1905.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. H;5. 155 



first period .5471 cents per egg, for the second period 1.3406 

 cents ; for the corn ration tlie figures Averc for tlie first period 

 .3932 cents per egg, and for tlie second .918 cents. Tlie 

 cost of feedino^ the hens was: for the 'wheat ration durinof 

 the first period at the rate of .227 cents per day, for the 

 second period, .39 cents ; for the corn ration the cost of 

 food for the first period was .155 cents per hen daily, for 

 the second period .263 cents. The egg yield in this as in 

 the other experiment is very low for the second period. Tlie 

 causes are similar to those which have been pointed out 

 under 1. 



3. In the experiment comparing wheat with rice, and with 

 milk albumin as the source of animal food, the results have 

 been as follows : for the first period the egg production was : 

 for the wheat ration .3813 per hen day, for the rice ration 

 .4077 ; or, in other words, from 100 hens daily respectively 

 about 38% and 40% eggs per day. For the second period 

 the averages were on the wheat ration .2244 eggs per hen 

 day, and on the rice ration ,3018 eggs per hen day ; or from 

 100 hens daily respectively nearly 221/'^ and a little more 

 than 30% eggs per day. The food cost of the eggs has 

 been as follows : for the wheat ration for the first period 

 .6976 cents, for the second period 1.59 cents; for the rice 

 ration for the first period 1.1863 cents, for the second period 

 2.379 cents. The cost of keeping the hens has been as fol- 

 lows : for the wheat ration during the first period .2414 

 cents per hen daily, for the second period .34 cents ; for the 

 rice ration for the first period .4442 cents per hen daily, and 

 for the second period .7003 cents. 



The ration including rice this year as last has given one 

 of the most satisfactory egg products obtained. The high 

 cost of this food at the present time seems to preclude its 

 becoming a question of much practical importance whether 

 rice is well or ill suited as a food for egg production. We 

 have introduced it in our experiments as a means of testing 

 the question as to whether fat is an important constituent in 

 the food for laying hens, rice being lower in fat than any 

 other grain we can obtain. The large egg product where 

 rice is prominent among the foods used seems to indicate 



