1905.] DISCUSSION. 167 



— I believe that the average fancier in breeding for show 

 purposes, who notices only the head, the marking of the feath- 

 ers, etc., and disregards the egg production and everything else, 

 is making a mistake if he is doing it for thoroughbred stock 

 on the farm. If he wants to put eggs on the market at fifty 

 cents a dozen I think he is making a mistake. 



As an illustration : I was over near Syracuse the other day 

 visiting a breeder of White Wyandottes, and he had most beau- 

 tiful birds from a fancier's standpoint. That man is working 

 to build up a heavy egg producing strain and has birds with 

 records of 240 eggs in 365 days. But it isn't the show birds 

 that are doing the laying. And so I say the man who is going 

 to take up thoroughbred poultry must bear in mind in selecting 

 his birds — must take into consideration what he is going to 

 breed for. There is no doubt in my mind that the thorough- 

 bred egg producer is the bird that makes the record, and when 

 we decide the value of a bird by the number of points in his 

 comb we are getting away from the farmer — the average 

 farmer — I believe. 



Now, there is another thing. The average farmer, I am 

 convinced from what observations I have been able to make, 

 makes a mistake in the handling of these birds. I think there 

 is a lack of knowledge regarding the proper way of handling 

 poultry to get good results. The man who will not keep his 

 birds high grade had better keep his old mongrels. If you 

 have a lot of undersized birds that have been accustomed to 

 roost in that old shed you will probably get better results from 

 them than if you took high-bred birds and put them in the old 

 shed and let their combs freeze. 



The speaker said that he had no use for the Leghorns. 

 We keep nothing but the Leghorns. Why ? Because we have 

 a trade that demands a white-shelled egg. Further, we have a 

 short summer season and the Leghorn will come on to egg lay- 

 ing maturity sooner than any other bird that I know of. 



The question of variety will have to come down, as the 



