I04 MAIXE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I913. 



Granting that practical success in the breeding of poultry- 

 depends upon the knowledge of something more than the laws 

 of inheritance thus far set down in books, it is none the less 

 important to know the fundamental principles or qualifications 

 upon which success in this field depends. There are three pri- 

 mar}- factors involved in poultry breeding without anyone of 

 which success of the highest type will never come, and with all 

 three of which it is sure to come in time. 



The Recogxitiox oe Ixdividl'ality. 



The first of the factors is what may be characterized as the 

 ability to ''see'' a bird. This is the most fundam.ental qualifica- 

 tion for a breeder to possess and is the most difficult of all to. 

 acquire. Some years ago, at a very enthusiastic meeting of men 

 engaged in the teaching of poultr}- husbandry in the various 

 colleges and schools of agriculture in this country, a whole day's 

 session of the meeting was devoted to the pedagog}' of poultry 

 husbandry, ^^'ith much vigor and at great length such matters 

 were debated as the text work method versus the lecture method 

 in imparting a knowledge of how to grow chickens ; whether the 

 higher theory of caponizing should precede or follow the 

 advanced philosophy of broiler production in general : how the 

 recondite subject of "brooding'" might be best presented and so 

 on. After the discussion had proceeded along these lines all 

 day the chair finally called upon a distinguished teacher of poultry 

 husbandry, who had not hitherto taken any part, for an expres- 

 sion of his opinion on these weighty matters. In response this 

 gentleman said that, while he had been much interested in the 

 discussion which had gone on, it seemed to him after all very 

 academic. After considerable experience in trying to teach 

 poultry husbandry he had found that about all he could hope to 

 do in four years was "to teach the students to see a chicken." 

 He felt if he succeeded in doing this that his teaching had been 

 successful, as measured by the highest standards. He admitted, 

 however, that he by no means always succeeded. It is worth 

 noting that this gentleman's summing up of the essential pur- 

 pose of a college course in poultry husbandry agrees precisely 

 in principle with the statement of James that the function of a 

 college in general was to help you "to know a good man when 

 you see him." 



