June, 1921] DIGGING UP FACTS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE FARMS 29 



project dealing with white diarrhea of chickens. The losses of 

 newly hatched chicks in the state, amounting to an average of 50 

 per cent over a period of years, called attention to the dire neces- 

 sity of work along this line. Investigations by the Poultry De- 

 partment showed that breeding from disease-free stock would 

 mean a reduction of nearly 30 per cent in the losses. With this 

 information an intensive campaign to eradicate the disease from 

 the state was started, and tests of blood samples taken from vari- 

 ous flocks were made. The Station placed its bacteriological 

 laboratory at the service of the work, charging only a nominal fee 

 per bird to cover actual expense. The first year 4000 samples 

 were tested, the next 11,000, and the number has reached 17,000 

 this season. 



The total number of chicks hatched in the state in a year is 

 probabh' around 3,000,000. If the mortality can be lowered from 

 an unusually high figure to a normal or low figure by means of the 

 white diarrhea testing, the saving will surely run into many 

 thousands and the effect of the work will go on for many poultry 

 generations. That this is not too much to be expected has al- 

 ready been shown by the results. Many poultrymen in the state 

 have reported losses as high as 60 per cent of all chicks hatched in 

 3'ears before the testing was done, and losses since the testing 

 running as low as 5 to 8 per cent. Out of 60 flocks tested, 42, or 

 60 per cent, were found to be infected. 



AVENUES OF INFORMATION OPENED 



These, then, are some of the questions vitally affecting the 

 agriculture of the state, which are put up to the Experiment 

 Station, and some of the answers which the Station has made. 

 The gradually increased fund of information obtained has been 

 put before the people in a number of ways: 



Through correspondence. It is estihiated that an average of 

 twenty letters a day from residents of the state asking for infor- 

 mation along every conceivable agricultural line are handled. 



Through bulletins, 250 of which (exclusive of extension pub- 

 lications) have been issued, with a total circulation of 2,926,000 

 copies. 



Through newspaper articles, 182 of which dealing with Station 

 material, have been published in the papers of the state in the 

 last six months. 



