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chickens had been reared. I can give you the exact figures of both 

 of these extremes right on our own poultry farm at the College,, 

 where last year a flock of pullets laid 182 eggs each and the mor- 

 tality of their chickens was only two and one-half per cent up to 

 market age or maturity. Our losses in all of our experiment stock, 

 including 421 fowls of different ages and methods of breeding and 

 care, last year was less than six per cent. If we see these wide con- 

 trasts existing it becomes exceedingly important for us to try to re- 

 verse conditions and so breed, feed, incubate, brood and house our 

 stock that each year they will grow more vigorous and more profit- 

 able. I am so thoroughly convinced of the importance of this ques- 

 tion of constitutional vigor that I am free to say that with all of my 

 admiration of pure breds, and I am thoroughly convinced that a man 

 cannot afford to have anything else but a pure bred, I am perfectly 

 safe to say that I would rather have a flock of the commonest dung- 

 hill, scrub stock in this country, or any other country today to make 

 money, if they had good constitutional vigor and power to eat, than 

 I w r ould the best pure bred fow T ls in America, if they lacked stamina 

 and constitutional vigor. What we should have is pure bred stock 

 with constitutional vigor. 



Where shall we begin then in selecting our fowls for vitality? 

 Begin right now and begin with breeding stock. Go into any flock 

 that you will find in this country, or any other, and I think you will 

 decide that it is a rare exception where you cannot pick out one- 

 fourth or one-fifth of the mature hens and a large per cent of the 

 mature males or cockerels that are vastly stronger than others. We 

 should make our selection on the basis of vitality, and then not use 

 any weak breeding stock or keep any individual of low vitality, no 

 matter what its superior markings or its pedigree may be, or how 

 many eggs it has laid or what its maternal ancestors may have laid, 

 but make the question of constitutional vigor, i. e., individual excel- 

 lence in this respect, the first matter of selection. 



What, then, is the first thing to do in selecting fowls for constitu- 

 tional vigor? There are a good many ways by which we can know a 

 strong individual from a weak one, and the things that I am saying, 

 so far as general principles are concerned, will apply to any other 

 kind of live stock when made to adapt itself to the different condi- 

 tions. The first and most important character to observe in picking 

 fowls for constitutional vigor is their shape. There is a distinct cor- 

 relation between the shape of the fowl's body and its health. Why 

 this is true I do not know. I only know that an animal that is physi- 

 cally weak, either born so or having acquired a weakness, takes on a 

 certain physical attitude and shape that marks it unmistakably. In 

 looking for constitutional vigor always pick an individual whose body 

 has a tendency to fill a parallelogram. (Fig. I.) 



I am going to exaggerate this distinction so you can get the 

 points clearly fixed. The fowl with strong constitutional vigor has 

 good depth of body and full breast, full, well-rounded abdomen and 

 a good, broad, well-proportioned back. A large development of plum- 

 age, a medium to large well-rounded head with a well-developed comb, 

 a round prominent eye, a thick, heavy curved beak, a rather short 

 full neck, heavy thighs, set wide apart, indicate strong vitality. Briefly,, 

 that gives you the main characters of a fowl of strong constitution. 



Let us take one of weak vitality. 



