152 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



regarded as a practical food for ordinary use, on account of 

 its high cost. The food cost for the eggs produced in this 

 experiment was at the rate of about 1^ cents for the wheat 

 ration, and nearly 2.1 cents per egg for the rice ration. 



As the result of experiments in previous years, corn had 

 been found superior to wheat rations when animal meal was 

 used as the source of animal food, while with scraps the two 

 rations gave nearly equal numbers of eggs. In previous 

 experiments, with milk albumin as the source of animal 

 food, the egg production has usually been unsatisfactory 

 when wheat has been the principal grain. These facts had 

 led to the belief that possibly the amount of fat in the ration 

 played an important part in determining the egg yield ; and 

 the experiments of this year were planned with a view to 

 throwing light upon this })oint. In some particulars they 

 seem to confirm this theory. The production of eggs on 

 milk albumin, which is very low in fat, has in previous 

 years been quite unsatisfactory. This year, wnth the addi- 

 tion of fat, more eggs have been produced. Further, in 

 other experiments the egg production where corn is the 

 principal grain has much exceeded that where wheat is the 

 principal grain, when animal meal is used as the source of 

 animal food. The results this year were very similar. On 

 the other hand, the ration lowest in fat of all, viz., that in- 

 cluding rice, has given many more eggs than the ration in- 

 cluding w^heat, which furnishes a far greater quantity of f^t. 



A study of the rations of this year shows an apparent re- 

 lation between the (juantity of fiber in the food and the egg 

 production. The rations furnishing exceptionally large 

 amounts of fiber, derived principally from such grains as 

 oats and barley, have given very inferior yields of eggs. 



In conclusion, we are justified in saying that our experi- 

 ments do not lend support to the belief that the nutritive 

 ratios of rations fed to hens must necessarily be narrow to 

 produce a satisfactory product. We have obtained more 

 eggs in wint(u* in all experiments this year on th(> combina- 

 tions of foods with the wider nutritive ratios, and in two out 

 of three ex})erim(Mits the result was the same for the sunnner 

 period. I um still inclined to the belief that the amount of 



