CHAPTER XXII 
BREEDING 
HE science of breeding for egg-production, although 
much better understood than it was a decade ago, is still 
in its experimental stages. No doubt a very great deal 
of valuable and solid facts have been elicited by men of scientific 
attainments in this country as well as in America, Canada 
and Australia, but while much is known there is still a great deal 
that is obscure; and even more that has not yet been investigated. 
The experts are still working out their problems, but the practical 
farmer has to go ahead season after season with the knowledge that 
is available. Fortunately enough is known to keep the practical 
man on safe lines, and while he leaves the speculative part of the 
problem to men of science there are plenty of solid facts to which he 
can turn his attention. 
For the average egg-farmer a few simple facts known of all men 
will keep him from falling into error, and it is astonishing how 
successful some men are whose knowledge of breeding is perfectly 
elementary, but also perfectly correct. A little knowledge is 
only a dangerous thing when it is mixed with error. Real know- 
ledge, even if limited in amount, is always to be preferred to 
ignorance, 
A very successful egg-farmer actually goes out of his way to 
tell us that he is ‘“‘ not a poultry expert,” but then his knowledge 
is founded on that safest of all guides, practical experience, which 
shows a profit at the bank. 
Since Charles Darwin wrote his classic on natural and artificial 
selection the art of breeding has been transformed into a science, 
and where the breeder was groping in the dark he is now working 
with his face to the light. The foundation of Darwin’s work was 
roughly that all animals in their primitive state undergo what 
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