No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 259 



the record of from 20 to 28 per cent, production for the months of 

 November and December, and 40 per cent, for January, whereas, the 

 slowest to mature laid no eggs during November and December and 

 only 9 per cent, during January. From that time on, for two years, 

 they laid the same percentage, but those which began to lay last 

 never overcame the handicap of the three months of their tardi- 

 ness, November, December and January. Calculations and the de- 

 ductions drawn as shown by the plotted curves were made by the 

 writer from data found in bulletins published by the Maine State 

 Experiment Station, giving the trap nest records for several years 

 of a large number of hens. 



Of equal importance to the production of good poultry and eggs 

 is the problem of marketing the products at high prices. Good eggs 

 and poultry are worthy of neat, attractive packages. Aside from 

 producing good eggs, it is the easiest and most effective way to con- 

 vince consumers that your product is better than the other fellow's. 

 Appearances count for much in the selling of any article for human 

 consumption. A well made, attractive, properly stenciled crate 

 not only enables a person to charge a higher price because of at- 

 tractiveness, but also insures the safe return of packages when 

 shipped by express, due to the fact that they are not so likely to be 

 overlooked and thrown off at the wrong station, also because they 

 are so conspicuous that the}' are not likely to be taken by other 

 shippers intentionally or through error. 



The last two slides to be shown illustrate a piece of investigation 

 which one of the students in poultry husbandry at Cornell has been 

 doing the past year. To find out the difference in type of the differ- 

 ent breeds of poultry particularly with a view of determining charac- 

 teristic qualities for economical meat production, he photographed 

 alive, dressed, and dissected, a large number of fowls of six different 

 breeds, took accurate measurements and weights of the different 

 joints, muscles, internal organs, etc. In addition to this, he made 

 cross sections and longitudinal sections of various muscles from 

 the different varieties studied. For the purpose of illustration, it 

 will be sufficient for us to compare, by contrast, two of the prin- 

 ciple breeds which he examined. 



Fig. 13 shows the Barred Rock male and the White Leghorn male 

 alive, dressed, and dissected. Observe the difference in type. The 

 long narrow body of the Leghorn and the heavy, thick, blocky body 

 of the Plymouth Rock. A close examination of the photograph will 

 reveal many differences in the size of the various parts, some of 

 which it may be well to mention. The intestines of the Rock 

 measure 70.5 inches, while that of the Leghorn was only 55.9 inches. 

 The caeca in the Rock measured 7.2 inches and in the Leghorn 6.6 

 inches. The percentage of the dressed fowl to the live weight in 

 the case of the Rock was 90.50 per cent., while that of the Leghorn 

 is 86.80 per cent. In like manner the percentage of the edible parts 

 of the Rock is 75.49 per cent., and that of the Leghorn 66.55 per cent. 

 Again the percentage of the waste parts of the Rock is only 13.42 

 per cent, in contrast to 16.45 in the Leghorn. Further comparisons 

 are as follows: 



