through our mutual friends, T. E. Orr and Alva Agee. Third, because I wish to reciprocate in some measure the good which Mr. Orr has done for the State of New York through his many practical lectures at our poultry and farmers' institutes.

Poultry husbandry is just coming to its own. The people, now, as never before, are beginning to realize the great extent and the importance of poultry keeping. They realize that almost every farmer and many village people are interested in poultry, and therefore poultry bulletins and other literature issued from our agricultural colleges and experiment stations is one of the easiest and most ef fective ways of reaching the people. Notwithstanding the importance of poultry husbandry from an educational, as well as an economic stand-point, only three or four states in the Union are giving it any special recognition as a subject for instruction or investigation. The few efforts which have been made to establish poultry departments in the experiment stations and agricultural colleges, are meeting with such marked approval on the part of students and poultrymen generally, that a large number of states are now considering seriously the advisability of establishing poultry departments as strong and effective as any of the other departments of the college or the experiment station. They are wise in this decision. No money that is appropriated by the State is expended more wisely than that which is devoted to the education of the farmer in the methods which will enable him to produce better products to feed the world, and to do so most economically and effectively. One cent saved on each dozen of eggs produced in the State of Pennsylvania, one more chicken raised on each farm in the State, one dozen more eggs produced each year by each hen in the State, would produce a product so great that none of us would have guessed its value. Nevertheless, such are the possibilities to be brought about in this and in every state through investigations and by instruction at the Agricultural College, the Farmers' Institutes, the Reading Courses, etc. Indeed, such a result is taking place in several states. It is imperative that each state undertakes this work in order to keep up with the race and sharp competition for the markets of the world. The poultrymen in the State which does not encourage and help them cannot win out in competition with the states where they have upto-date poultry schools and an experiment station where the interests of poultrymen are given a proper share of attention.

My purpose, however, in speaking to you this evening, is to discuss some of the important problems confronting poultrymen and to illustrate by lantern slides some of the things which it is difficult to express in words. The field is so large and the time so limited that it is impossible, in the short space of an hour, to touch upon many topics.

One of the most important poultry problems is, how to maintain and increase the vigor of the flock. Constitutional vigor plays an important part in the production of large numbers of eggs, of fertile eggs, of hatchable eggs, and of chickens which rather live than die. How best to breed, feed, raise, and house poultry so that each year the flock will be more hearty and vigorous than before, is the question around which all of our investigations at Cornell University, center. One of the principal factors which has contributed toward lower vitality in the flocks of the country, is the improper construc

tion of poultry houses. The first slide, Fig. 1, shows two colony houses, 8 feet square, similar in every respect except the window openings.

These houses were used in order to try and determine the comparative influence of a glass or a cloth window in the poultry house. Each day for the entire winter, records were kept of the temperature, moisture and density of sun-light in each house, the amount of food consumed, number of eggs laid, and the mortality in each house. The only difference between these two houses was, that one had a glass window while the other had a cloth window made of thin muslin. Fifteen early hatched, Brown Leghorn pullets occupied each house. The two lots were as near alike as it was possible to divide them. The result in brief, showed that the house with the glass window was considerably damper, the air less pure, the temperature only a degree and a half warmer on an average each week during the entire winter, and three times brighter and lighter than the house with the cloth window. In the glass window house four pullets died from various causes of debility, probably due to the breathing of stagnant air. The pullets in the cloth window laid considerably more eggs and there was no mortality.

A similar experiment was tried the previous winter in which fif teen cockerels were placed in each house instead of pullets. At the end of eight weeks it was found that the cockerels in the house with the glass window showed great debility, all but one having developed lopped combs, whereas, in the house with the cloth window only one had a lopped comb and all were in the best of health, and they made a much better gain in growth. The surprising thing, is the comparatively small amount of difference in the temperature of the two houses and the large amount of difference in the purity of the air and dryness. The small difference in temperature was due largely to the fact of a comparative small amount of air space which was kept warm by the hens. The pure air and dryness was due to the fact that the cloth permitted a quiet diffusion of air at all times, not rapidly enough to permit the escape of the heat so that the fowls suffered from the cold, but effectively enough so that the air was kept reasonably pure.

Fig. 2 shows the plotted curves of average temperature for each day. Also the average for day-time and night-time in this experiment just mentioned.

Fig. 3 represents two difficulties in the feeding and handling of the meat type of fowls. On the right hand we have the pendulus crop due to a lack of vitality and the breaking down of the tissues which loose their power to contract. There is no cure. The remedy is entirely in prevention. The other fowl has the broken down abdomen which is due to a condition of over fatness, most common in old fowls. This particular hen had about one pound of fat in her abdomen in one mass. Notwithstanding this condition of fatness which would have eventually resulted in death, this fowl was in good laying condition at the time she was killed, having an egg completely formed ready to be laid.

The next two slides, Figs. 4 and 5, show by contrast, a practical problem in the handling of large flocks of fowls economically. The labor bill is one of the largest on a poultry farm. Every plant should be arranged with a view to saving time as well as to the first original cost of the investment. Modern poultry keeping eliminates,