66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul). Doc. 



matings more of the influences liable to be perpetuated as 

 hereditary characteristics. 



An experience of my own with two different birds goes 

 to show that there are many intricate problems to be solved 

 in the development of a 200-egg strain of fowls. In my 

 first flock of Wyandottes there was one particular hen of 

 fine color and conformation. She was of medium size, 

 hardly up to standard weight, low down, very short backed 

 and blocky, with a perfectly shaped Wyandotte comb, a 

 heavily cushioned saddle and beautiful fluff. While re- 

 sembling the Wyandotte type in a general way, she differed 

 sufficiently in many details to make her a conspicuous mem- 

 ber of the flock. On several occasions she was shown in 

 competition at the show of the Greenfield Score Club, and 

 was a winner of the blue ribbon, for which reason she re- 

 ceived the name of " Greenfield." My records show that 

 she disappeared from the flock in 1902. During her stay 

 in the flock she was mated with several different males, and 

 subsequent to 1902 there has been introduced at different 

 times new blood from several sources. Last fall (1907), to 

 my great surprise, I found a duplicate of " Greenfield " 

 among my pullets, and as she has developed with age her 

 resemblance to the original " Greenfield " has become more 

 marked. I have of course no way of knowing that the 

 present " Greenfield " is the progeny of the original, but 

 the resemblance is sufficiently striking to be at least sug- 

 gestive that she is. Some four or five years ago I purchased 

 a Red Pyle Game Bantam pullet of the late A. A. Parker 

 of Dunellen, ]^. J., one of the best breeders of this variety 

 in the country. She was an individual of fine conformation, 

 style and station, but defective in that she had " willow " 

 legs, and her feathers had a tendency to crinkle or frizzle. 

 She died in 1906, and up to the present year there has been 

 no individual in the flock that resembled her in the least. 

 Among this season's chicks there is an early hatched pullet 

 with feathers like the Parker hen, but her legs are yellow. 

 Although positive proof is lacking that the present bird with 

 crinkled feathers is the progeny of the former bird with that 

 peculiarity, the coincidence is certainly suggestive of some 



