34 



than he could in three times as many years if he began with stock of 

 no particular breeding. 



This is a point which has been demonstrated over and over. It is a 



point which needs to 

 be emphasized often, 

 for one of the most 

 prevalent errors about 

 poultry breeding is the 

 opinion, held by many 

 who have a very good 

 idea of what they want, 

 that they can develop 

 it themselves by the 

 careful improvement 

 of inferior stock more 

 economically than by 

 paying the high prices 

 which it is frequently 

 necessary to give in 

 order to get good stock 

 of the type wanted. I 

 would not advise any 

 one who needed to 

 consider economy — 

 as most of us do — 

 to buy fine breeding 

 fowls in large numbers at big pi'ices ; but it is often the best economy 

 to pay almost an extravagant price for a few good birds to be used as 

 foundation stock rather than give time and attention to the development 

 of a larger flock of less meritorious quality. 

 The principle is exactly the 



m 



same as that upon which a 

 farmer or gardener, who 

 wants some of a new variety 

 of vegetable, grain or fruit, 

 so expensive that he does not 

 feel that he can afford to buy 

 it in quantity, proceeds. He 

 buys a small amount and 

 simply uses it as a foundation 

 stock from which to produce 

 seed or plants for a large 

 crop in some future year. 

 He should do the same way 

 with poultry, and should have 

 as much patience in working 

 toward the results he wants. 



The second objection to developing common stock is that, in working 

 along lines in which no one else is interested, one almost invariably 

 comes before long to the place where he needs new blood, but as he 



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