248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



keeping would not exceed seventy-three cents per head, 

 leaving a net income of two dollars and twenty-seven cents. 



But there is another field claiming our attention, — that of 

 growing poultry. To-day an exacting market meets the 

 producer. The great West is pouring in a torrent of meat 

 product, grown at less cost than we can possibly hope to 

 secure. The only hope for New England is in the produc- 

 tion of a better article, and the placing of the same on the 

 market in choice condition. One advantage is ours, — 

 distance cannot be annihilated. We have from thirty to 

 forty hours advantage, and to improve all this conveys, is 

 our opportunity. Quality, th*en, must determine price. To 

 secure this, we must begin at the same foundation as when 

 looking for eggs, — the parent stock. While we may pos- 

 sess an all-purpose hen, or variety capable of producing a 

 goodly number of eggs, and yet valuable as poultry, it is a 

 fact that this combination detracts from the highest excel- 

 lence in either direction. A variety bred solely for eggs, 

 will, if the work be carried forward systematically for a 

 series of years, not only excel in this respect, but take on a 

 form peculiarly adapted to egg production. The wonderful 

 elasticity of Nature's laws is surprising; and, whenever men 

 attempt an improvement, unseen forces seem to co-operate 

 to secure a type best fitted for the object desired. If the 

 egg-forming habit be cultivated and stimulated, the tendency 

 will soon become fixed in the breed ; and for this reason, if 

 for no other, that variety cannot excel as meat-producers. 



Again, the breeder who seeks for the very best poultry 

 will breed from those birds possessing the greatest merit in 

 this one direction ; form, color of leg and flesh, and rapidity of 

 o;rowth, beino; the essentials sou2:ht after. Doing; this, esfg; 

 production becomes secondary, and the tendency is towards 

 fixedness in flesh forming. In combining the two, there 

 must be a dropping from the highest standard in either. 

 While some breeds possess ability to produce both in a 

 marked degree, as seen in the Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes 

 and some families of Brahmas, it is useless to expect to 

 equal the standard of him who bends all his energies in one 

 direction. 



Success, then, in growing poultry for the market, depends 



