r>() AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



theory, the argument favors the product of special matings for 

 each sex. 



At the present writing, there is unquestionably a strong de- 

 sire on the part of breeders and exhibitors generally to adopt 

 standard (or single) matings, even if the Standard has to be 

 modified or changed in order to permit the breeding of the best 

 specimens of both sexes from one mating. The object is to 

 simplify breeding problems for beginners, which, in the estima- 

 tion of many, would do much to popularize a variety. But as 

 yet no one has suggested a way to accomplish this that inspires 

 the confidence of his contemporaries. Changes toward this end 

 in standard requirements are accompanied by two serious con- 

 siderations : first, will such changes, as it at first appears may 

 tend to solve the difficulty, be acceptable when the result, namely, 

 the specimens produced, come to view ; and, secondly, would 

 such changes or any changes, that have yet occurred to any one, 

 place a premium upon the progeny of standard matings by pro- 

 ducing better specimens thereby, than can be produced by other 

 methods, specifically by what is known as double-matings, which 

 really amounts to a special mating for each sex? No system of 

 mating can long endure after breeders find another way of pro- 

 ducing better specimens. The final test is the closest conformity 

 to the Standard requirements. Who, then,, can compile a stand- 

 ard that will so state its requirements that the specimens pro- 

 duced from standard (single) matings will excel those produced 

 by any other system that man may devise? The system that 

 does that very thing will be most generally practiced by those 

 who breed exhibition birds from now till the end of time. 



In-Breeding. The in-breeding is the surest and quickest 

 way, if not the only way, to perpetuate desired characteristics is 

 a generally accepted theory. It becomes, then, the fundamental 

 means of establishing certain qualities in a line or a strain. The 

 longer the in-breeding of successive generations which possess 

 certain distinctive features is continued, the more fixed these fea- 

 tures become. 



Limit of In-Breeding. How long in-breeding may be con- 

 tinued is an open and unsettled question. Obviously, the number 

 of generations that may be inbred depends upon several things, 

 the first of which is the relationship of the original pair, whether 

 these were unrelated, distantly or closely related. Secondly, it 

 depends upon the stamina of the original stock, and further, or 

 thirdly, upon how much stamina is maintained by selection, for 



