88 THE RIGHT TO BE WELL BOEN 



sell for $1,500 ; and a setting of his fertile 

 eggs sells for $100. The male bird, -which 

 improves most the egg production of his 

 daughters, becomes the bird that is needed 

 in the flock and his "cockship" really be- 

 comes the "hen that lays the golden egg." 

 Few people realize that our egg crop is 

 worth 50% more than our wheat crop. 

 Two score years ago, poultry men were 

 content to secure from 60 to 90 eggs per 

 year from each hen. By taking advantage 

 of the reproductive powers of a few males 

 of each breed and breeding only to these, 

 the egg production has been increased to 

 150 or 200 per hen for the average flock, 

 while the hen already has been evolved 

 which has layed 315 eggs in one year. 

 Pullets now lay at six months and hatch 

 at eight months, while they used to lay at 

 a year or a year and over. There is no 

 doubt that such remarkable results are due 

 to the breeding power of a few males. This 

 is proved by the following : 



A cock from a 250 egg strain is bred to 

 the hens of a 100 egg strain. The pullets 

 of this cross will produce, say, 200 eggs; 



