


REPORT OF THE First ASSISTANT. 
During the past year experiments with poultry have been con- 
tinued, some feeding experiments with pigs have been made, and 
observations upon selected varieties of sorghum continued. Also 
the feeding of the dairy cattle has been attended to, the rations 
for the different animals, including on January 1, 1892, sixteen 
milch cows, six heifers and seven bulls, being arranged according 
to the appetite, condition, age and size. The grain food has been 
changed at intervals to supplement the forage and coarse fodder 
available during the several months of the year. The foods con- 
sumed by the different animals and the total amounts of the 
different constituents will be found in the tables of the bulletins 
and those elsewhere in the annual report. The collection of data 
in the field experiments with applications of crude chemicals was 
continued. 
\ 
POULTRY. 
The poultry work has been a continuation of experiments in 
regard to the “ oyster-shell question,’ feeding experiments with 
rations for laying hens containing widely differing amounts of 
fat, feeding experiments with skim-milk for growing chicks, and 
also in regard to feeding salt to laying hens. Experiments in 
caponizing have been continued, and breeding experiments have 
been commenced. : 
The most conclusive results that point to the availability of the ) 
carbonate of lime in oyster shells, have been arranged in the 
following form for a bulletin : | 
During the past few years considerable discussion has occurred 
among poultrymen in regard to the question whether oyster shells 
were of any use to the hen as a source of material for the egg shell. 
It is generally known that the ordinary grains fed to poultry are 
very deficient in lime, and some have sought to supply this deficieney, 
under the supposition that oyster shells were ae by relying 
od 
Esa. 

