MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I914. 9 



breeder which is known ever to have been ill, to however 

 slight a degree. In order to know something about this, put 

 an extra leg-band on every bird, chick, or adult, when it shows 

 the first sign of indisposition. This then becomes a permanent 

 brand, which marks this individual as one which failed to a 

 greater or less degree, to stand up under its environmental 

 measures of constitutional vigor. 



2. The use as breeders of such females only as have shown 

 themselves by trap-nest records to be high producers, since it 

 is only from such females that there can be any hope of get- 

 ting males capable of transmitting high laying qualities. 



3. The use as breeders of such males only as are known to 

 be the sons of high producing dams, since only from such males 

 can we expect to get high producing daughters. 



4. The use of a pedigree system, whereby it will be possible 

 at least to tell what individual male bird was the sire of any 

 particular female. This amounts, in ordinary parlance, to a 

 pen pedigree system. Such a system is not difficult to operate. 

 Indeed, many poultrymen, especially fanciers, now make use 

 of pen pedigree records. It can be operated by the use of a 

 toe-punch. All the chickens hatched from a particular pen 

 may be given a distinctive mark by punching the web between 

 the toes in a definite way. 



5. The making at first of as many different matings as pos- 

 sible. This means the use of as many different male birds as 

 possible, which will further imply small matings with only com- 

 paratively few females to a single male. 



6. Continued, though not too narrow, inhre,eding (or line 

 breeding) of those lines in which the trap-nest records show a 

 preponderant number of daughters to be high producers. One 

 should not discard all but the single best line, but should keep 

 a half dozen at least of the lines which throw the highest pro- 

 portions of high layers, breeding each line within itself. 



Items 4, 5 and 6 imply the carrying over of a considerable 

 number of cockerels until some judgment has been formed of 

 the worth of their lines, through the performance at the trap- 

 nest of their sisters. 



Item 6 assumes, as an absolutely necessary prerequisite that 

 item I will be faithfully and unfailingly observed. 



The plan of breeding for tgg production above set forth, 



