100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



your place and personality, and whose product sells the best 

 in your market. There are many different breeds, each 

 having qualities suited for some special purpose. In some 

 the various extreme qualities of several have been combined, 

 and they, although not as good for any one special purpose, 

 are fairly good for all purposes, and therefore popular with 

 the majority who do not follow a special branch. 



Each breed differs under different management, and in dif- 

 ferent sections of the country. Each has undesirable, as well 

 as desirable, qualities. Some markets call for white eggs, 

 and others for brown eggs ; some require yellow poultry, 

 while others will take anything that is plump and soft, re- 

 gardless of the color of skin or legs. If you want to produce 

 winter eggs, you want one thing ; while for the largest num- 

 ber of eggs in summer you want another breed. Certain 

 breeds are very hardy, and can stand exposure and hardship ; 

 while others, more prolific, are very tender. Some are very 

 quiet, and fatten very readily ; and others are so active that 

 it is impossible to get them fat. There are those that excel 

 in flesh production, but in little else. 



Brahmas. and Cochins are of great value to the industry, on 

 account of their hardiness, and always will be. They are not 

 hustlers, like the active breeds, but stand cold and confine- 

 ment well. 



The non-sitters, the Minorcas, Leghorns, Hamburg, etc., 

 are the greatest layers ; but, unless protected from cold and 

 damp and given considerable liberty, they will contract dis- 

 ease. The old English game, the Cornish Indian, the Malay, 

 Black Java and Aseels, as well as the Houdan and Creve 

 Cours, are great flesh-producers, but are less hardy than 

 Chinese breeds, and much less prolific than the non-sitters. 

 We have these diflerent classes combined in the Wyandottes 

 and Plymouth Rocks. They are rather too beefy to make 

 the best layers, and not as hardy as the Cochin, Brahma and 

 Langshan ; but, as they are fairly hardy, fairly good layers 

 and good flesh-producers, they meet the needs of the majority. 

 They have enough of the beef and hardy blood to be quiet 

 and withstand cold, and produce brown-tinted eggs and lay 

 well in winter. Their worst "out" is a tendency to get so 

 fat by the second year that they are no longer profitable egg- 



