Farm Poultry 



1829 



early production before they have matured and that they be kept 

 at it as much as possible during the following year. Where this 

 method is followed, she is in no physical condition to produce 

 the strong, vigorous germ that should be looked for for incubation, 

 and no matter how well-bred she may have been, she should not 

 be expected under these circumstances to reproduce her own good 

 qualities in the offspring. The method followed on the best poul- 

 try plants today is to force the pullets to the largest possible pro- 

 duction, selecting those that laid first, kept longest at it, moulted 

 latest, and produced the most eggs, for the breeding pen the fol- 

 lowing year. They are then given a long rest and brought into 

 laying about the time, or a little before the incubating season 

 opens. This method, if followed a few years, will breed up a 

 heavy laying strain of almost any variety or breed. 



BREEDS 



A wrong impression is very prevalent as to the value of various 

 breeds. A strain of any breed is valuable in just the proportion 

 in which care is exercised in its 

 development. All of the breeds 

 have been developed from the one 

 old jungle fowl. It has simply 

 been a matter of selection and 

 inteiisifying the desired quality. 

 It is just as easy to select for 

 large production as it is for a 

 given shape or feather. The 

 White Leghorn has come to be 



Fig. 195. 



Black 

 Cock 



Orpington 



recognized as the egg breed for 

 ISTew York State, due probably to 

 the fact that she produces a large white egg which always com- 

 mands a premium in Kew York City and many of the other cities 

 of the state„ But this does not mean that all white leghorns are 

 desirable. There is no recognized breed that is so poor that a well- 

 developed strain of it would not be preferable to a poorly devel- 

 oped flock of white leghornSo It is probably true that under pres- 

 ent conditions and prices of food, it will be more profitable for 

 the !N^ew York State farmer to strive for egas rather than meat or 



