234 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9I4. 



the proportions indicated in Fig. i, Mating C; that is if about 

 ^ of the pullets are high producers, he may conclude with 

 great probability that the sire he used was a Type 3 male, 

 and that he will do well to use the brothers of the high laying 

 pullets as breeders next year. In other words, the propor- 

 tion of pullets of different laying capacities furnishes the 

 guide to the breeder as to the probable hereditary constitu- 

 tion of their sire, and furthermore serves as a guide to him as 

 to what male birds to select for use the following year. Of 

 course this implies that one will carry over during the winter a 

 larger number of male birds than is customarily the case. This 

 is rather important since our only guide to the probable worth 

 of the males, at least at the outstart, is through the performance 

 of their sisters and their dams. 



We may contrast the results shown in the mating just de- 

 scribed with the results shown in Mating H, Fig. 3 which is of 

 a Type 8 male with the flock of high producing hens. Here we 

 see from the diagram that there are produced all three sorts of 

 pullets — high producers, mediocre producers (under 30 winter 

 producers), and very poor producers (zero winter layers). 

 These are in the proportions indicated in the diagram — namely 

 6 high layers to 8 mediocre to 2 poor. An examination of the 

 male part of the equation shows that here we have 6 Type ^ 

 males and 6 Type 4 males and two each of Types 7 and 8. This 

 is a flock of distinctly different constitution than the one de- 

 scribed before. It is clear that some of the males from this 

 family will be nearly worthless as breeders for improved egg 

 production in succeeding generations. 



In making these diagrams the following general rule has been 

 followed for the practical guidance of the breeder. Male-? 

 which are desirable to use as breeders for egg producti<in are 

 indicated either by a solid black or a barred pattern, and :n the 

 case of birds with the barred pattern the more black in the 

 pattern the more desirable the birds are as breeders for egg 

 production. With this general rule in mind the intending 

 breeder for increased egg production will find it of interest to 

 study these diagrams and compare them with the results ob- 

 tained in his own breeding, when he keeps any sort of pedigree 

 system even such as that described in paragraph 4 above. 



