THE CALL OF THE HEN. 73 



known poultry-breeders for 1,000 pullets, to be delivered at 

 four months old, these pullets to be housed, fed, and cared 

 for as the breeder designates," and to approximately lay a 

 certain number of eggs their first laying year; how many 

 breeders do you suppose could fill the order? Until a ma- 

 jority of them can do so the poultry industry will not be on 

 a business basis, but will be more or less of a gamble. 



I have said that seemingly like does not beget like in 

 some cases. We will take, for instance, a hen that is five 

 fingers abdomen, in good condition, y 4 -inch pelvic bones. 

 She will scale up as a 205-egg type hen. We will make up 

 a pen of these hens with a 205-egg type cockerel or cock 

 bird; we raise 100 pullets from this mating and they may 

 scale 175-egg type. We then say, "Like does not produce 

 like." Here is where we make a mistake. In one sense we 

 are right, in another we are wrong. Nature makes no mis- 

 takes. We have mated 205-egg type male and female, and 

 we get as a result 175-egg-type product. That's as plain 

 as the nose on one's face, and we throw up our hands in despair 

 and say, "It's all luck and chance." Another party mates 

 up the same type of birds and gets a lot of pullets that aver- 

 age 210 eggs their first laying year; still another party mates 

 up the same type of birds and does not get a chick. 



The reader may smile, but this is no dream. A number 

 of such cases have come under my observation. One case 

 was that of a professor in one of the Southern California 

 public institutions. He had a pen of twelve Black Minorcas, 

 headed by a splendid-looking cock bird; also a pen of twelve 

 Andalusians. He said there was something peculiar about 

 these hens, and he wanted to know if I could detect it. I 

 tested all the Andalusians, and told him they should average 

 140 eggs their first laying year, and I would expect twelve 

 eggs out of every thirteen to be fertile. After testing the 

 Minorcas, I told him they would average about 160-egg type, 

 but if they were mine, I would not set any of their eggs while 

 they were mated to the present cock bird, because I would 

 not expect them to hatch, and if they did hatch, they would 

 be degenerates. He said, "This is the second season I have 

 bred from the birds; I always get good hatches from the 

 Andalusians; but, although I see the rooster serve the hens, 



