510 



STATS BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of the eggs is considered. The weight of a Wyandotte egg is 27 per cent 

 more than that of a Brown Leghorn egg. The time is sure to come when 

 eggs will be sold by the pound instead of by the dozen. A dozen eggs 

 weighing but 1.2 pounds is not worth as much as one weighing 1.5. And 

 the consumer should not be charged the same for them. The markets 

 are already discriminating against the small eggs and the difference 

 will become more marked in the future. 



Bearing on the same point, the relative egg laying qualities of the 

 different breeds of fowls, there is given below an extract from our egg 

 record for the first six months of 1897. A small flock of from four to six 

 yearling hens of each of the breeds mentioned below was kept in a 

 breeding pen in the College hen house. The egg record of each pen up to 

 the first of July is here given: 



S. C. B. Leghorns 



R. C. B. Leghorns 



White Plymouth Rocks. 

 Cornish Indian (iames... 

 Dark Brahmas 



Golden Wyandottes 



Partridge Cochins 



Barred Plymouth Rocks 

 S. P. Hambnrgs 



Total. 



403 

 422 

 447 

 253 

 296 



514 

 370 

 455 



347 



The average number of eggs per hen was, for the Single Comb Brown 

 Leghorns 80.6; for the Rose Comb Brown Leghorns, 84.4; for the White 

 Plymouth Rocks, 74.5; for the Barred Rocks. 75.8; for the Golden Wyan- 

 dottes, 102.8; for the Silver Penciled Hamburgs, 8G.7; for the Partridge 

 Cochins, 02.5; for the Dark Brahmas 50.2; and for the Cornish Indian 

 Games, 63.2. 



The hens in these pens had been purchased to illustrate to classes of 

 students the forms and plumage demanded by the American standard of 

 perfection. They were for the most part prize winners or at least high 

 scoring birds at the various poultry shows held in the State either in 

 the winter of 1896 or 1807. While, therefore, each pen was a fair repre- 

 sentation of the breed as far as appearance was concerned it could not be 

 supposed to fairly represent the breed in laying qualities. In poultry, 

 as in other kinds of live stock, it is easy to magnify too greatly the 

 importance of breed. Wheeler, at the New York Experiment Station, 

 has demonstrated the possibility of developing laying strains and meat 

 producing strains of a single breed that shall differ from each other fully 

 as much as distinct breeds would be expected to do. It is more than 

 probable, therefore, that in the production of the specimens of the differ- 

 ent breeds represented in the College flock, since the attention was 

 directed solely to securing birds of the right form and plumage to meet 

 the requirements of the standard, the egg laying qualities were neg- 

 lected and lessened. 



The farmer, whether he makes poultry his specialty or keeps hens 

 as an adjunct to other farm operations, will pay attention first to the 

 ability of his hens to produce eggs of good size and in profitable numbers. 

 He may, in addition, without injuring the egg laying abilities, select his 

 breeding fowls with some eye to form and plumage, making these things 



