Improved Hazel Production. 



It has been determined that the most easily grown and the most pro- 

 ductive nuts at Durham, New Hampshire, are the filbert hazel hybrids. Few 

 of these are available from nurseries. One which is listed by some and which 

 has given very good crops is Bixby. 



A. F. Yeager 



Korean Chestnuts Prove Hardy and Fruitful. 



Precocious chestnut trees grown from nuts collected in Korea in 1947 

 are producing their third crop of nuts at Durham in 1952. A few seedling 

 trees were injured by cold during the winter of 1951-52, and the less hardy 

 ones have been removed. The hardy Korean chestnuts may help to replace 

 the American chestnut which was lost for the most part because of the 

 chestnut blight. Three seedlings of American chestnut were grown from nuts 

 matured on a tree in Newbury, New Hampshire, that had escaped the blight. 

 Though the American chestnut seedlings have grown taller than the Korean 

 trees of the same age beside which they are growing, there is no hope for 

 them; all three have now blighted. They can only serve as a source of the 

 disease, for testing the resistance of the nearby Korean chestnuts. 



E. M. Meader, A. F. Yeager 

 Marketing 



(See Agricultural Economics) 



Pastures 



(See Agronomy) 



Plant Pathology 



(See Botany) 



Poultry Husbandry 



Methionine May Improve Feed Efficiency. 



Within the last two years much interest has developed in the poultry 

 industry in supplementation of starting and broiler feeds with the amino 

 acid methionine. This interest has deveJoped because of the shortage and high 

 price of methionine-rich animal proteins such as fishmeal. Calculations and 

 certain experiments indicate methionine can be the first growth limiting amino 

 acid in practical poultry rations. Also during this same period of time the 

 chemical industry has produced methionine in quantity and at a price, which 

 warrants consideration of its use. The question now relates to what improved 

 results can be obtained with methionine and the economics involved. 



Two strains of New Hampshire male broiler chicks were used in feed- 

 ing experiments with methionine. Three experiments were run at different 

 seasons of the year. Each ration studied was fed to a total of five lots of 

 chicks during the course of the three experiments. Methionine was added to 

 the ration at the rate of two pounds per ton. 



When methionine was added to a good starter broiler ration containing 

 four percent of fishmeal no improvement in growth resulted. However, feed 



38 



