66 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9OO. 



A NEST BOX FOR KEEPING INDIVIDUAL EGG RECORDS. 



An attempt is being made to establish families of hens that 

 shall excel as egg producers. To do this it is necessary to 

 make careful selections for which the individual records must 

 serve as a basis. The nest box devised is believed to serve the 

 purpose admirably. 



THE NUMBER OF LAYING HENS THAT CAN BE PROFITABLY KEPT 



IN ONE PEN. 



Varying numbers of hens were confined in pens having each 

 160 feet floor space. Results: The maximum production per 

 hen was obtained when the least number of hens (15) was con- 

 fined to one pen ; but the pens containing twenty birds gave a 

 greater total net profit than did those containing any greater or 

 less number of birds. 



EXPERIMENTS UPON THE DIGESTIBILITY OF BREAD WITH MEN 

 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PROTEIN. 



Results: Digestibility of protein of 



White bread and milk 92 . 8% 



Graham bread and milk 88.5% 



Entire wheat bread and milk 91 .9% 



THE DIGESTIBILITY OF BREAD ALONE. 



A continuation of the work outlined above. The approximate 

 availability of the nutrients of butter, milk and sugar being 

 known, a correction of the first results obtained was made possi- 

 ble. 



Results: Digestibility of protein of 



White bread alone 88.3% 



Graham bread alone 77.0% 



Entire wheat bread alone 86.6% 



DIETARY STUDIES. 



Investigations were carried on at the College Commons for a 

 period of 209 days. Results: The cost of the animal foods 

 was 69 per cent of the total food cost. The freer use of milk 

 did not increase the gross weight of food eaten. The increased 

 consumption of milk had the effect of materially narrowing the 



