The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1917-02-08
PLANS TO DROP The HIGH COST EGG
Prof. H. R. Lewis, Poultry Au-
thority, Maps Out Battle
Against Big Prices.
science COMES TO RESCUE
New Jersey Farmers to Follow Early
Matching Plan in Effort to
Increase Production in
Off Season.

New YOrk.-PrOf. Harry Il. Lewis,
head of the poultry department of the
New Jersey state experiment station,
and one of the leading poultry au-
thOrities of the country, is conducting
a series of cooperative experiments
with New Jersey chicken raisers which
promise to make fresh eggs more
plentiful in the future, especially in
the fall, when the real fresh article
becomes SO scarce that it gets into
the luxury class. Professor Lewis be-
Iieves the real solution of the egg
problem is TO teach the poultry men
how to manage their flocks so that
the egg supply will not fall so low dur
ing the fall and winter months.
Realizing that lectures are soon for
gotten and literature often thrown
away or lost, Professor Lewis decided
some time ago to get out among the
farmers and work with them.
He is putting the hen through a
postgraduate course In egg produc-
tion at Vineland, N. j., which prom
Uses to revolutiOnize the poultry in
duStry and be the means of speeding
up egg production all over the cOun-
try. Although increased production
will mean lower Nrices, the poultry
men are lending every aid, as they
realize that their full egg baskets will
more than make up for the drop in
price.
Knowing that hens will always take
a vacation in the fall, when they rest
up, mott, and get ready for another
seasons laying, Professor Lewis turn
ed his attention to the pullets and
found that most poultry men were
Matching only in the natural breeding
season, during April, May and June.
Only few birds were Matched in
March, and these did not mature
quickly enough to fill in the gap with
eggs when the old hens started to
slack off
Experimental With Pulets.
Experiments were conducted for sew
eral years at the state experiment sta
ton farm at New Brunswick, which
convinced Professor Lewis that chicks
Matched about the middle of February
would start laying toward the end of
July, when production starts down
ward on most farms. AS the hens
stopped, these early Matched pullets
took their places and the gap was
bridged.
They laid all fall, going into slight
mott in the winter, but by that time
the later Matched birds were laying
well, and Professor Lewis felt that the
February Matched pullets were entitled
to a short rest, as they had solved the
problem of fall egg scarcity and had
laid well when eggs were bringing top
prices.
Another experiment which promises
great results for the poultry industry
is being conducted at the Vineland in
ternational egg laying and breeding
contest, where 100 pens of ten birds
Professor Lewis predicted when the
contest started November ] last that
before 1t ends enough data will be
secured to enable all poultry men to
breed with more certainty for higher
egg production.
To Pedigree the Birds.
Professor Lewis is going to pedi-
gree the birds for two years and then
is going TO breed from them in an eff
fort to show the owners just how to
mate their birds to insure increased
production from generation to genera
ton.
A model $1,000 plant for the contest
furnishes palatial quarters for the
birds. with everything arranged for
their convenience and comfort. There
is a free lunch counter where such
tlelicacies as dry mash, oyster shell,
grit. charcoal and water are always
on tap, and grain is fed three times
Il day in deep litter on the floor, to
keep the birds busy and contented.