800 



Egg-Laying Trials. 



[Deo., 



ment purchased the best pen of pullets in the 1917-18 egg- 

 laying test and mated them with male birds bred from highly- 

 prolinc hens, with the result that not one of the pullets reared 

 from this stock laid less than 200 eggs in the first year, one 

 producing as many as 299 eggs. The chief point of interest, 

 however, is the breeding record of the cockerels among the 

 progeny. Four of these cockerels bred the pullets that made up 

 the pens which gained first, second, third, and fifth places at 

 the conclusion of the eighth Irish egg-laying test which ended 

 in August, 1920. Further, the winning pen consisted of six 

 daughters of the champion hen in the 1917-18 test. In the 

 winter following the 1917-18 test the champion hen was mated 

 to one of the males mentioned above, and one of her pullets 

 proved to be the champion layer in the last test with a record of 

 287 eggs in eleven months — the period of the Irish tests. This 

 pullet finished the year with a total of 309 eggs, and her dam's 

 record was 311 eggs in 365 days. 



An extension in another direction is being made in the 1921- 

 22 egg-laying test at the Harper Adams Agricultural College, 

 in connection with which an experimental use of electric light 

 in the houses is to be made in one section. This is a very 

 desirable experiment in view of the several accounts of the 

 successful application of light in inducing a higher egg yield 

 that have been received from America, and the absence of 

 authoritative data in this country. 



Whatever is said and done, the fact remains that the primary 

 purpose of egg-laying trials is to prove the prolificness of strains, 

 the value of their produce in resoeet to the size and quality of 

 the eggs, and the constitutional fitness of the stock — a fitness 

 that is not incompatible with high fecundity. Further, the 

 continuance of authoritative tests is a commercipl npcpssity. and 

 is essential to the progress of the egg industry in this country. 



