80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



less time for molting than do the others. They get through 

 earlier, and begin to lay quicker after they get through than 

 do the others. They are born to lay and they therefore fol- 

 low the line of least resistance. It is perfectly natural for 

 them to do this. 



The hen must be naturally strong that can lay well for 

 one year, two years and three years. Then, we want to get 

 the most vigorous and the most prolific and those that live 

 the longest, and if they live long they will be more likely 

 to produce chickens that will be reasonably certain of long 

 life; hence we want to pick the birds that have proved 

 themselves for three years and then breed from them, and 

 that is what we are doing. 



We haven't broken through the crust of knowledge of the 

 subject of poultry husbandry, and yet we have been keeping 

 hens for centuries, ever since the time of Noah. The big- 

 gest crime that most of us have committed is the crime of 

 ignorance in handling the forces of nature. I say that in 

 all humility. 



The first few slides will deal with the question of the im- 

 portance of breeding fowls for constitutional vigor, supple- 

 menting what I have already said on the subject. Here are 

 four individuals of two different varieties (Figs. 4 and 5), 

 and in each one of these groups is a strong one and a weak 

 one, born so or acquiring that weakness. Can you tell which 

 one you would want to use to breed from ? I doubt if there 

 is any one here who hasn't the discrimination to see the dis- 

 tinction in body type between the two Barred Rocks (Fig. 

 4), — the weak-vitality individual and the strong one. You 

 can see by the shape of the body that this fellow on the 

 right lacks capacity to carry and digest food. Do you see 

 how narrow he is between the hocks ? They are so close 

 together that he would need interfering straps, while this 

 one, if he could be seen face to, you would find was very 

 broad between the hocks. The body is so broad and wide 

 and full that it spreads the legs apart. You haven't got 

 the slab-sided individual here on the left that you have 

 there on the right. You notice the same characteristics be- 

 tween the Leghorns (Fig. 5). You will notice that this bird 



