POULTRY WORK. 21 5 



flocks. The small annual death rate which has existed through- 

 out the poultry experience of the Station can only be regarded 

 as a normal mortality for hens fed and managed for high egg 

 production. The inherent value of the strain of Barred Ply- 

 mouth Rocks with which this work has been done is attested by 

 the almost uniform satisfaction which has been expressed by 

 those who have bought either eggs or cockerels from the Sta- 

 tion for the purpose of infusing new blood into their own flocks. 



Poultry Investigations Now Under Way. 

 In December, 1907, Professor Gowell resigned his position 

 on the Station staff in order to devote his entire time and atten- 

 tion to his private poultry interests.* On January 1, 1908, 

 the poultry investigations of the Station were put in charge of 

 the biologist, Dr. Raymond Pearl. This change in the super- 

 vision of the work has not involved, nor is it anticipated that it 

 will cause any essential change in the general policy of the 

 Station relative to poultry work. The Station will continue in 

 the future as in the past to investigate problems relative to poul- 

 try husbandry ; problems will be chosen which are of funda- 

 mental practical significance. The work at present and in the 

 future on poultry will, as hitherto, fall into two main lines; 

 namely, investigations in breeding and investigations in poultry 

 management. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN METHOD. 



During the present year a number of improvements have been 

 made relative to the methods of conducting poultry work on a 

 large scale and at the same time with scientific accuracy. A 

 system of keeping pedigree records has been devised and put 

 into practice which makes it possible with a minimum expendi- 

 ture of time and labor and with entire accuracy to keep exact 

 pedigree records of every individual chick. Hitherto the pedi- 

 gree records in connection with the breeding work of- the Station 

 have been of a general rather than a detailed character. It is 

 believed to be of fundamental necessity that the individual 

 father and mother of each particular chick shall be known. In 



* It is with feelings of the deepest regret and sorrow that one has 

 to record that while this bulletin was passing through the press Professor 

 Gowell's death occurred. 



