182 



RAYMOND PEARL 



TABLE 10 



Showinc/ the fheuretical expectation in respect to the fecundity of the daughters from 

 all possible matings of Cornish Indian Games inter se 



records were at hand for a large number of progeny for every mat- 

 ing made. There are, however, practical difficulties in the mat- 

 ter. The Maine Experiment Station poultry plant has accommo- 

 dations for only about 600 adult pullets per annum in spite of the 

 fact that it is one of the largest purely experimental poultry plants 

 in the country. » Now taking all the experiments together there 

 are made about 300 separate matings each year. It is simple 

 arithmetic to show that under the circumstances, if all matings 

 were equally represented, only two pullets from each mating 

 could be tested as to fecundity. As a matter of fact all matings 

 are not equally represented. Some yield either no chickens, or 

 too few to insure the development of adult daughters. The aim 

 has always been in this work to put into the laying house for 

 trap-nest records of fecundity as many daughters from each one of 

 as many matings as possible. Of course, only healthy, normal 



^ There are hatched annually on this plant from 3500 to 4000 chicks, and facilities 

 for handling adult stock make it possible to accommodate over winter about 1000 

 birds of all sorts, including adult pullets, hens and male birds. 



