IN THE POULTRY YARD. 29 
breed so as to have eggs for raising chickens at once. What 
breed should I get? 
It is a curious fact that the books tell us very little about the 
breeding, and especially the crossing, of different breeds of poultry. 
Even ponderous octavos, which would seem from their bulk to be 
exhaustive, do not touch upon the subject. I was therefore left to 
work it out myself as best I might. 
It is a well-established rule in breeding, that the male should 
always, if possible, be a thoroughbred. It is true that in fowls it 
is sometimes difficult to say what varieties are thoroughbred, and 
even the question, “ What is a breed?” has elicited long discus- 
sions, as witness the nonsense published in the London ied, and 
quoted approvingly in Tegetmeier’s large work. There is little 
doubt but that the different breeds now in market are thoroughbred 
in very different degrees. The game cock is undoubtedly the most 
emphatically thoroughbred bird of any that we have, and it will be 
difficult to find a cock of any breed that will so quickly and clearly 
impress his own characteristics upon a flock as will a really well- 
bred game cock ‘This quality he evidently owes to the fact 
that the breed is very old, and for ages it has been re-enforcing 
certain qualities to the exclusion of others, until now it possesses, to 
an extent not exhibited by any other breed, the power of projecting 
these qualities into its descendants, even though the mother be of 
a different stock. 
The second rule is, that when two breeds are crossed the hen 
ought always to be the largest. As a general rule the small breeds 
are the most finely bred, and have the most highly nervous organi- 
zation. This holds with all animals, including man. Who would 
cross a fine blood mare with a cart horse? The progeny would be 
worthless. Ora small, fine-boned Alderney cow with a Durham 
bull, or even with a scrub? While by reversing the cross and put- 
ting a large well-formed mare to a thoroughbred, a most useful 
animal would probably be the result, and a fine Alderney bull of a 
- good milking strain, will probably produce a calf that will grow into 
a first-rate milch cow, even though the mother be a coarsely bred 
animal, And yet I have seen men who would not have violated 
