THE CALL OF THE HEN. 123 



I presented a copy of Mr. Hogan's book to a neighbor 

 poultryman and induced another to send for a copy. The 

 book was entirely unknown in this section. Both of my 

 friends are enthusiastic about the system and have already 

 found it of great value. They are both expert poultrymen, 

 one of them having charge of Mr. C. F. Lewis' poultry yards 

 here and the other having been in the business for fourteen 

 years. The latter has found the chapters devoted to pre- 

 potency of cocks especially valuable and now understands 

 why his flock went all to pieces some years ago after five 

 years of careful upbuilding. 



Very truly yours, 



CHARLES H. TARKER. 



"Do the physical characteristics of a pullet or hen the 

 distance between the pelvic bones and the breast bone, the 

 width of the pelvic bones and the condition as indicated by 

 the amount of flesh on the breast bone enable a poultry- 

 man to foretell, with approximate accuracy, the number of 

 eggs that a pullet or hen will lay in a year? This is the question 

 the writer decided to answer for himself after reading Walter 

 Hogan's book "The Call of the Hen." 



"If the system as outlined by Mr. Hogan is to be relied 

 upon the use of the trap nest would not be necessary except 

 for pedigree work. No poultryman needs to be told how 

 valuable, if reliable, such a system would be in enabling him, 

 with a minimum of labor and expense, to build up a flock 

 with a high egg yield, to regulate feeding by separating the 

 egg from the meat type and in many cases to turn losses 

 into profits. 



"The book made such an impression upon the writer that 

 he at once determined to measure his hens according to the 

 directions given by Mr. Hogan, to note the egg laying capacity 

 as thus indicated and to check this forecast with an actual 

 trap-nest record. 



"Following are the very striking results of this experiment, 

 extending over a period which put the system to a severe 

 test the months of September, October, November, Decem- 

 ber, January and February, in the state of Connecticut. 

 The hens were Fishel's White Rocks, fed during the test, 

 according to the Cornell formulas and confined in yards 



