FOWLS THAT PAY 265 
Wyandotte cockerel came from a deep-laying strain, but its 
immediate ancestors had never accomplished anything like so 
good a record as the offspring has done. Unfortunately with 
a single experiment one can point to no general principle for 
mating and breeding, but I am strongly inclined to believe that 
there are some first crosses which, for egg-production, transcend 
either of the pure breeds from which they are directly descended. 
I have studied the problem from various points and I can come to 
no other conclusion. In the case under discussion the fine results 
of the happy mating was an accident pure and simple. 
T have, however, no intention to leave the problem in its present 
nebulous condition, and I am again mating the original Faverolles 
with a Wyandotte cockerel, and I am also mating the young first- 
cross pullets with a Wyandotte cockerel. In the first instance 
the offspring ought to be similar (if not exactly alike) to the first- 
cross birds whose record I have given. If they are I must con- 
tinue the first cross in the hope that the results will be correspond- 
ingly successful. If they are not, one will have to blame the 
cockerel. Regarding the mating of the first-cross birds 
(Wyandotte-Faverolles) the offspring will be two parts Wyandotte 
to one part Faverolles, but it by no means follows that they will 
be equal to or an improvement on the birds I first bred. 
As I did not anticipate anything unusual in the first instance I 
did not keep any of the Wyandotte-Faverolles cockerels. Even 
if I had done so it is doubtful if I would have mated them with 
their own sisters, but it is my intention next season to retain a 
few cockerels of the second generation and mate them with their 
nieces. This is not direct inbreeding, but even if it were so that 
would not disturb me. I am not a theorist, and while I respect 
the advice of the books I am more inclined to trust to practical 
experience. I am hopeful, therefore, that the present season’s 
mating of pure Wyandotte with Wyandotte-Faverolles will be 
productive of good results. If it should be so I will go on without 
any further outcrossing and try to develop a variety which, if 
“‘ only a cross,” may be the sort of cross that will outlay the pure 
breeds. Probably the sequel will show that the offspring will 
