No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Si? 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POULTRY. 



By N. G. Temple, Chairman. 



The increased attention that is being devoted by the public to the 

 subject of Poultry Keeping is attributable mainly to one or other 

 of two widety different causes, as either the large number of exhi- 

 bitions of high-class fancy fowls has attracted the attention of the 

 amateur, or else the official statements that have appeared concern- 

 ing the vast sums of money which the inhabitants of this country 

 pay the foreigner annually for poultry and eggs have convinced the 

 fancier that it is his duty to endeavor to assist in retaining a portion 

 of this wealth in America. 



We find that Pennsylvania stands fifth on the listin point of 

 value of eggs and poultry produced, with Illionis, Iowa, Ohio and 

 Missouri leading, and it certainly is very important that the farmers 

 of this State make a greater effort and have the Keystone State 

 head the lsit when the time rolls around for the next census. Per- 

 mit me to call your attention to what is being done at State College 

 to further the poultry interests, and give to the younger generation 

 who may be so fortunate as to be able to attend the new Agricultural 

 end of the College, a far greater knowledge of this much neglected 

 work. 



At the last session of the Legislature $2,500 was appropriated for 

 the Pennsylvania State College Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 for the construction of a tool-house and poultry houses. The Trus- 

 tees of the College divided the appropriation equally between the 

 tool-house and the poultry houses, that is .$1,250 to each. 



At the Pennsylvania State College, the first poultry house con- 

 sisted of a little building about 12 feet square with a board roof, 

 that had been discarded by another department of the College, that 

 had formally used this building as an observatory to protect star 

 gazers in windy weather. Then for several years a small poultry 

 plant, which satisfactorily accommodated five or six small pens of 

 fowls, that were used for educational purposes. One of the most 

 urgent needs was an incubator building wherein artificial incubation 

 could be carried on in a satisfactory way. During the time that 

 the poultry has been kept by the College for educational purposes, 

 artificial incubation has been a most serious problem. Sometimes 

 incubators were run in offices, sometimes in cellars, and one season 

 for a time in an old cistern that was used for a root cellar. Later, 

 however, it was found to be wholly impractical on account of in- 

 sufficient ventilation. The other places for running incubators were 

 opposed to by the Insurance Company, and finally artificial incuba- 

 tion was prohibited. Consequently, one of the greatest needs was 

 an incubator building that would be sufficiently large to meet the 

 requirements of the Experiment Station and sufficiently removed 

 from other buildings to meet the requirements of the Insurance 

 Companies. 



