CHAPTER XXXVIII 
THE BEST FIRST CROSS 
M OST writers are ever warning the poultry-keepers against 
crossing. Properly understood, the advice is sound 
enough, but it ought to be known that certain first 
crosses—that is, the mating of two pure breeds—will yield excellent 
results. Of all light breeds, the Leghorn stands alone as a male 
bird for crossing. He transmits prolificacy—number of eggs— 
as well as size of eggs, and leaves shape and size of body to the 
hen to transmit to the offspring. He is a sure fertiliser and all 
his progeny are hardy. He takes readily to any other breed, but 
the mating result, so far as eggs are concerned, is better with the 
Wyandotte hen than with other varieties. This is a common 
experience, almost universal, and the results are amazingly con- 
sistent, often resulting in an increase in number of eggs, and, of 
course, a much better table bird. 
Another experience of mine which I deal specially with else- 
where gives wonderful results from the mating of a Wyandotte 
cockerel with a Faverolles hen. The offspring of this combina- 
tion yielded over fifty eggs per pullet before Christmas, a figure 
rarely found in pure-bred stock. 
A rather extended experiment made by Mr F. Whitelocke 
deserves notice in the public interest. This poultry expert used 
only the White Leghorn as a male bird with various other varieties 
and gives us most interesting as well as useful results. “In 
travelling about the country,” he remarks, “one often hears 
poultry-keepers and farmers say: ‘Oh, you talk a lot about your 
pure breeds and such-like, but just give me that old barn-door 
hen for eggs; why, we can always depend upon her, she lays 
twice as many as the pure-bred ’uns,’ Now, to a certain ex- 
tent, this is true in countless instances. I am therefore going 
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