AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN NEW HAMPSHIRE 53 



embryos. These were placed in the incubator and at the end of a 12-day 

 period only one remained alive. Additional work with turkey eggs is 

 planned. Two young turkey hens (7 months old) were injected with 

 known virulent virus and daily blood examinations carried out for the 

 next five days. No reactions took place. 



In an attempt to increase the virulence of the virus we have tried a 

 number of things that have been used with success on other viruses. First 

 we fed an excess of thiamine hydrochloride (vitamin B) to two young 

 birds for one week before administering the virus. It did not affect the 

 virus reaction but it did produce a clinical and a hematological picture not 

 previously described for this vitamin. 



Cystine was also mixed with the virus just prior to administration. 

 No results were obtained on preliminary trials but this will bear re- 

 checking. 



E. F. Waller, R. C. Ringrose, A. C. Corbett 



Studies in Viability in Poultry 



The Avian Leucosis complex (A. L. C.) causes a greater mortality in 

 mature fowls than any one other disease entity. Accordingly, the ob- 

 jective of this project is to compare the incidence of the A. L. C. in pedi- 

 greed single comb white leghorns with flocks made up of sibs and half 

 sibs at three other experiment stations: namely. North Dakota, Oklahoma, 

 and at the Regional Poultry Laboratory at East Lansing, Michigan. Eggs 

 were furnished by the Michigan laboratory and the chicks were hatched 

 and reared at the respective stations. 



At the New Hampshire station 122 pullets and 10 cockerels were 

 housed at approximately 110 days of age. During the next H'/z months 

 48 birds died and at the end of that period all 84 remaining birds were des- 

 troyed. Of the original 132 birds housed, 26 showed gross lesions of 

 the A. L. C, 60 showed microscopic lesions of the A. L. C. Two were 

 suspicious of microscopic lesions and 70 were negative. This disease 

 (A. L, C.) continued to develop as long as the birds were kept. The large 

 number showing only microscopic lesions indicates that this trend would 

 have continued for some time. 



In the past poultrymen felt that if they kept only yearling hens for 

 their breeders that the disease could be eliminated. This investigation has 

 definitely proved that the disease will continue to develop at a more or 

 less constant rate in birds over a year of age. 



E. F. Waller, C. W. Hess 



SOILS 



Methods for Controlling Erosion of New Hampshire Potato Fields 



The objective of this project is to determine practical means of con- 

 trolling the erosion of soils which predominate on the rounded hill tops 

 of southern New Hampshire where numerous potato fields are located. 

 The Paxton fine sandy loam is a typical soil representing these areas. Ex- 

 perimental work involves the management of run-off plots on the Piper 



