No. 4.] 



FARM POULTRY 



405 



For this he must usually take the seller's word ; but if it is 

 convenient for him to visit the place a few times before 

 buying, and notice the eggs in the nests, he can form a tol- 

 erably good estimate of the general laying capacity of the 

 stock, and get accui-ate knowledge as to how the eggs run 

 for size, shape and color. If, as may happen, ho fails to 

 find any specimens in the flock that strike him as typical, 

 the thing to do is to postpone buying until he can satisfy 

 himself whether his judgment of the stock was right or not. 

 If he cannot buy White Rocks at home, it would be well 

 worth his while to visit yards 

 elsewhere in his quest for 





^ 

 fK 



stock, and not under any 

 considei-ation to buy until 

 he can get what he wants. 

 Even if he is unable to per- 

 sonally select his stock, he /, 

 can protect himself in buy- 

 ing from a breeder at a dis- 

 tance by carefully stating 

 what he wants, and insisting 

 that fowls be shipped to him 

 on approval. If he takes the 

 necessary precautions to pro- 

 tect himself at every point 

 from his own inexperience, 

 as well as from the pos- 

 sible disposition of some with whom he deals to take advan- 

 tage of his inexperience, a man runs little risk of parting 

 with his money for fowls that are not what he requires. 

 The risk cannot be absolutely eliminated, but it can be so 

 reduced that the buyer is reasonably safe from loss. It may 

 take him some time to find what he wants and to get started, 

 but the delay is not lost time if he is learning to buy on his 

 own judgment; for, as a rule, one has to learn to do that 

 before he gets fairly started in breeding poultry, and it is 

 nuich better and more economical to learn before buying 

 than to learn by buying what you do not want. 



Another point comes up here. Suppose one makes a 





Ideal Single-comb Rhode Island Red, 

 Female. 



