UTILITY CLASSIFICATION 87 
their usefulness as egg producers they bring considerable revenue 
when sold for meat. The males of this class make the best market 
broilers; and, as the surplus must be disposed of, they bring good 
prices when marketed as broilers. Their strong constitution is one 
factor in making them popular. 
Fowls of this class are good layers, and some breeds of the 
group are good winter layers. In fact, some strains have been 
so developed that they nearly equal, and in some instances excel, 
the Leghorns. They have been developed for winter eggs because 
eggs produced at that season bring higher prices than those 
produced at any other time. 
Another reason why this type 
is so popular is that the hens 
become broody and make 
good natural incubators and 
are good mothers. ‘On the 
average farm it is not prof- 
itable, owing to the small 
number of chicks hatched, 
to use artificial incubators; 
hence this quality is of great 
importance. Fowls of the 
general-purpose type may be 
said to hold a medium place 
in nearly all respects between 
the egg and meat types, in 
some degree combining the 
Be and 33) Pe StH eauratarone shape a shown 
Disposition.—Birds of the 
general-purpose breeds are gentle, not easily frightened, and of a 
quiet disposition. They are much more easily confined than the 
egg breeds, since they are heavier and it is. much harder for them 
to fly over a given height of fence. A fence six feet high is usually 
sufficient to turn birdsof this group, except in cases where the habit 
of flight is unusually well developed. They are of medium size, 
have blocky, compact bodies and rather short legs. The blocky 
appearance is more pronounced than in nearly all other breeds. 
Maturity —Chicks of this type mature quicker, passing through 
the delicate stages more rapidly and stronger, than those of the 
meat type. They grow more quickly but do not take on mature 
