64 



POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



set is first to recognize the limitations due to heredity, and, 

 second, to discover wherein certain points or characteristics 

 may be improved by taking advantage of variation. 



How may desirable variations be fixed ? Is it an evolution- 

 ary process ? In other words, is it a process of breeding that 

 requires years to accomplish; or may it happen at once? 



VARIATION THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE BREEDER 



Hen (left) laid 239 eggs in a year. 

 Hen (right) laid 7 eggs in a year. (Oregon Station.) 



If a 200-egg hen be bred from a strain of fowls that lay only 

 100 eggs a year, will her female offspring lay 200 eggs a 

 year, or will they take after the more remote ancestors and 

 lay only 100 eggs ; or will there be a tendency to lay more 

 than 100 due to the influence of the immediate parent ? Will 

 the immediate parent transmit her qualities to the offspring, 

 or will the influence of all the ancestors be apparent ? Is it a 

 variation that is called continuous because it has been grad- 

 ually evolved, step by step, or is it discontinuous, appearing 

 suddenly, having none of the characteristics of its imme- 

 diate ancestors? The old theory of breeding was that all 



