64 The Thim) and Fourth Generation 



In recent experiments conducted at various 

 state experiment stations to produce strains of 

 chickens with increased egg-laying ability, it 

 has been found that it is not only necessary to 

 select as a breeder a hen that lays well, but 

 that her offspring must be good layers too. 

 In other words, the breeder must have proof 

 that the animal has the power to transmit her 

 desirable quality or, as he says, is prepotent. 

 It is by close inbreeding with such stock 

 that the two-hundred-egg-a-year hen has been 

 developed. 



SUMMARY 



The breeder hopes to discover animals and 

 plants in the wild state that may serve mankind 

 weU when domesticated, and he expects that 

 some at least will be improved merely by 

 domestication. He is on the lookout for sports 

 or mutants that show valuable new characters ; 

 these he adopts and conserves. He makes new 

 combinations by hybridization and watches for 

 complex varieties to separate into their com- 

 ponent strains so as to start valuable pedigree 



