BUREAU Oi-' ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 103 



trough on a large wooden feeding board, which prevents it from 

 getting on the ground and decaying. In the use of vegetable proteins 

 the relative order of production is the same as it was last year. No 

 success has followed an attempt to substitute completely vegetable pro- 

 tein for animal protein. The ration used last year, a mash containing 

 only 15 per cent meat scrap as compared with 20 to 25 per cent in the 

 ordinary mashes, gave* very satisfactory results with the heavier 

 breeds, especially the Plymouth Rocks, in keeping the birds in good 

 physical condition and fertility, though the egg yield was not quite 

 so good as when the higher per cent of meat scrap was used. 



New experiments wereliegun this year with green feeds, comparing 

 alfalfa meal with sprouted oats and comparing these rations with 

 one in which vegetables were supplied. While none of these green 

 feeds have shown marked increased production over any other, the 

 results have emphasized the importance and value of some form of 

 green feed and also of a variety of these feeds. Experiments in feed- 

 ing moist and dry mash, begim this year, have given considerably 

 increased yields for the moist mash, but some difficulty has been ex- 

 perienced in getting the ordinary laborer to handle the feeding of 

 moist mash satisfactorily, while with the dry mash there is very little 

 chance for a laborer to go wrong. 



The highest egg production this year has been obtained from a 

 pen receiving a mash composed of 4 pounds bran, 4 pounds middlings, 

 26 pounds meat scrap, and 66 pounds corn meal. This ration has 

 been one of our best mashes, giving consistent high production over 

 a period of several years, and is not markedly different from the mash 

 used in the wheatless ration, which has also given very good pro- 

 duction. 



A Farmers' Bulletin, on the resujts of all the feeding tests with 

 laying hens, published last year, has had a very extensive circulation. 



POULTRY BREEDING. 



This year approximately 1,500 hens are being trap-nested. In the 

 spring of 1920 more than 4,000 chicks were pedigree-hatched and 

 banded. The breeds used in greatest numbers are the Single Comb 

 White Leghorn, the Single Comb Rhode Island Red, the Barred 

 Plymouth Rock, and the new breed which is being established at the 

 farm. In addition there are smaller numbers of White Plymouth 

 Rocks. Buff Orpingtons, Single Comb Buff Leghorns, Silver Span- 

 gled Hamburgs, Black Hamburgs, and Dark Brahmas. Last spring 

 a small start from the purchase of hatching eggs was made with the 

 Light Brahma and the Dark Cornish. 



The object of the general breeding work is to produce birds equal 

 to any in quality and to bring about improvement in the egg-pro- 

 ducing ability of the stock as well. The principal effort, therefore, 

 has been centered in attempting to obtain these two qualities in the 

 same birds. Progress is being made in this difficult problem, espe- 

 cially with tlie Single Comb White Leghorns and the Rhode Island 

 Reds. Birds of both of these breeds were exhibited last winter at 

 the Boston Poultry Show and at the Madison Square Garden Poultry 

 Show in New York, and caused a groat deal of favorable comment, 

 not only from visitors but in the i)oultry press. 



