ANTMAL PRODUCTION. 71 



and thorou^ly digested. . . . The percentage of kernel, as would be expected, 

 bears a close relation to the weight per bushel. It should be remembered 

 that although the two grades are practically equal, pound for pound, they 

 are not equal, quart for quart, and that in feeding by measure, as is usually 

 done, due allowance should be made for the heavy oats and a less qujintity 

 given. Since oats are bought and sold by weight instead of measure there 

 seems to be no gain made in buying the heavy oats at a nmch advanced price 

 over the light oats.'' The oats used were analyzed. 



Mule raising at Poitou, II. Raquet (A7in. Gembloux, 11 {1901), No. 1, pp. 

 li)-S2^ fi(js. .',). — The care and management of asses, breeding of mules, and 

 related questions ai-e considered. 



Poultry management, G. A. Bell (U. S. Dept. Ayr., Farmers' Bui. 281, pp. 

 4S. flf/x. I'l). — This bulletin is condensed from an article on general poultry 

 management previously noted (E. S. R., 18, p. 11^8) and deals exclusively with 

 the chicken industry. 



[Poultry], W. R. Graham {Ann. Rpt. Ontario Agr. Col. and Expt. Farm, 

 32 (lOOG), pp. 201-210. fig. 1). — Data regarding the class-room work in poultry. 

 new poultry buildings, and the gerieral plan of poultry feeding followed at the 

 station are given, as well as the results of a number of tests. 



In a study of egg evaporation in relation to incubation it was found that the 

 average evaporation of eggs hatched by hens in nests out of doors was 10.9 per 

 cent, of eggs hatched in nests on moist earth and kept indoors 11.9 per cent, in 

 nests containing chaff and kept indoors 15.15 per cent, and in an indoor nest 

 lined with rubber cloth 10.9 per cent. Eighty-seven per cent of the fertile eggs 

 hatched in the out-of-door nests on an average, while with the indoor nests the 

 range was from 77 per cent in the chaff nests to 100 per cent in the nests lined 

 with rubber cloth. 



With eggs hatched in incubators the evaporation of hatched eggs ranged 

 from 9.1 to 16.3 per cent of their original weight and the percentage of fertile 

 eggs which hatched in the different incubators from 64.9 to 76.3. Considering 

 both natural and artificial methods the evaporation of individual eggs which 

 hatched ranged from 5.9 to 27 per cent. 



Data are also reported regarding the evaporation and the number of chickens 

 which hatched in the case of eggs laid by the same hen. In the author's 

 opinion it is preferable in artificial incubation to keep the evaporation of the 

 eggs about the same as that noted with hens out of doors on the' ground. "It 

 appears to me that this is nearer nature, and the chicks so hatched did well in 

 the majority of hatches. There was a large per cent of carbonic-acid gas under 

 the hens in the air around the eggs. The temperature of the air was about 101° 

 F., and the relative humidity was somewhat less than the air in the room." 



When, late-hatched chicks were fed from a hopper wheat with some cracked 

 corn and a little other feed also and kept in a cornfield where they were allowed 

 to run loose Mft;^r the first day. very satisfactory gains in weight were noted. 

 " The corn field was considerable distance from the plant and no water was 

 near by ; hence we made no pretense to water the chicks." The author states 

 that he would not at present advocate not watering chicks, but mentions this 

 fact in connection with the conditions under which the chicks were raised. 

 When 26 days old such chicks averaged 8.5 oz. in weight, while those in the 

 in)ultry "run averaged 3.25 oz. When 8 weeks old the average weights were 2 

 lbs. and lO.C oz., respectively, and when 4 mouths old cockerels raised in the 

 cornfield weighed 5 lbs. each. 



In the author's opinion, a cultivated hoe crop and hopper feeding are worthy 

 of serious consideration when one wishes to grow the best chickens with the 

 9535— No. 1—07 6 



