A DUAL PURPOSE TYPE 



25 



a period of one year, November, 1916, to November, 1917, show the 

 ability of highly egg-bred fowls of the American birds as layers along- 

 side of the highly specialized Leghorn: 



All Rhode Island Reds averaged 188 eggs each. 



All Wyandottes averaged 184 eggs each. 



All Leghorns averaged 178 eggs each. 



All Plymouth Rocks averaged 175 eggs each. 



The silver cup for highest production went to a pen of White 

 Wyandottes owned by J. F. Jordan, Missouri. This pen of five females 

 laid 216, 245, 269, 273 and 213 eggs, respectively, a total of 1,226 

 eggs for the year, or an average egg production of 245 for each 

 female in the pen, the highest average which had been made at the 

 Missouri station up to that time.* 



At the Agricultural Experiment Station of Connecticut, where the 

 widely advertised eastern competition known as the International Egg 

 Laying Contest is held, the American breeds have made fine records 

 from month to month, year after year. The report of the fifth annual 

 contest (Bulletin 89, February, 1917) gives some interesting data on 

 birds of different breeds, from which the following table is made up: 



Four birds that made high records in the principal varieties at 

 the contest (1919) are illustrated on page 23. The White Wyandotte 

 in the upper left corner laid 238 eggs, and she was the high bird for 

 all the Wyandottes. The Rhode Island Red, to the right, laid 258 

 eggs and was the high bird of this breed. The Barred Rock laid 

 235 eggs and was in the pen that won the contest. The White Leg- 

 horn made a production of 213 eggs, having laid sixty-four days 

 without a miss. (The highest White Leghorn record for the year 

 was 260 eggs.) The high pen for 1919 was composed of ten Barred 

 Rock pullets which laid 2,022 eggs, or an average of 202 eggs per bird. 



*These figures are taken from the official report of the station; however, if the 

 egg yield of the five hens is added, it will be found that the total is 1,216 eggs instead 

 of 1,226, as reported, and this error appears to be explicable only by the assumption 

 that during the year ten eggs were laid on the floor of the house a.nd were not 

 credited to any individual hen, 



