128 



HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. 



[Jan. 



number of eggs produced. It is, however, possibly signifi- 

 cant, and this fact is made evident by the tables showing 

 monthly egg yields, that during the period of shortest days 

 the fowls receiving the evenino; mash laid less eo-gs than the 

 others. 



The most striking result of the experiments is the great 

 difference in the relative amounts of droppings voided during 

 the night by the fowls under the two systems of feeding. It 

 was noticed from the beginning, and the same remained true 

 throughout the entire period, that the amount of droppings 

 voided during the night by the fowls receiving the evening 

 mash was very much greater than the amount voided by the 

 other lot of fowls. Weights were taken on a number of 

 different occasions, with the results shown below : — 



Morning v. Evening Mash. 



It will be noticed that the iveight of the droppings voided 

 during the night by the fowls receiving the evening mash dur- 

 ing the period of nearly even days and nights daring which 

 these weights luere taken is practically double the weight of the 

 drojjpings of the other lot of fowls. The fact thus brought 

 out is doubtless of much significance. It furnishes conclusive 

 evidence that the digestive process in the case of a soft food 

 like a mash is very rapid. The fact that digestion among 

 birds is relatively much more rapid than with most classes of 

 animals has been already many times pointed out. Forbush, 

 in his paper in the report of the secretary of the State Board 

 of Agriculture for 1899, gives valuable data bearing upon 

 this subject concerning a numljer of the smaller birds and 

 crows. Our experiments indicate that the ordinary domestic 

 fowl, as might have been supposed would be the case, is also 



