When the carcass of a fowl is increased by several pounds beyond the 

 natural weight, it always is at the expense of other and more important 

 characteristics. The frame is not enlarged and strengthened to correspond 

 ' to the extra meat, and tte birds break down. By increasing the size be- 

 yond normal, nothing is a:dded to the laying quality, but there is a very 

 •perceptible increase to the expense of feeding, and it requires more housing 

 room for the same number of fowls. The increased weight retards activity, 

 and the more logy fowl developes more slowly. The greatest claim for 

 Anconas, that they produce eggs at the least cost per dozen of any breed, 

 cannot be maintained by over-weight fowls. Any poultry man who wants 

 birds heavier than Anconas, can easily have them in any cloor desired — 

 Rocks, I Bed?, Wyandottes, Langshans, Minorcas, Brahmas, etc., and I 

 would emphasize the fact that if you want to breed for beef don't breed 

 Anconas. 



It is an undisputed ' truth that Race and Draft horses are not found 

 in one breed; neither can there be found in one breed of cows the quali- 

 ties for both Beef and Milk; no more do you find meat and egg production 

 combined in one fowl. It never has been, and never will be. 



(b)Ancona color is mottled black and white. There is not a confus- 

 ing multiplicity of hues. There are no Black Anconas, White Anconas, 

 Red Anconas, Silver Anconas, Partridge Anconas, Golden Anconas, and so 

 on Ad Infinitum, but. Glory Be! the one and only Aneona color is mottled. 

 There is a peculiar beauty in contrast, and do contrast is so striking as 

 black and white. There seemed to be a growing forgetfulness among An- 

 eona breeders generally about the year 1910 that Anconas were mottled. 

 Poultry Judges were largely to blame for this lapse by reason of their plac- 

 ing awards on the darkest birds, almost to the exclusion of any honors for 

 a well mottled Aneona in the show room. I have seen some first prize 

 winners that had hardly a white-tipped feather on them. This was 

 carried to such an extreme that several breeders began to advertise "Black- 

 bird" Anconas and other terms to indicate that their Anconas were not 

 the real thing. It was but another creation of the faddist, and had no 

 excuse ever to be introduced. For three years this black craze appeared 

 to have a deep-seated root, but then it began to "wear off" (as all crazy 

 notions usually do.) and Aneona breeders awoke to the fact that their 

 favorite had once more escaped the pernicious out-cropping of the faddist 

 to produce a new creation to undo a good thing and make a mighty poor 

 substitution. The English breeders underwent this same color experience 

 a few years earlier than did the American breeders, but they did not carry 

 it to such an extreme as was attempted in America. The leading English 

 Aneona breeders sounded the warning in time and the return to a well 

 mettled Aneona was straightway made. 



I trust that the American Aneona may ever be true to name, — a 

 really mottled Aneona. 



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