Improving Fowls ilirongh Selection 133 



careless management the most noted egg-breeds 

 may not prove the most satisfactory for egg pro- 

 duction. The capabilities of the fowls and the 

 conditions under which they are to be kept should 

 both be taken into consideration before fowls are 

 selected for a special purpose. 



The wide-awake, progressive poultryman will 

 ever be watchful to improve his fowls for the 

 purpose in view, after procuring those that seem 

 best adapted to his wants. He must not be 

 content with merely choosing a proper flock. 

 Selection should go on year after year, and the 

 fowls be continually improved for the purpose 

 for which they are kept and under the existing 

 conditions. 



Selecting eggs. The method on many farms of 

 selecting eggs for hatching is entirely faulty, and 

 often leads directly to deterioration rather than 

 improvement. In the improvement of fowls for 

 egg production the choice should be made ac- 

 cording to the number of eggs laid. Just as the 

 dairyman values his cows by the number of 

 pounds of butter fat produced, so should the 

 poultryman and farmer value the laying hen by 

 the number of eggs put forth annually. As it is 

 difficult, and, under the usual conditions, impos- 

 sible to ascertain the number of eggs laid by 

 each fowl in a farmer's flock, he is forced to 

 resort to other methods of determining which are 



