244 POULTRY BREEDING 
Black fowls have a fashion of coming with white in 
their plumage. This goes to the extent that black varie- 
ties not infrequently throw pure white chicks. In select- 
ing breeding stock take particular pains to exclude any 
bird with more than the faintest showing of gray at the 
tips of the larger feathers of wing, and it is better if they 
are absolutely black. The ideal color of black fowls is 
brilliant black with a greenish iridescence. These breeds 
have a tendency to come purple instead of showing this 
greenish sheen. This purple often shows as a purple or 
plum-colored barring on the feathers. This is quite ob- 
jectionable. 
To establish a strain of fowls that will throw a large 
percentage of high-class birds is the ambition of every 
poultry fancier. To do this inbreeding or line-breeding, 
as some prefer to call it is practiced. This method of 
breeding intensifies the blood and reduces the chances of 
having the chicks come with faults, because it reduces the 
number of ancestors to which any particular chick may 
run back. Inbreeding requires great care in selecting the 
breeding stock in order to avoid any tendency to inherit- 
able diseases ot faults in color or shape. 
MILK ALBUMEN FOR FOWLS.—Tests with milk 
albumen in the place of beef scrap or beef meal showed 
that the albumen was not as effective as the meat feeds. 
The price at which it is sold makes it too costly to be 
profitable as long as beef scrap can be obtained almost 
anywhere. 
MILK FOR FOWLS.—Milk in any form, sweet, sour 
or as buttermilk, is a very valuable feed for fowls of all 
kinds, as it takes the place of meat feeds to a considerable 
extent. Experiments at the West Virginia Experiment 
Station by Atwood showed that milk was worth about 1 
