal seems to give the best 

 results. The fish-meal tests seem to show results approximately equiv- 

 alent to those obtained with meat scrap and high-grade tankage. 

 The dried-milk products and semisolid buttermilk are giving excel- 

 lent results, but these feeds are rather high in price. 



POULTRY BREEDING. I 



About 1,600 hens were trap nested, about 1,300 being pullets and 

 the remainder older hens. The best individual production yet re- 

 corded in this work has been obtained this year. This will result in 

 a larger number of high-record hens being available for use in breed- 

 ing for increased egg production. In addition, the best previous egg 

 record has been exceeded. 



The general plan in the breeding work has been directed toward 

 not only improvement in egg production but the maintenance of 

 breed character and standard excellence and quality. As heretofore, 

 the best success in this combination has been with the Single Comb 

 White Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds. The remarkable improve- 

 ment in egg production and general quality of the Barred Plymouth 

 Rock during the past two years has been fully maintained, a further 

 increase in the number of high-record hens in this breed being made. 

 To the material progress in these three breeds the addition of another 

 must be noted in the White Wyandotte. A pullet of this breed not 

 only made the best record during the year but exceeded any made 

 previously. The Silver Spangled Hamburgs, usually classed as an 

 ornamental variety, also made good egg records, one pullet having 

 laid 227 eggs. 



Specimens of stock in these breeds were exhibited at the Madison 

 Square Garden Poultry Show, in New York City, as has been cus- 

 tomary for several years. The approximation to standard require- 

 ments of type, color, breed character, and excellent general quality, 

 coupled with their high records of production, elicited favorable 

 comment. 



The breeding work with the new breed, the Lamona, is still being 

 carried on. The red ear lobes, white plumage, yellow legs and skin, 

 four toes, with good length and breast development of body, seem to 

 be definitely fixed. The combination of red lobes and white eggs, 

 however, has not been fully perfected. The percentage of increase 

 in the number of hens showing correlation in these characters indi- 

 cates progress. As the original intent was to produce a general- 

 purpose breed laying a white egg, the distribution of stock will not 

 be undertaken until this combination of red-lobe and white-egg char- 

 acter becomes more fully fixed. 



Partial results from an experiment begun in the fall of 1920 to 

 increase flock production by selective breeding without the use of 

 the trap nest are now available. These indicate that selection of 

 breeding stock founded on the external evidences of good production 

 and principally lateness of molt is sound practice. The daughters 



