206 



THE POULTRY-BOOK. 



blend the characteristics of the two separate breeds, so that 

 there will be no undue preponderance of the blood of either in 

 the produce, is a work of great labor and the most jealous 

 care. The process must be carried on with the same degree 

 of exactness, and be accompanied with as much careful calcu- 

 lation, as an astronomer would use to satisfy himself regarding 

 the future appearance of a comet. Many generations of fowls 

 must be operated upon, before anything like perfection can be 

 attained. This being the case, it is perfectly evident that it 

 becomes imperatively the duty of fowl-breeders to apply their 

 care and observation to the preservation of pure stock, as upon 

 that, and that alone, the profit of their labor depends." 



CHAPTER XII. 



LAYING. 



IT would seem a providential arrangement, in behalf of man, 

 that the domestic hen should be endowed with so great fecun- 

 dity. The ordinary productiveness of a single individual of 

 the species is astonishing. While few hens are capable of 

 hatching more than fifteen eggs, and are incapable usually of 

 sitting more than twice in the year, frequent instances have 

 occurred of hens laying three hundred eggs annually, while 

 two hundred is the average number. Some hens are accus- 

 tomed to lay at longer intervals than others. The habit of one 

 variety is to lay once in three days only ; others will lay every 

 other day, and some produce an egg daily. A hen, exhibited 

 at the American Institute, in 1843, was reported to lay two 

 eggs per diem, and Aristotle mentions a breed which laid as 

 often as three times a day. 



