FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



A BREEDING PROGRAM 



A definite objective and a definite pro- 

 gram must be had before much can be 

 accomplished in any line of work. The 

 poultry breeder who adopts a well plan- 

 ned breeding program may never produce 

 300-egg hens, but what is more signi- 

 ficant, his flock average is apt to go 

 higher and higher with each successive 

 year's breeding operations. 



In general, the skill of a breeder and 

 the progress he makes is largely depend- 

 ent upon his ability to "see" a chicken. 

 By "seeing a chicken", is meant, in brief, 

 the recognition of its individuality — how 

 it differs from others. In addition to 

 the ability to "see" a chicken, or being 

 a competent judge of poultry, and hence 

 skillful in selecting birds for the breed- 

 ing pen, there are two things of funda- 

 mental importance for all breeding oper- 

 ations. They are pedigreeing and pro- 

 geny testing. 



Essentials to High Production 



Early maturity as a characteristic is 

 essential to high production, for without 

 it, the bird does not start laying in time 

 to make a good record. It is possible, 

 however, to over-emphasize early matur- 

 ity and as a result have birds start lay- 

 ing before they have finished growing. 

 Therefore, five or six months should be 

 allowed in which to mature before laying 

 starts. 



Intensity is a term used to indicate the 

 rate of egg production and is expressed 

 in number of eggs per month. Some 

 birds have high intensity but apparenty 

 lack stamina to keep it over a long period. 



Persistency is a term used to describe 

 the length of time a bird continues to lay. 

 Those that continue late into the fall are 

 considered to have good persistency. 



Non-broodiness, in this age of machine 

 hatched eggs, is a very desirable charac- 

 teristic. The marking of every broody 

 hen, by means of a black spiral leg band, 

 and subsequently the elimination of 

 broody hens from breeding pens, will re- 

 duce the amount of broodiness in succeed- 

 ing generations. 



Non-pause is a term applied by breed- 

 ers to designate that superior production 

 quality which enables some birds to lay 

 through the winter without many consec- 

 utive days interruption. It should not 

 be confused with a partial moult and va- 

 cation often experienced by very early 

 hatched pullets. 



Standard points are the body and fea- 

 ther characteristics which emphasize 

 breed characteristics, uniformity, size, 

 and beauty, all of which have their 

 value. 



Quality of eggs is a characteristic that 

 is valuable. A generous two-ounce egg 

 of good shape, of firm shell texture, and 

 of uniform color, meets the requirements 

 in this characteristic. 



A constructive breeding program must 



take these characters into consideration, 

 adding and "fixing" them in the flock 

 with succeeding matings. It is the pur- 

 pose of two articles, to which this is an 

 introduction, to outline breeding pro- 

 grams by which this can be, and has 

 been accomplished. — W. C. Monahan. 



Common Seed Sense 



Right now the main channels of trade 

 are rising to the flood mark with seeds of 

 all kinds. They are in process of prep- 



aration for distribution. Soon they will 

 be moving out into the various smaller 

 channels that lead to the ultimate user. 

 Those that travel by mail only, will soon 

 be heralded in the colored picture and 

 printed word of the seed catalogue, the 

 foreword of spring. With all this activi- 

 ty back of the scenes, what is going on in 

 the mind of the purchaser? It's not too 

 early to start planning for 1927. 



It is so easy to buy seeds. Perhaps 

 that is why it becomes, so often, a matter- 



BANISH SOAPY SLIPPERY MILK BOTTLES 



AHCOGENT FOR DAIRIES cuts the casein and grease from 

 milk bottles, and milk cans, rinses freely, leaving them bright 

 and clean. 



AHCOGENT is so mild that it will neither redden nor burn 

 the hands, yet so economical and efficient, that one pound of 



AHCOGENT will wash more bottles than a pound of any 

 cheaper soda. 



AHCOGENT is a product of our own Laboratories and is test 

 proven. 



Order a barrel now an(J see how the hard job of bottle washing 

 can be made easy. 



APOTHECARIES HALL COMPANY 

 Waterbury, Conn. 



LINCOLN y^^^^^ FORDSON 



JUNE 21, 1926 

 NEW IMPROVED FORD PRICES 



All cars, Balloon Tires and Starters 



CHASE MOTOR COMPANY 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 



24 Center Street Telephone 470 



