1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



791 



ful pullets, which were laying to beat the band, didn't 

 look so good to me as they did before. I wanted 

 somethinar more aristocratic. And then I went to 

 work and did somelhinu- that men have been doing 

 from time immemorial — subordinated merit to good 

 looks. I began to send away to noted breeders for 

 high-priced cockerels to " improve " my strain. I im- 

 proved it with a vengeance. In three years I had in 

 my yards some beautiful birds, so far as feathers and 

 shape were concerned, but they were just ordinary 

 layers. And then two great truths began to filter into 

 my consciousness: 1. The hen that is swift to lay is 

 better than the mighty; and the hen that filled the egg- 

 basket is greater than the one that taketh the blue rib- 

 bon in the city. 2. The reason why my pullets were 

 such phenomenal layers was because of the strong in- 

 fusion of Leghorn blood, amounting to not less than 

 25 per cent. And then I went to work laboriously and 

 painfully to build up what I had ignorantly destroyed. 



And now I give you the great "secret," which is 

 worth dollars to every reader of this paper, but for 

 which I do not charge a cent — cro4i-/frW(2:a//on. Se- 

 lection and cross-fertilization are the two methods by 

 which Luther Burbank, the " plant wizard," produces 

 his wonderful creations. One of these methods has 

 been tried in poultry-keeping, but not with perfectly 

 satisfactory results. Look at the Maine experiment 

 station, where the theory of selection has come to such 

 melancholy wreck. After nine years of trap-nesting 

 and breeding from best layers, the station is obliged 

 to confess that the average egg-yield per hen is not so 

 great as when they started. Selection must be supple- 

 mented by cross-fertilization to produce the 200-egg 

 hen. 



It is a theory of mine that there is a certain maxi- 

 mum egg-production for each breed, and when you 

 exceed this you sacrifice some of the qualities that are 

 characteristic of the breed. In other words, you be- 

 gin to create a new breed. It is because the qualities 

 inherent in a breed are so much more persistent than 

 the acquired qualities that it is so difficult to improve 

 a breed by selection. 



Let me illustrate from another field. All the read- 

 ers of the Advocate have doubtless seen the Percheron 

 horse, that noble animal that we have imported into 

 this country to improve the size and strength of our 

 draft horses. The Percheron is an ideal draft horse, 

 but no one would select him for a driving horse. On 

 the road he could, perhaps, make three to four miles 

 an hour. Now, it is entirely possible that, by careful 

 selection in breeding, the spt ed of the Percheron 

 could be considerably increased; but it could not be 

 increased without sacrificing some of the grand qual- 

 ities which he now possesses. Size would have to be 

 reduced, shape altered, the gait changed. The Per- 

 cheron as we know him now would be gone. In his 

 place would bean animal that is neither one thing nor 

 the other — neither a draft horse nor a trotter. Selec- 

 tion will do great things; but selection carried beyond 

 a given point defeats itself and fails. 



The characteristic equine product of the United 

 States is the trotting hor e. Here we beat the world. 

 The progenitor of the American trotter was the famous 

 Messenger, who was landed in Philadelphia in 178S. 

 Ever since that time, whenever we have found a trot- 

 ting horse of established pedigree we have found that 

 one or more of the blood lines ran back to this great 

 fountain head; and the more Messenger strains there 

 are in a pedigree the greater is its esteemed value. It 

 may be laid down as an axiom that there is no great 

 trotter without the Messenger blood. 



The distinctive egg strain is the Leghorn. Every- 

 body admits that. We may not like the Leghorn — its 

 small size, its wildness, its incessant movement — but 

 we all concede that when it comes to filling the egg- 

 basket the Leghorn has no superior. Now, it would 

 seem to follow that an infusion of Leghorn blood 

 would be of great benefit in building up an egg-pro- 

 ducing strain^ 



What advantages have I secured by the introduction 

 of a small percentage of Leghorn blood into my White 

 Wyandottes? First, early maturity. The infusion of 

 Leghorn blood accelerates maturity. It makes a great 

 difference in the egg-output for the year whether a 

 hen begins to lay in November or not until March. 

 The twelve hens that comprised my original flock laid 

 the first week in October, 1897, 14 eggs as follows: 1, 3, 

 1, 2. 4, 1, 3. And the last week of September, 1898, the 

 fourteen hens laid 57 eggs : 7, 7, 7, 10, 6, 8, 12. There 

 was no perceptible slackening in gait until well into 

 October. Here was a steady pull of a year or more, 

 and it is no wonder the egg-yield was phenomenal. 



The second advantage is the weakening of the desire 

 for incubation. Leghorns are " non-sitters." This is 



not literally true, but it approximates the truth. These 

 periodical fits of broodiness greatly reduce the work- 

 ing time of the large hens. 



Third, greater activity. The Leghorns are never 

 still except when in the nest or roost. This means 

 that they do not take on fat like other breeds. The 

 tendency of the larger breeds is to become too fat for 

 egg-production. A little Leghorn blood counteracts 

 this tendency. 



The two varieties that would seem to offer the great- 

 est possibilities in the way of cross-fertilization are 

 White Wyandottes and White Plymouth Rocks, for 

 they may be crossed without detriment to comb or 

 color. The variety that I have experimented with has 

 been the While Wyandottes, crossing with Rose Comb 

 White Leghorns; but the White Plymouth Rocks would 

 respond equally well. The percentage of Leghorn 

 blood that can be introduced without destroying the 

 Wyandotte or Rock type is about Vl^i per cent, or the 

 grandson of a Leghorn male mated to pullets of the 

 chosen variety. 



In closing I quote from a letter which has come with- 

 in a few days, which shows how persistent is the egg- 

 laying habit in my hens, and how they give good ac- 

 counts of themselves in other hands than mine. It is 

 from the Rev. George E. Lake, of Chelsea, Vt., dated 

 July 23, 1909: 



Bro. H'arrrii :- You may have given up all Intrrest in the 

 old ' hobby," but I still have some ot the same breed of heus 

 that 1 got from you some some lour yearf ago. 1 still have a 

 little pen ot them; and the other day (or days) they laid an 

 egg apiece for two days; and one day since, they laid an egg 

 apieoe. They have been laying for nine months. They have 

 not sat. They are still working. I call that good. 



Atkinson, N. H. Edgar Warren. 



I feel so well convinced that the above ar- 

 ticle is along the line of truth, and some- 

 thing very valuable, that I have about decid- 

 ed to get a White Wyandotte male to put 

 with my strain of White Leghorns down in 

 Florida. In due time I hope to be able to 

 make a report. 



SORTING OUT FERTILE EGGS BEFORE THEY GO INTO 

 THE INCUBATOR. 



I have read your articles about egg-hatching, and 

 how to tell when the eggs are fertile; but I have not 

 noticed an idea that I have used with good success. 



Before " planting " the eggs under biddy I take each 

 one, either by strong lamplight or sunshine, and by 

 holding the egg in one hand and forming a shade over 

 the large end of yie egg with the other hand I can see 

 whether it shows fertility or not. If it does, you will 

 see a dark spot, nearly as large as a dime; if not, or if 

 it is a very weak germ, you will see nothing. This 

 spot lies a little to one side of the center of the large 

 end of the egg. By turning it in the hand one can soon 

 learn to detect this place. Of course, not every egg 

 will hatch, as sometimes the chick can not get out of 

 the shell, or dies before the hatching time; but the 

 greater per cent always hatch. 



Should all drones be destroyed, keeping only those 

 desired for breeding purposes? Of what good are 

 drones to a colony besides fertilizing queens? 



Lamberton, Minn., Aug. 20. Nellie E. SCHUCK. 



My good friend, I feel sure you are mak- 

 ing a mistake. The Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington, D. C, has issued a bulle- 

 tin declaring that the germ is microscopic, 

 and can not possibly be seen through the 

 shell of the egg until it has made a start of 

 three or four days. A Mrs. White, of Mis- 

 souri, has been selling as a secret what you 

 describe — $1.00 for the secret and 50 cents 

 more for a poor cheap egg-tester such as 

 Montgomery Ward & Co. offer for only 10 

 cents. I sent the money, and made a trial 

 with both sitting hens and an incubator; and 

 then I kept careful count of the fertile eggs 

 and the unfertile. I feel sure the process 

 you describe tells us nothing at all; and yet 

 this woman is at the very present time tak- 

 ing a dollar for what she calls a secret, and 

 she does not even throw in her poor cheap 

 egg-tester. She may be honest in thinking 



