Raising Chicks in Batteries by W. C. Thompson, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, New Brunswick, N. J. The Harper Adams Utility Poultry Journal, 1929, p. 307.

To summarize concerning battery rearing is to say that:

1. 1. A room approximately 12ft. by 14ft. in size will accommodate a battery large enough to handle nearly two thousand chicks, an economy in housing provision for chick rearing.

2. 2. One man can satisfactorily take care of from four to five times as many chicks by battery methods as by former methods.

3. 3. The chicks are surrounded by strictest possible sanitation, and B.W.D. and coccidiosis have little chance to kill chicks.

4. 4. The chicks have nothing else to do but eat and grow, and yet they get sufficient exercise to enable them to make proper growth.

5. 5. The scheme is especially convenient for the handling of chicks during their first four weeks, until the worst danger period is passed, and is a splendid answer to the handling of surplus male chicks.

6. 6. The pullets are well started in the batteries and are finished under normal conditions.

7. 7. The batteries must be kept fairly darkened, to keep down any tendency to toe...picking, etc.

Bacillary Diarrhea in Fowls by H. Magnusson. Skand. Vet. Tidskrift, Aug. 1928.

In Sweden Bacillary Diarrhea in hens was first observed in 1925, although it probably occurred before that time. The disease should be called „Bird typhoid” and the bacteria which cause it „bacterium gallinarium Klein” after the person who discovered them.

Feeding Standards for Poultry by Eric B. Lomax, B.A., N.D.P. Senior Research Assistant, National Institute of Poultry Husbandry, Newport, Salop. Harper Adams Utility Poultry Journal, 1929, no. 8.

In order that poultry may be fed in an economical manner it is essential that there be standards upon which to calculate the requirements of the bird and that these requirelnents Inay be correctly varied for birds differing in weight and in expected production.

The Influence of confinement on the Production of white leghorn pullets by F. C. Bobby. Report from the National Institute of Poultry Husbandry Experimental Farm. The Harper Adams Utility Poultry Journal 1929, p. 471.

1. 1. The experiment confirmed the previous experiment of the winter 1925-1926. Under the conditions of this experiment confined White Leghorn pullets showed a decrease in egg production. The important condition associated with this decrease in eggs was a glass fronted house which prevented any direct rays of sunlight reaching the pullets when confined to the house itself.

2. 2. That the apparent reason for the decrease in egg production is a lack of sunlight or the antirachitic vitamin, which results in a condition resembling rickets among the pullets so confined.

3. 3. This condition in adult stock appears only after the birds have been confined for two-three months. It has occurred in both the experiments of 1925-26 and 1927-28.

4. 4. That the use of an open-fronted house, protected in a suitable way against inclement weather, and at night, is one definite method of obtaining improved results with confined birds.

5. 5. That the use of 2 per cent. Cattle Cod Liver Oil supplies the necessary food accessory, the absence of which appears to result in the decrease of egg production described.

6. 6. That the birds under confinement without a sufficient source of Vitamin „D” are likely to lose body weight, as indicated by the results obtained in this experiment.

7. 7. That the egg weight is not influenced by the differences in management practised in this experiment.

The National Mark, a symbol of Reform. Plain selling and easy bying by the Right Hon. Walter Guinness, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, London. 1929.

In this article, reproduced by the courtesy of „the Times” the Minister of Agriculture describes the working of the National Mark Scheme.