30 MAKING POULTRY PAY 



conclusion was that they must be more or less weak- 

 ened by it. Thus was obtained a condition which 

 pointed to a preponderance of the positive element, and 

 the result was about eighty per cent cockerels. 



To further test this matter, six pullets, in the pink 

 of condition, were put in a pen by themselves and 

 every afternoon a two-year-old cock^ which all the 

 rest of the day was running with forty hens, was- 

 placed with them. This mating resulted in eighty per 

 cent of the chicks coming pullets. Similar matings 

 have been practiced by American breeders for some 

 years, and they have been able to obtain a large per 

 cent of pullets or of cockerels, but not always as high, 

 as eighty per cent as here mentioned. 



A new idea in breeding for sex is advanced by 

 Arthur Wulff according to the following translation 

 from the German Gcfliigel Zcitung: Of greater value 

 than the statistics of the human race is the record 

 (well supported by documentary evidence) of our 

 most important animal^the horse. The considerable 

 size and costliness of the individual, the consequent 

 easy determination of identity, the long period of ges- 

 tation, the birth of (invariably) but one young at a 

 time, and especially the careful registration of the 

 stallion's "visits," combine to furnish weighty material,, 

 from which we draw the conclusion that foals in cases 

 where the mare has been "covered" in the evening 

 (that is after the stallion had been previously used 

 during the day) will generally follow the sex of the 

 mother. 



We do not know whether this fact, which is no- 

 doubt capable of a plausible explanation (the older 

 seminal cords have a tendency to produce male, the- 

 younger ones female offspring), has already been 

 noticed in the poultry world, though we may add that 

 we alluded to it two years ago. At all events, poultrj 



