50 Station Bulletin 372 



mination within nine months of being offered for sale and therefore, much 

 of this testing involved seed carried over from the previous season. A few 

 of these samples were sent in by farmers who had grown beans or corn and 

 wished to sell them for seed. 



Referee work was carried on as usual. 



B. G. Sanborn 



PuUorum Testing Poultry Laboratory 



A total of 1,333,969 hens and turkeys in 795 flocks were tested for puUo- 

 rum disease during the past season. In addition, 315,207 retests were run 

 making a total of 1,649,176 samples tested. There were 50 reacting flocks 

 of which 32 were breaks, i.e., flocks which had tested 100 per cent without 

 reactors during the previous season. Of the birds tested, .39 per cent (or 

 5,188) were found to be puUorum infected. 



F. E. Allen, D. V. M. 



Infectious Bronchitis Inoculations 



During the year 1946-47, about 40 poultry flocks in the state were inocu- 

 lated with infectious bronchitis virus supplied by the University of New 

 Hampshire Poultry Laboratory. This virus is grown in disease-free suscepti- 

 ble birds from the University of New Hampshire poultry farm. The virus 

 is introduced into the trachea of the bird to be inoculated by means of cot- 

 ton swabs on applicator sticks. This induced attack of bronchitis confers an 

 immunity which protects the birds in later life and particularly during its 

 egg-producing life. 



F. E. Allen, D. V. M. 



Autopsies at Poultry Laboratory 



During the fiscal year 1946-47, a total of 2,751 specimens of all kinds 

 were submitted to the Poultry Laboratory for diagnosis. These represented 

 1,188 cases. 



A total of 2,342 chickens, 2,137 from poultrymen and 205 from the Uni- 

 versity flock, were examined. There were 839 cases of poultry and the re- 

 mainder of the specimens consisted of 210 turkeys (83 cases) and 199 mis- 

 cellanoeus (71 cases) specimens. 



A. C. CORBETT, D. V. M. 



The National Poultry Improvement Plan 



The National Poultry Improvement Plan is in operation in 47 states. 

 Its purpose is to set up standards for and to improve the breeding of flocks 

 for hatching eggs, baby chicks, and breeding stock. It is administered from 

 Washington by the United States Department of Agriculture, and in this state 

 by a board of ten active poultrymen with the co-operation of the University 

 of New Hampshire, the Agricuhural Experiment Station, and the State De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



There are four progressive breeding stages under the plan: Approved, 

 Certified, R.O.P., and R.O.M. There are now 302 flocks with 679,000 birds 



