SELECTING A BREED 
mischief; that will not require an extra-high fence 
to keep them enclosed; that will stand confinement 
if not too close and severe; that are both good mar- 
ket birds and good egg producers—to him I would 
recommend one of the American breeds. 
The man who wants a quiet, easily confined 
breed, that are fair layers and extra-large table 
fowls, ought to give the Brahmas his first consid- 
eration, with the Cochins next in order. The 
Brahmas are also fairly good for producing broil- 
ers, and without a superior for roasters. Large 
broiler growers, however, find the Plymouth Rocks, 
Wyandottes or Rhode Island Reds, best adapted to 
their purpose, as they feather out more rapidly and 
mature quicker. 
The man anywhere, and with any sized flock, 
who wants eggs and eggs alone, should confine his 
attention strictly to the Mediterranean breeds; they 
are the egg producers par excellence. While all 
are good layers, the Leghorns and Minorcas are 
probably the best. The Leghorns are usually cred- 
ited with the ability to lay more eggs in a year than 
the Minorcas, but the Minorca eggs usually aver- 
age considerably larger, and that often is a point 
which one cannot afford to overlook, inasmuch as 
the time is coming when eggs in America will be 
sold by the pound instead of by the dozen.* The 
* This method of selling eggs is at the present time practiced in most for- 
eign countries and in a few of the Western States of the United States. 
105 
