212 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1908. 



ance possible is made for these accidents and it is there shown 

 that even after making these allowances the general trend of 

 the line of annual averages is only horizontal. That is to say, 

 there is no evidence of any increase in the average production 

 of the Hock. 



It will be noted by those who have followed the previous 

 reports of the Station with reference to its poultry breeding 

 work that the averages set forth in the above table do not agree 

 with those which have previously been published. It is an 

 unfortunate fact that the averages published in the earlier 

 reports of this Station were in several cases in error. So far 

 as can be learned from the records themselves the causes of 

 these errors fall into two categories: namely, (a) faulty meth- 

 ods of handling the statistical material and (b) arithmetical mis- 

 takes. As soon as the detailed paper of which the present dis- 

 cussion is an abstract appears it will be possible for any inter- 

 ested person to verify for himself the averages which are given 

 in the above table since in the complete paper there will be pub- 

 lished the annual egg production of every single bird during the 

 whole 8 years for which complete records exist. 



III. Another point which throws light on the value of the 

 method of breeding for increased egg production lies in the 

 consideration of the relative number of "drones" and of high 

 producers in each successive year of the experiment. Defining 

 a very poor laying hen as one which produces less than 45 eggs 

 in its first laying year and as an exceptionally good laying hen 

 one which lays more than 195 eggs in its first laying year, it is 

 found that there has been no substantial change during the 

 course of the breeding experiment in the relative proportions 

 of either very high layers or very poor layers in the flocks of 

 the successive years. At the beginning of the experiment there 

 were relatively few "drones" in the flock. The relative propor- 

 tion of such has not practically changed. 



IV. During the 3 last years of the breeding experiment there 

 was carried on in connection with it an experiment on the effect 

 of the amount of floor space per bird and the size of the flock 

 on annual egg production. Without going into the details of this 

 experiment, which were entirely consistent in the whole of the 



