PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC BREEDING 
The objects striven after in poultry breeding are: 1st: To 
create new varieties which shall have improved practical 
points or shall attract attention as curiosities. 2d: To ap- 
proach the ideals accepted by fanciers for established breeds, 
and hence win in competition. 3d: To change some particular 
feature or habit as, to increase egg production or reduce the 
size of bantams. 4th: To improve several points at once as, 
eggs and size in general purpose fowls. This classification is 
really unnecessary, as the most specialized breeding involves 
consideration of many points. 
Breeding as an Art. 
The method by which breeds and varieties of the show room 
specimens have been developed is essentially as follows: The 
wonderfully different varieties of fowl from every quarter of 
the earth are brought together. Crossing is then resorted to, 
with the result that birds of all forms and colors are produced. 
The breeder then selects specimens that most nearly conform 
to the type or ideal in his mind. 
Suppose a man wished to produce Barred Leghorns, with a 
fifth toe. He would secure Barred Rocks, White Leghorns and 
White or Gray Dorkings. Then he would cross in every con- 
ceivable fashion. 
Perhaps he might have trouble getting the white color to 
disappear. In that case Buff Leghorns which are a newer 
breed might be tried and found more plable material. By such 
methods the breeder would in three or four generations of 
crossing get a crude type of what he desired. Henceforth it 
would be be a matter of patience and selection. Five to twenty 
years is the time usually taken to produce new breeds of 
fancy poultry that will breed true to type. In this style of 
breeding the principles at stake are simple. The first is to 
secure the variations wanted; second, to breed from the most 
desirable of these specimens. 
The same methods of selection that establish a breed are 
used to maintain it, or to establish strains. In ordinary breed- 
ing there are two other principles that are sometimes called 
into play. One is prepotency, the other is inbreeding. By 
prepotent we mean having unusual power to transmit char- 
acters to offspring. Suppose a breeder has five yards headed 
by five cock birds. The male in yard two he does not consider 
quite as fine as the bird in yard one, but in the fall he finds 
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