New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 47 
consisting wholly of vegetable foods were used in contrast to those 
containing animal foods will be reported later. In the feeding 
experiment whose results are herein published, some skim-milk 
or curd was added to the rations which contained otherwise only 
vegetable food. This was to increase the palatability, to insure a 
fair proportion of nitrogen and to ascertain whether the moderate 
use of skim-milk curd would compensate for the lack of other 
animal food. 
The animal food mostly used was the ground, dried “ animal 
meal.” ‘This has generally proved more palatable than dried 
blood, and was found more convenient for daily use during warm 
‘weather than cut bone, which contained also a relatively larger 
percentage of fat. 
Experiments made some years before (see Bulletin No. 39) had 
shown skim milk to be a profitable addition to ordinary rations 
while other experiments (see Bulletin No. 126) had shown no dis- 
advantage in the use of ground grain instead of whole grain, and 
these facts were considered in arranging the ration. 
In this experiment two lots of chicks were fed for about four 
and one-half months and two lots for four months. The pullets 
from the corresponding lots were fed together for a month and a 
half longer. Two lots of cockerels were fed for three months 
and two lots of ducklings for four months. About one-quarter of 
the chicks in each lot were Brahmas and Wyandottes and about 
three-quarters of them were Leghorns. The cockerels used were 
“mostly Wyandottes with a few Brahmas and Cochins. The 
ducklings were Pekins. All the chicks and ducklings used were 
hatched in incubators and reared in outdoor brooders. ‘They were 
allowed the run of small separate yards. ‘The cockerels were 
removed when about twelve weeks old and the feeding continue: 
with the pullets. Occasionally a chick escaped through the net- 
ting into outside flocks where it could not be identified and was 
dropped from the lot. The weight of any that died-was counted 
as loss in live weight. : | 
