No. 4] EGG PRODUCTION. 77 



later died, we would have been perpetuating a type of short- 

 lived fowlsj whereas if we had bred from hens that we se- 

 lected for high production by means that I will explain in 

 a few moments, that have lived two years or three years 

 and are still strong, then we would be more likely to have 

 hens that are not only productive but that also have proved 

 their ability to live long. Such hens exist and are the very 

 best fowls for breeders. 



I am going to pass around in the audience some printed 

 sheets, upon which are given the rations that we are feed- 

 ing, and on the bottom of the sheets you will see the records 

 of the four best hens that we have been able to breed in 

 Cornell in the eight years we have been keeping trap-nest 

 records. These are three-year records. I want to read you 

 the three records for each of those years, in order that you 

 may see that the fact I have stated is literally true, — that 

 it is possible to get a hen that is born strong, with a tend- 

 ency to live long, with a high productive tendency in her 

 veins and one that can stand up under high production. 



We took photographs of the three hens we now have living 

 the latter part of November. None of them had molted. 

 Every one is the picture of perfect health (Fig. 2). 



Creation has only begun. The good Lord gave us the 

 animal to begin with, but ho left it with his people, by their 

 intelligence, to bring out these qualities and improve upon 

 them, and it is for us to take these highly organized indi- 

 viduals and make them better. Here is the evidence of 

 man's power. Erom the little wild " Gallus Bankiva " hen, 

 way back in the jungles of India, laying 9 eggs at a litter 

 and not to exceed two litters a year, has been developed 

 nearly all of our races of domestic fowls, more than 100 va- 

 rieties breeding true, and including hens producing 665 eggs 

 in three years, more than 220 eggs per year. 



Let us now take up one or two ways of selecting fowls with 

 regard to finding out which are our highest producers. 

 Trap-nesting is not feasible for farmers generally ; it costs 

 more than 50 cents a year per hen to work the leg-banding, 

 recording and keeping the records and pedigreeing chickens. 



