104 BUILDING UP'ATCAYING STRAIN 



standard in productiveness because little attention is 

 paid by the farmer to the selection of his breeding 

 stock and in caring for his flock. Many a farm flock 

 is compelled to work out its own sustenance. It 

 must find its own feed and water, and do its own 

 mating. 



Such a farmer generally only thinks of the poul- 

 try when it is time to gather the eggs or catch some 

 hens for market. Ask these same farmers what 

 their poultry is doing and they will tell you they 

 couldn't possibly give you an approximate figure as 

 to how many eggs the flock has laid, or how much 

 the flock has earned in dollars and cents, or how 

 many eggs and birds were used on the family table. 

 They cannot tell you the age of any of the hens, 

 and generally do not know just how many fowls 

 they have on the farm. They may also use the same 

 male bird year after year, and keep every chicken 

 that is hatched whether it was stunted in its growth 

 or not. 



These same farmers are the ones that ridicule the 

 articles they read about some city man or woman 

 making several hundred dollars each year from poul- 

 try raised in the back yard. If the egg market de- 

 pended on such producers, eggs would certainly be a 

 scarce commodity. There would only be breakfast 

 eggs for the wealthy and the poor would go without. 



Much study has been given to the development of 

 the productiveness of our hens. State universities, 



