THE CALL OF THE HEN. 121 



CHAPTER XVII. 



"Ax SEA OVER MATING" WHAT SHALL IT BE, THE TRAP- 

 NEST, ME^STDELISM, OR THE HOGAN TEST? 



(From The North American, Philadelphia, Pa.) 

 "AT SEA OVER MATING. 



"America has some good layers, unheard of and unknown, 

 'tis true, but we are evidently all at sea in the matter of mating 

 for egg-production. 



"Can it be possible that Mendel's law obtains in egg- 

 production just as it does in feathers and form? Do we elim- 

 inate, according to Mendel, the factor governing certain 

 things in egg-production, just as we do in the attempt to con- 

 trol coloring in birds, fowls, animals, and flowers? If a son of a 

 heavy-laying female is mated to a non-layer and this son does 

 not carry the excess of laying proclivity, do we get poor layers 

 or good layers? If a 100 per cent producing hen (200 eggs or 

 more) is mated to the son of a 100 per cent producing female, 

 it does not follow, if Mendel's law applies, that the mate to 

 the second 100 per cent female inherited egg-laying procliv- 

 ities ; therefore, why should the offspring of the second mating 

 be prolific egg-producers? And how far back must we go 

 to get the excess of female inclination to reproduction? 



"Predominance of inclination exists somewhere in some 

 tangible form, but we do not seem to be able to find it under 

 our present system. That we will is conclusive, but we 

 must do so quickly, in order to offset the growing increase of 

 foodstuffs." 



The trap-nest identifies and gives you the number of eggs 

 a hen lays and is absolutely necessary if we wish to line-breed 

 or raise pedigreed stock. The writer has studied Mendelism 

 since the spring of 1910, as he has numerous other scientific 

 works, in the endeavor to find something that would be of aid 



