In all this early work the great Mississippi Valley, where four-fifths of the nation’s poultry is produced, entirely ignored the hen.  The writer began his work with poultry at the Kansas Station in 1902, but his chickens were housed in a discarded hog house, and no funds being available, little was accomplished.  In the last three or four years these experiment stations are rapidly falling into line and a number of poultry bulletins have recently been issued from these younger schools.

A few of the early landmarks in experiment station work was as follows: 

The Utah Station clearly found that hens laid about 65 per cent. as many eggs in the second as in the first year, and that to keep hens for egg production beyond the second year, was unprofitable.

Massachusetts proved that corn was a better food for layers than wheat, and that the prejudice against it was founded on a misapplied theory.

The New York Station at Geneva demonstrated that poultry generally, and ducks in particular, are not vegetarians, and must have meat to thrive and that vegetable protein will not make good the deficiency.

The Maine Station was chiefly instrumental in introducing trap-nests, curtain front houses and dry feeding.  The breeding work at Maine will be discussed at length in the last section of this chapter.

The United States Department of Agriculture did not take up poultry work until 1906.  The publications issued by the department before that time were written by outsiders and printed by the Government.

The following is the list of the addresses of the experiment stations who have taken a leading interest in poultry work.  It is not worth while giving a list of poultry bulletins, as many of them are out of print and can only be consulted in a library.

    Maine—­Orono. 
    Mass.—­Amherst. 
    Conn.—­Storrs. 
    Rhode Is.—­Kingston. 
    New York—­Ithaca. 
    New York—­Geneva. 
    Maryland—­College Park. 
    West.  Va.—­Morgantown. 
    Iowa—­Ames. 
    Kansas—­Manhattan. 
    Utah—­Logan. 
    Calif.—­Berkeley. 
    Oregon—­Corvalis. 
    U.S.  Gov.—­Washington, D.C. 
    Ontario—­Guelph (Canada).

Many foreign governments have us out-distanced in the encouragement of the poultry industry.  Our Canadian neighbors have done much more practical work in getting out among the farmers and improving the stock and methods along commercial lines.  As a result the Canadians have built up a nice British trade with which we have thus far not been able to compete.  The work by the Ontario Station on the subject of incubation is discussed in the Chapter on Incubation.

Australia, like Canada, has given much practical assistance in marketing the poultry products, the government maintaining packing stations, where the poultry is packed for export.  The Australian laying contests are quoted in the present volume.  They outclass anything else in the world along that line.