98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



couple of our students last year repeated an experiment 

 which we have done now three years in succession Avith al- 

 most alwa^'S the same result, of keeping 100 eggs in each 

 box similarly selected from the same breeds of fowl, keeping 

 them one day, seven days, fourteen days, twenty-one days, 

 twenty-eight days and thirty-five days, all in the same room 

 and at temperatures varing from 48° to 52° and 75°. So 

 they were all kept under identical conditions. Xow, let us 

 see how the length of time we keep our eggs aifects their 

 hatching powers. Those eggs kept thirty-five days, 46 per 

 cent hatched; twenty-eight days, 46 per cent; twenty-one 

 days, 84 per cent ; fourteen days, 90 per cent ; seven days, 92 

 per cent; and one day, 93 per cent. What was the percentage 

 of fertile eggs hatched ? For those from one to thirty-fivo 

 days, 1, 6, 17, 47, 45 and 68 per cent. Does it pay to keep 

 eggs for hatching any great length of time ? In other words, 

 we can lose vitality in our eggs by simply holding the eggs 

 a little too long or under improper conditions. 



I must apologize to you for not being able to get entirely 

 through with my subject, but I have done the best I could 

 in the length of time I have had. I thank you. 



