THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 425 



edges that the best of anything is worth having, because its money value 

 is not as liable to fluctuation. For this reason thoroughbred stock is 

 looked upon with favor, and must possess its good qualities. 



But there are other reasons from those adduced to induce the farmer 

 to raise thoroughbred poultry. We will assume that he pays seme atten- 

 tion to his poultry and that to maintain them he must be at some ex- 

 pense. The cost of keeing pure bloods is no more than would be neces- 

 sary with scrubs. Can this be proven in the abstract? I think it can. 

 An inferior grade of cloth will not last as long as the best fabrics, because 

 the materials of which it is composed are not as good as those in the 

 latter, and in the scrub animals of mixed breeds the vitality or physical 

 stamina is weakened and degenerated by inbreeding and crossing. This 

 mixing of breeds is of such nature that unhealthy stock must be the re- 

 sult, and as a consequence the vitality is impaired. 



This being the case,, extra kinds and amount of foods are required to 

 sustain life to that degree which is necessary to insure the animal or the 

 fowl's productive powers. Thoroughbreds, possessing as they do, healthy 

 systems (without degenerated changes) k ept so by reason of careful 

 breeding, require less food to retain their vital forces, they seek their 

 living unaided, and are more easily kept up to the standard. In them 

 there is no adulteration or inferior blood, hence their enduring qualities, 

 necessitating a lesser outlay to maintain their health and procreative 

 power. But there is an aesthetic side of the argument. The farmer who 

 owns a fine herd of pure Herefords, a pen of fat, sleek Berkshires, a flock 

 of heavily robed Merinos, takes a great amount of pride in showing them 

 to his neighbors, comparing their fine points and extolling their physical 

 qualities. He points with satisfaction to their money producing achieve- 

 ments, and plainly shows that the possession of such blooded stock Is a 

 source of greatest pleasure. Anyone is proud of the reputation of owning 

 the best stock in the neighborhood. 



While often the possesion of wealth is the means of furnishing pleas- 

 ure, yet it is not the only one, and he who owns fine blooded stock, must 

 and does enjoy such ownership better than the one who ignores the per- 

 fection of labor. In conclusion, I refer to one other reason which, I be- 

 lieve, carefully tabulated reports will prove, and that is the superior util- 

 ity of thoroughbred poultry. This much mooted question has strong ad- 

 herents pro and con, but I feel that conscientious breeders who have 

 studied the matter carefully, will agree with me in the truth of the state- 

 ment. By utility, I mean the quality of commercial productiveness. The 

 fact of any animal or fowl being a thoroughbred carries with it the idea 

 of being of perfect physical qualities, and as such capable of reproducing 

 its kind with the same qualities, which are stamina, vitality and almost 

 perfect productive powers. Such fowls show their superiority by increased 

 egg supply, by greater reproductive power, resulting in more fertile germs 

 and a larger proportion of healthy hatched progeny that are more easily 

 raised on account of their hereditary stamina. These results are desir- 

 able because by them the credit side of the ledger is increased as well as 

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