86 ANNUAL REPORTS OP DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Plymouth Rock has been the breed selected, but White Leghorns, 

 White Plymouth Rocks, White Wyandottes, and Rhode Island Reds 

 also have been used. 



POULTBY FEEDING. 



All the pens of fowls in the feeding tests have been continued for 

 another year, making the fourth consecutive year for the six original 

 pens. These experiments now include 20 pens with a total of 500 

 fowls. Rations which have given good results in previous tests are 

 being tried under different conditions and with different breeds. 

 The pens that were started on fish meal and on cottonseed meal have 

 been continued, and new experiments have been begun to compare 

 mussel meal with beef scrap. The fish meal is proving a good sub- 

 stitute for beef scrap and is an economical feed, while continued poor 

 results are being obtained from the cottonseed meal. Eggs from the 

 cottonseed meal ration are both expensive and of poor quality, the 

 latter condition being especially noticeable during warm weather. 

 So far the mussel meal is not giving nearly as good results as beef 

 scrap. A pen of Leghorns was started on a ration which does not 

 contain wheat or any wheat products. The egg production has been 

 excellent in this pen, and the cost economical. 



Three pens of mongrel fowls have been added to the feeding ex- 

 periments to be used jointly in this and in the breeding work. Be- 

 ginning this year, trap -nest records are being kept of all new feeding 

 pens. 



The highest yearly average pen production to date is 169.5 eggs per 

 hen. The Leghorns greatly outlay the general-purpose breeds in their 

 third year, the three-year average production for the Leghorns being 

 122 eggs, against 102 in the best general-purpose pen. The value of 

 eggs from the general-purpose breeds in their third year does not 

 greatly exceed the cost of feed, while the Leghorns show a profit of 

 $1.94 per head above the cost of feed, no other costs being included. 



IMPBOVEMENT OF MABKET EGGS. 



The campaign for the improvement of the farm egg has been con- 

 tinued by advocating the production of infertile eggs. The depart- 

 ment has mailed to interested persons to be posted in prominent 

 places about 50,000 of the egg placards which graphically show the 

 difference in the keeping qualities of fertile and infertile eggs. 

 " Rooster day " campaigns for the marketing of male birds have been 

 conducted in several States. In distributing these placards the de- 

 partment has had the cooperation of the Post Office Department in 

 having them displayed in post offices. The placard is also posted in 

 many banks in States where the work has been prosecuted. 



TURKEY AND GUINEA-FOWL INVESTIGATIONS. 



The study of turkey and guinea-fowl conditions made in connection 

 with feeding, breeding, and incubation, both by natural and artificial 

 means, which was conducted in a large turkey-producing section of 

 Texas last spring, where much valuable information was obtained, is 

 being continued in a similar manner in northern New York. A 

 proposed Farmers' Bulletin on turkey raising, embodying the latest 



