THE CALL OF THE HEN. 19 



the other breeds I have named as I have found in the Leg- 

 horns, and I have also found as poor layers among the Leg- 

 horns as I have found in any other breed. As far as the 

 number of eggs is concerned, as a rule, I find that the breed 

 of the hen has nothing to do with it whatever. 



I do not wish to be considered dogmatic in anything I 

 may say in this work. I am merely giving the opinions I 

 have formed by observation and experiment during a period 

 of fifty-six years that I have kept poultry, not to make all the 

 money I could out of them, but to learn all I possibly could 

 about them in fact, until a few years ago I never kept 

 poultry for the money there was in it. The keeping of hens 

 has been a passion with me. I have spent years of time 

 and thousands of dollars, but I think I have found something 

 that will be of inestimable value to the world, and I have 

 found it not because I was any better fitted for the work 

 than thousands of other lovers of poultry, but because I stuck 

 everlastingly to it, without any regard as to whether it paid 

 me in dollars or not. 



As previously stated, it is not a matter of breed as to 

 whether a hen is a good layer or not. It is a matter of type, 

 capacity, and constitutional vigor. First, in almost all breeds 

 there is a type of hen where everything she consumes over 

 bodily maintenance goes to the production of eggs. This we 

 call the "typical egg type." Second, there is a type where 

 about half the food consumed over maintenance goes to the 

 production of eggs, the balance over bodily maintenance 

 going to make flesh. This is called the "dual-purpose type," 

 as this hen performs two functions that are considered neces- 

 sary in the economy of Nature: the production of eggs 

 and the production of meat on a commercial scale. Third, 

 there is a type where everything consumed over bodily 

 maintenance goes to flesh. This hen we call the "meat 

 type," for the reason that practically all her energy is used 

 in producing meat. 



Now, here we have three distinct types of fowl in almost 

 every breed. We have divided these three types into six 

 separate classes for each type : 



No. 1 of the typical egg type hen may lay about 36 eggs; 



No. 2 may lay about 96 eggs; 



No. 3 may lay about 180 eggs; 



