6 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



age hen, and to the necessity of culling and selection, and to 

 more careful and painstaking methods? 



The object of THE CALL OF THE HEN is to stimulate 

 an interest in increased egg-production in all varieties of 

 poultry and to encourage the breeding of strains of high- 

 producers. We have come to the point where our efforts 

 to breed fowls with perfect plumage for show purposes has 

 overshadowed that of the ability of our hens to lay; and it 

 can certainly result in no harm to call the attention of the 

 breeders of the nation to the good which would certainly 

 come from a study of the things which would tend to increase 

 egg-production. We should all be vitally concerned in any 

 attempt to better conditions, to increase the productiveness 

 of the hen, and to give impetus to an industry which is already 

 one of our greatest agricultural factors. 



For a half century the fanciers and poultrymen generally 

 have devoted their attention to the show-room in the de- 

 velopment of shape and color. No opportunity has been 

 offered or anything specially done to encourage the farmer 

 and poultryman to develop the natural resources of the hen 

 her ability to lay eggs. A few of our best experiment 

 stations have made some investigations along this line and 

 done some very valuable work indeed. Here and there an 

 occasional poultry-breeder has given some thought and at- 

 tention to breeding for egg-production; but certainly, as a 

 whole, the attention of breeders generally has not been along 

 this line, and it seems that this important matter has been 

 too much neglected. 



Haphazard methods of mating and breeding don't pay, 

 and indiscriminate methods cannot prove successful in build- 

 ing up a flock of laying hens. There never was a time in 

 the history of this country when poultry and eggs were in 

 greater demand; the price at which poultry and eggs sell 

 has increased much more in proportion than has the price 

 of feeds necessary to produce these products; but because 

 the industry is flourishing to-day more than ever before does 

 not justify us in continuing indiscriminate or foolhardy 

 methods. The opportunity is ours to insure greater profits, 

 if we will but carefully and systematically solve the problem 

 which is facing us: "How can we insure a reasonably high 

 average egg-production?" 



