EXPERIMENT STATION WORK 
It is a well established fact in poultry circles that many men 
who succeed with a few hundred hens, fail when the number 
1s increased to as many thousands. When the breeding experi- 
ments under discussion were started, Professor Gowell had 
under his supervision about three hundred hens. When the 
work was closed the experiment station plant had been in- 
creased to four or five times its capacity, and Professor 
Gowell had a large private poultry plant of his own in addi- 
tion. 
It is interesting to note in this connection that the last four 
years of the records are explained by Professor Gowell as 
being low, due to various “accidents” (7?) It is unreasonable 
to suppose the true explanation of these “accidents” would 
be found in connection with the increased responsibility and 
size of the plant. 
The breeding stock sent out by Professor Gowell has given 
general satisfaction, and was found by Professor Graham of 
the Ontario Station, as well as by a number of private indi- 
viduals, to be of superior laying quality to that of the aver- 
age Barred Rock. 
Clearly there is only one way to prove whether Professor 
Gowell’s work has been a wasted effort, and that is for flocks 
of his strain to be tested at other experiment stations against 
birds of miscellaneous origin. 
That much has been lost to the poultrymen of the country 
by the recent upheaval at the Maine Station, I believe to be 
the case, but that does not mean that the men now in charge 
will not in the future be of great value to the poultry inter- 
ests. They are, however, in the class of pure scientists rather 
than applied scientists, but if let alone they will dig out some- 
thing sooner or later which they or others can apply to the 
benefit of the industry. 
Upon the whole, I think that the present case of the trap- 
nest method of increasing egg production stands very much 
as it is has always stood, being a commendable thing for 
small breeders who could afford the time, but not practical 
in a large way, except at experiment stations. On a large 
commercial scale the system of selecting sires by the col- 
lective work of his first year’s offspring would probably get 
the quickest results. 
The best use of the funds of the people in the promotion of 
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