THE CALL OF THE HEN 17 



than forty years and they are my favorite breed, I must say 

 I have found as good layers (within a few eggs) in all the 

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

 horns and I have also found as poo*- layers among the Leg- 

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

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

 breed of the hen has nothing to do w*h it wlVatever. 



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 in- 

 estimable value to the world And I have found it not because I 

 was any better fitted for tne 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 : 



