84 Maine; agricui^turai, i;xpe;riment station. 1909. 



regarded as more general than the data on which they rest. 

 The statements which are made above are intended merely to set 

 forth the results of a concrete experiment. They are not at pres- 

 ent intended as generalizations applying to all poultry under all 

 conditions. The problem of the inheritance of fecundity wher- 

 ever attacked is an extremely intricate and difficult one. Further 

 experiments of the same general type as the one described in this 

 bulletin, but planned on somewhat broader lines, are now in 

 progress at the Station and will be carried on for such length 

 of time as is necessary to establish absolutely and beyond all 

 possibility of doubt the answer to the problem with which we 

 are here concerned ; namely, whether there is or is not a definite 

 and appreciable inheritance of egg producing ability in the 

 domestic fowl. Until this basic question is definitely answered 

 schemes and rules for increasing egg production by breeding 

 which involve anything further than attention to health, vigor 

 and constitution in the breeding stock, lack foundation in ascer- 

 tained facts. 



