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VIII. BUCKWHEAT VS. CORN FOR EGG PRODUCTION. 



Four experiments comparing rations in which respectively buck- 

 wheat and corn was prominent have been carried out, two in winter 

 and two in summer. In these experiments animal meal was used in 

 fairly liberal amounts as a source of animal food, in two of the 

 experiments, and milk albumen in similar amounts in two. The 

 nutritive ratio was in all cases about 1 to 6. 



The number of eggs produced in the different experiments was at 

 the following rates per hundred hens daily : 



No. I, buckwheat 23 ; corn 18. 

 " 2, " 26 ; " 42. 



" 3, " 18; " 28. 



" 4, " 27 ; " 30. 



At the close of the experiments, it was found that the corn fed 

 fowls were decidedly heavier than those which had received buck- 

 wheat. The average difference the first year was about .6 pounds 

 per fowl, the second year one-half pound. When dressed by a local 

 marketmen, the corn fed fowls were declared to be worth a cent a 

 pound more than the others. 



The cost of feeding the fowls was less on the rations containing 

 corn except in one instance and the cost of food per egg was less in 

 every case. The advantages, therefore, are decidedly with the corn 

 ration. It seems not unlikely in view of the results of other experi- 

 ments which will be considered, that the inferiority of the buckwheat 

 is due to the fact that it contains more fibre than the corn. 



IX. The Effect of Fibre in the Ration on Egg Production. 

 The experiments comparing a relatively narrow with a wider nutri- 

 tive ratio, as will be noted from the report concerning them, have 

 not been entirely consistent in results. In these experiments the 

 relative proportions of fibre in the two rations which were greatly 

 varied in make-up, as has been stated, was not always the same and a 

 close study of the results led to the belief that the presence of large 

 amounts of crude fibre in a ration was distinctly unfavorable to egg 



