in the chicken world. When it is next to impossible to get fresh eggs in 

 December, January and February, and you can have a large glass bowl on 

 the side board piled up with nice white eggs, and you know their pedigree, 

 then you are in the egg business. Now to summarize. When I finally 

 got beauty, hardiness, and a splendid egg yield combined in the niftiest 

 chicken in the catalog, I became convinced that I had THE CHICKEN. 

 You just can't get around that Ancona argument of "more eggs for less 

 money," as it is practically conceded that the Ancona will produce more 

 on less feed than any breed now known. While it is ail right to make a 

 stock argument about market fowls, the average fancier just cannot make 

 up his mind to cut the head off one of his pretty birds simply to have a 

 roast or stew. If you kill a beefer and she dresses six pounds she is a 

 corker, while a nice plump Ancona will dress about four pounds. Any of 

 the large breeds fatten up and cease to lay profitably after the third year, 

 while our Ancona princess keeps right on till she is six. Which is more 

 profitable, two pounds of chicken at 25 cents per pound, or at least 175 

 eggs per year for two years, approximating 30 dozen at 25 cents per dozen? 

 Suppose your Asiatic or American should lay 150 eggs per year for 5 years 

 and then leave a six pound carcass, after consuming | more feed than an 

 Ancona; are you better off than you would be with an Ancona producing 

 175 to 200 eggs per year for 5 years and then leave 4 lbs of meat? 



Outline map of Italy, showing the location of Ancona. 



See chapter on "Origin of Anconas," page 6. 



39 



