ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 269 



small tracts of land can be seeded on the frozen ground early in the spring and 

 llie clover be large enough for use when needed to keep good the supply. 



"Dwarf Essex rape has also been satisfactorily used for green food for grow- 

 ing chickens in the open field. . . . 



" Experience with the wide, open front house is in favor of yards on the 

 north rather than on the south side of the building." 



When dry oat hay was used instead of oat straw for bedding it was found 

 that the hens ate considerable quantities of the material, which was decidedly 

 laxative. 



" Long ago we learned that we nmst not feed mangles too freely, because of 

 their laxative tendencies, but there was no thought that the dry hay, although 

 made from young plants, was comparable with the crisp, .iuicy mangles." 



A test of the relative merits of like amounts of whole and cracked corn as 

 part of the ration was made with 10 lots of 100 birds each. The corn was 

 mixed with wheat 1 : 1 and was fed scattered evenly over the floor. On the whole 

 corn ration the average egg production in 6 months was 77.8 eggs per hen and 

 on the cracked corn ration 7.5.9 eggs. Nineteen of the hens fed whole corn and 

 29 of those fed craclced corn died during the test. 



" There is nothing in the results that leads to the conclusion that it is neces- 

 sary or advisable to crack the corn fed to hens kept for laying eggs. The slight 

 differences in the average yields of the birds in the 2 classes should not be inter- 

 preted as meaning that cracked coi'n is Inferior to whole corn. Neither do the 

 somewhat greater losses of birds on the cracked corn ration indicate that the 

 cracked corn was injurious." 



Unsatisfactory results wei-e noted when hens were kept in winter in houses 

 sprayed with lice exterminator. The egg yield was materially diminished and 

 the hens were in poor condition for some time. The author believes that such 

 preparations should not be used too freely in cold weather. 



" The most unsatisfactory feature of this experience was that the treatment 

 did not kill the lice or materially lessen their numbers. It was only when, 

 later, the birds were individually treated with the tobacco dust and insect 

 powder, worked in among the feathers, that the lice were nearly exterminated. 



" The insides of the buildings are treated with these liquid preparations in 

 warm weather, so that the woodwork may be obnoxious to the lice and prevent 

 their lodging there. For this purpose they are satisfactory, but our experience 

 with them shows plainly that any material, with odors sufficiently strong to 

 penetrate the feathers and kill the lice on the bodies of live hens, will i)rove 

 destructive to the hens themselves." 



Poultry experiments, W. P. Brooks, E. S. Fulton, and E. F. Gaskill {Mas- 

 sachmettH Sta. Rpt. 1906, pp. SO-f;.'/ ) .—Continuing earlier work (E. S. R., 18, p. 

 268), wheat and corn supplemented by animal meal wete compared, both rations 

 having a high content of fat and ash and a low crude fiber content. The defici- 

 ency in fat in the wheat ration was made up by adding corn oil. On the wheat 

 ration with a nutritive ratio of 1 : ■1..57 the egg production for the first period, 

 .January 2.") to April 28. was ;it the rate of 48 eggs per day per 100 hens, and on 

 the corn ration with a nutritive ratio of 1 : 6.5, at the rate of 5-4 eggs per day, the 

 cost of feed per egg being 0.96 ct. and 0.73 ct., respectively. For the second 

 period, April 28 to September .5, the whejit ration produced at the rate of 37 

 eggs per day per 100 hens and the corn ration 39 eggs, the cost of feed per egg 

 being respectively 1.01 and 0.82 cts. The results are in accord with those pre- 

 viously obtained. 



When wheat and corn were compared in similar rations except that milk 

 albumen was the animal feed used, the average egg production on the wheat 

 ration during the winter period was at the rate of 49 eggs per day per 100 hens 



