planned to consider the different classes of meat but the problem as it applies to American farms has to do mainly with pork at the present time. HORSE AND MULE INVESTIGATIONS This project consists of research studies on breeding, management, feeding, and cost of production and maintenance of horses and mules as efficient sources of farm power. The work is organized into four general projects: (1) Light-horse investigations; (2) draft-horse investigations; (3) mule investigations; (4) colt-developnent investiga tions. LIGHT HORSE INVESTIGATIONS The work of this project is carried on principally at the United States Morgan Horse Farm, Middlebury, Vt., where the studies of light horses has been confined to the Morgan breed. This farm has been producing seed stock for distribution to breeders in this and other countries for a number of years. The project work concerns production and performance of purebred Morgan horses, the use of purebred Morgans for crossing, feeding, and management studies with light horses, and the development of superior pastures for horses in the New England area. DRAFT HORSE INVESTIGATIONS The research work with draft horses is carried on at the United States Range Livestock Experiment Station, Miles City, Mont., where a stud of Belgium horses is being developed. These purebred horses are used in detailed research studies of the purebreed and in improvement studies in which purebred stallions are used on grade range mares. The purpose of this project is to establish through breeding strains of superior draft horses which can be used in making a thorough study of breeding, feeding, and management factors in the development of farm power. Detailed measurements and feed records are maintained, and it is hoped soon to be able to obtain data on the pulling ability of these animals. MULE INVESTIGATIONS This project constitutes new work which has for its object the improvement and unification of mules for different types of farm work. This involves the establishment of strains of mares and of jacks which transmit superior inheritance for the qualities desired in mules of the various types. Due to the great increase in demand for jacks, they have become so scarce that importations from abroad have been necessary to meet the demand. The use of jacks regardless of their breeding and worth is certain to do much damage to the mule industry. It is the purpose of this project to ascertain what desirable qualities are necessary in both the male and female lines of ancestry to produce uniformly the mules required for the various types of farm power. This work is being carried on cooperatively with the Georgia Experiment Station. POULTRY INVESTIGATIONS The poultry industry of the United States is one of the most important branches of agriculture, there being approximately 6,000,000 farmers who raise poultry, besides several thousand commercial poultrymen, whose total receipts from eggs, baby chicks, and live and dressed poultry approximate $1,000,000,000 annually. Efficiency of production and the stability of the poultry industry depend in a large measure on the amount and character of research work conducted on behalf of the industry. In its broader aspects the poultry work carried on at the National Agricultural Research Center has three main objectives: 1. To determine the fundamental principles involved in the breeding and feeding of poultry in order that poultry meat and egg production may be carried on most efficiently by poultry raisers. 2. To determine ways and means of enabling the producer to eliminate losses from embryo, chick, and adult stock mortality. 3. To determine the nature of the factors affecting the quality of poultry meat and eggs in order that producers may receive greater remuneration for products of superior quality and in order that consumers may secure the greatest possible amount of nutritive material in the most palatable form from the poultry products they purchase. According to the census, there are kept on the farms of the United States approximately 400,000,000 laying fowls which lay about 90 eggs each per year. Studies on the inheritance of egg production at Beltsville have demonstrated that by adopting proper methods of selection and breeding the average egg production of the fowls of the country could be increased to 150 eggs per bird. Such an increase would mean an increased revenue from egg production of several million dollars annually. POULTRY BREEDING The major portions of the breeding projects are directed toward the improvement of egg v eight, egg quality, and to an increase in the number of eggs produced per hen. These studies include also an investigation of the use of artificial insemination and its effects upon fertility, the inheritance of rate of laying among different breeds and strains, and the development of superior strains possessing this character. The use of progeny testing and the development of the best index to use in the selection of superior sires and dams. An important part of the breeding work with poultry is the national poultry improvement plan carried on as a systematic breed-improvement and pullorum disease control project in the interests of both producers and consumers. The national plan was developed in order (1) to promote greater uniformity and more efficient methods of poultry breeding and testing for pullorum disease; (2) to bring about uniformity in the terminology used to describe similar phases of breeding and testing work among the States; (3) to protect legitimate producers against unfair competition; and (4) to make it possible for buyers of hatching eggs, chicks, and breeding stock to get what they pay for. The plan is national in scope and is voluntary on the part of the States and the individuals within the States. It is administered jointly in each of the participating States by the official State agency and the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture. NUTRITION This project includes studies on the relation between growth and feed consumption, the effect of different levels of protein intake upon growth, and the determination of the most economical level for different ages; the value and use of cod-liver oil, including the determination of methods for determining the vitamin B potency, the effects of different feeds upon egg quality and hatchability, the development of means for preventing perosis, and the use of special methods of feeding for increasing the vitamin A content of eggs. PHYSIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE OF GROWTH AND METABOLISM This project includes the collection of data on the energy metabolism of chicks at different stages of growth. The results are of fundamental importance not only to the feeding of poultry for proper development by also relative to the heating and construction of poultry houses and equipment. The effects of varying percentages of CO2 on the embryo during the first 4 days of incubation are being studied to determine its possible influence on the great mortality of embryos which occurs during this period. This study also includes consideration of the effects of variations in temperature during the last 4 days of incubation and during the first 4 days of brooding. Such data are of great importance in the lowering of both losses due to shipping and brooding day-old chicks. FACTORS AFFECTING HATCHABILITY This project includes a study of the various factors affecting the hatchability of eggs, including disease, the effects of nutritional deficiencies, embryo mortality due to various inherited traits and other physical factors such as turning eggs during incubation and sudden shock. The effects of high clacium phosphorous ratios in the diet. of the breeding flock, and the effects of various hormones. RESEARCH WORK AT GLENDALE, ARIZ. At this station most of the research work conducted has had to do with poultry nutrition and deals especially with the utilization of grains produced in the Southwestern section of the United States. Diets have been worked out for the most efficient utilization of such grains as hegari, kafir corn, and other locally grown products. Alfalfa products have been studied from the point of view of determining their value as a source of vitamin A for growing chicks. As a result, it is possible to make definite and reliable recommendations regarding the use of alfalfa-leaf meal in the feeding of growing chicks. Much other research work has been conducted at Glendale, one item being a demonstration that it is entirely practical to raise chicks under brooders in tents, and to keep laying hens without houses. TURKEY INVESTIGATIONS The turkey project includes research in breeding, brooding, feeding, and management of turkeys. The usual type of turkeys raised by most growers is a long-legged, large-boned, slow-growing bird whereas there is needed for most economical production and for supplying consumer demand a short-legged, small-boned, early-maturing type that will be in good fleshing condition for the Thanksgiving and Christmas markets. Research work to develop such a type of turkey is an important part of the turkey project work. Research on turkey feeding is directed toward a determination of optimum amounts of protein from various sources in order that the growing of turkeys may be conducted on the most economical basis. It has been found that young turkeys up to about 8 weeks of age are very particular about their feed and will not make satisfactory growth when fed the diets which are satisfactory for growing chicks. A crude protein content of about 25 percent gives best results, but certain studies with a mixed ration show that a crude protein content of as low as 20 percent may be used. Not only is proper feeding necessary for economical development of the birds but it has been demonstrated that crooked breast bones may be prevented, for the most part, by feeding the poults good diets and using roosts properly constructed. STATUS OF BELTSVILLE STATION CONSTRUCTION Mr. CANNON. What is the condition of the plant out at Beltsville. What percentage of it is completed? Dr. MCPHEE. I would say it is about 95 percent complete. It will be turned over by the contractors within a month. There is some plastering and installation of pipes still to be completed. Mr. TARVER. Wasn't there some idea of effecting savings by concentrating these research investigations at Beltsville? Dr. MCPHEE. Yes, sir. Mr. TARVER. We are now told that, instead of effecting any savings, it is going to considerably increase the expense. Dr. MCPHEE. For the same amount of research all together in several different places, and in several different buildings, it would cost probably more than this item here. You will recall we asked for $50,000 last year for the operation of this building. We just cannot operate these modern facilities without money. It is impossible. We are asking for an amount that will merely allow us to start! Mr. CANNON. Are you increasing your personnel? Mr. CANNON. This $50,000 is for what purpose? Dr. MCPHEE. $35,000 of it goes for additional fuel, electric current, water, janitor labor, and engineering services for the new laboratory buildings and for the purchase of necessary scientific instruments and supplies. Mr. JUMP. The total increase for the Beltsville buildings is $31,500. There is an increase of $3,500 for the poultry experiment station at Glendale, Ariz., and there is a $15,000 for horse and mule husbandry investigations, so that to get the real figure that Dr. McPhee is talking about as applicable to Beltsville we would have to take $18,500 from the $50,000. That is all explained in the notes. ADAPTABILITY OF BELTSVILLE STATION FOR LIVESTOCK RESEARCH Dr. MCPHEE. Our research work has been held back for years because we did not have the proper facilities. We do not have at Beltsville the proper facilities for carrying on the breeding, and the feeding, and the management studies, and particularly the laboratory studies. We have had no animal husbandry research laboratory. We have been laboring a long time to do such research as our facilities would permit. Mr. THURSTON. Couldn't that same research work have been done out in some of the States where they have first-class experiment stations? Dr. MCPHEE. No, sir; I think not. Mr. THURSTON. Couldn't that research work be done in those States where they could raise the livestock that was to be experimented with on natural grasses, and not grasses raised oy fertilizers as they have to do it here? Do you think you can get true tests in many of your lines out here at Beltsville and get them as accurately as you could in some of the States where nature has provided the natural forage and feed for that livestock? Dr. MCPHEE. Our investigations are of a different nature than the ones you have in mind. Mr. THURSTON. Don't you have poultry out there? Dr. MCPHEE. Yes; we have poultry out there. Mr. THURSTON. You cannot raise the grain out there to feed that poultry, can you? Dr. MCPHEE. The type of our research with poultry is a type of controlled laboratory experiments that are not done by the State experiment stations. Mr. THURSTON. And isn't that also true of the livestock, that you are obliged to provide for the feed there? Dr. MCPHEE. The feed is not an item of great importance. Our studies are laboratory studies to develop new methods and to enable the breeding research to go forward. Mr. THURSTON. Wouldn't it be logical to have experiments affecting cotton made down in Georgia or in some State where they grow cotton rather than out here at Beltsville? Dr. MCPHEE. I do not know about cotton. I cannot speak as to that. Mr. THURSTON. Or any other grain? Wouldn't the same idea also prevail as to livestock? Dr. MCPHEE. It depends upon what factors are going to be studied. If it requires careful control and laboratory studies it does not make much difference where it is done, but you must have the laboratory equipment. Mr. THURSTON. It seems to me a tremendous blunder was made when they started this station out here. It could have been handled in the various areas of the country to better advantage. Mr. CANNON. Just why was Beltsville chosen? Dr. MCPHEE. That was a long time ago before I came into the Department. I am not sure whether I can answer that question. Mr. THURSTON. I do not want to continue or extend it for that reason. Mr. CANNON. As a matter of fact, who did select it? Dr. MOHLER. It was selected by a committee of three-Dr. Galloway, Professor Whitney, and Dr. Melvin in Secretary Wilson's administration. Mr. CANNON. A committee selected by the Secretary of Agriculture for that purpose? |