ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 177 



In a comparison of the effect of a 25 per cent and a 10 per cent meat scrap 

 ration for laying pullets it was found that the increased percentage of meat 

 scrap resulted in an increased egg production which more than offset the in- 

 creased cost of the ration. The increased percentage of meat scrap showed no 

 detrimental effects upon the vitality of the fowls, but appeared to give them 

 increased vigor. The forced production of the pullet year was not, however, 

 followed by a continued high production during the second year. The birds re- 

 ceiving a lower percentage of meat scrap during the first year kept up a uniform 

 production throughout the second year, not noticeably dropping as in the case 

 of the birds receiving the higher percentage of meat scrap, which seemed to 

 have been somewhat broken down by the heavy production during the previous 

 year. However, it is thought that the forcing of birds during their pullet year 

 for high egg production is justified. During the second year these birds might 

 be kept for breeders, in which case they would receive a lower percentage of 

 meat scrap and no attempt made to force egg production. 



Five pens of White Leghorn pullets were fed alike except as to the protein 

 feeds allowed. Pen 1 received meat scrap, or animal protein, and pens 2, 3, 

 4, and 5, 33 per cent of soy-bean meal, gluten meal, linseed-oil meal, and cotton- 

 seed meal, respectively, in a dry mash. All pens received the ordinary grain 

 mixture. Data are given for the first year's egg production and food consump- 

 tion, but further work is to be done before definite conclusions are reached. 

 It has been observed that during the first year the mortality is high in the pens 

 receiving the oil meal and the cotton-seed meal. A number of the birds have 

 apparently broken down under the strain of the highly concentrated rations. 



Five pens of 50 White Leghorn pullets each were fed alike except as to suc- 

 culent feeds. Pen 1 received a commercial product, Succulenta tablets; pen 

 2, dried-beet pulp ; pen 3, mangel beets ; pen 4, sprouted oats ; and pen 5, no 

 succulents of any kind. The total egg production for the year was 4,432, 4,670, 

 5,347, 5,517, and 4,239 for the respective lots. Further experiments are to be 

 conducted before definite conclusions are reached. 



A description is given of a proposed standard multiple unit duck house cover- 

 ing New Jersey conditions, and of a double-pen breeding house to be used for 

 breeding flocks on general farms. 



From the results of crossbreeding work with reciprocal crosses of Black Lang- 

 shans and White Leghorns, it is concluded that the Black Langshan is essen- 

 tially a white bird with white plumage, white shanks, white beak, and a bay eye. 

 Superimposed upon this is a black pigment. This superimposed black pigment 

 is sex limiting in this mode of inheritance only when the male bird possesses this 

 black pigmentation ; in which case, so far as this inheritance in the first genera- 

 tion is concerned, it behaves similar to a dominant character. White Leghorns 

 carry, without a doubt, a factor for barring. Results tend to point to the fact that 

 the factor which inhibits the appearance of the barring (if such a factor is used 

 to explain the nonappearance of the barring) varies in intensity in different in- 

 dividuals, and may vary in the same individual at different times. The cause 

 for this at present is undetermined. Further work along this line is contem- 

 plated before definite conclusions are reached. 



Preliminary observations indicate the need of shade on the range for growing 

 chicks, results with corn proving more satisfactory on the whole than peach trees 

 or buckwheat for the purpose. 



Severe winter weather resulted in a great many frozen combs and wattles 

 and in a general lowering of vitality in all breeding flocks with both males and 

 females. Eggs saved for hatching during tha^ jriod were found, upon incubat- 

 ing, to be very low in fertility and what fertile eggs were secured were found to 

 contain germs which were weak. 



