THE CALL OF THE HEN. 93 
“Can it be possible that Mendel’s law obtains in egg-production 
just as it does in feathers and form? Do we eliminate, according to 
Mendel, the factor governing certain things in egg-production, just as 
we do in the attempt to control coloring in birds, fowls, animals, and 
flowers? If a son of a heavy-laying female is mated to a non-layer and 
this son does not carry the excess of laying proclivity, do we get poor 
layers or good layers? If a 100-per cent producing hen (200 eggs or 
more) is mated to the son of a 100-per cent producing female, it does 
not follow, if Mendel’s law applies, that the mate to the second 100 
per cent female inherited egg-laying proclivities; therefore, why should 
the offspring of the second mating be prolific egg-producers? And how 
far back must we go to get the excess of female inclination to repro- 
duction? 
“Predominance of inclination exists somewhere in some tangible 
form, but we do not seem to be able to find it under our present system. 
That we will is conclusive, but we must do so quickly, in order to offset 
the growing increase of foodstuffs.” 
The trap-nest identifies and gives you the number of eggs a hen 
lays and is absolutely necessary if we wish to line breed or raise pedigreed 
stock. The writer has studied Mendelism since the.spring of 1910, as 
he has numerous other scientific works, in the endeavor to find some- 
thing that would be of aid in getting out this work. I must confess 
that the title, “The Call of the Hen’’ was suggested while on a visit 
with Comrade Jack London, and that is all I have been able to find 
that has aided me in this case. Mendelism may be found an aid along 
the line of feathers but I doubt if there is anything in it that will aid 
the poultryman in the selection of breeders for type, stamina, and the 
production of eggs or meat. It may be that, having eyes, I fail to see 
it. Even if there should be anything of value in Mendelism, it would 
take two or more years to get it out, while “‘The Hogan Test”’ indicates 
the value of a bird in a few minutes, at most. It looks to me as if the 
poultrymen will have to look at the trap-nest and.‘‘The Hogan Test”’ 
to develop and maintain the high-scoring meat- and egg-producing hen. 
The best pullets can be selected at maturity by ‘‘The Hogan Test” 
and then trap-nested when the poultryman is breeding pedigreed stock: 
while the culled pullets, lacking in prepotency and other points, can be 
kept as market-egg producers. In this way it will be necessary to trap- 
nest only the cream of the flock, and thereby save an immense amount 
of labor. The cockerels can also be selected at three months of age and 
the most promising saved from slaughter. By this.method poultry- 
breeding will be reduced to a science and become a pleasure, where now 
it is a brain-racking proposition. 
A Trap-NEST OR THE HOGAN SYSTEM. 
By Charles H. Parker. 
March 21st, 1916. 
To the Editor, 
The Poultry Item, Sellersville, Pa. 
Dear Sir:—Some seven months ago I saw an advertisement in the’ 
Poultry Item about the Hogan System. I at once wrote for a copy 
and after reading it carefully was so much impressed with the principles 
upon which it was based that I determined to give it a thorough trial. 
