22 THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



A White Plymouth Rock, male was used on the pen of mongrels 

 that averaged 4.33 pounds. The first cross produced pullets that 

 ■weighed 5.68 pounds each. 



It is well known that they have fine coops on the government 

 farm, and that, in addition to splendid housing and range, Uncle Sam 

 is a goc^d provider and his chickens have the best of feed, m the right 

 proportion, and plenty of it. It was natural, therefore, to ask Mr. 

 Slocum, who had charge of this breeding experiment, if the mcrease 

 in weight was partly the result of the young stock of each cross bemg 

 full fed; that is, given all the nourishing food required to make bone, 

 muscle and feathers, or whether the increase in size from genera'don 

 to generation was altogether due to the birds growing bigger because 

 it was within their nature to grow bigger as a result of the employ- 

 ment of Plymouth Rock blood. Mr. Slocum replied: "I attribute this 

 increase in weight entirely to the infusion of the Plymouth Rock 

 blood. Work carried on with the use of mongrel males leads to this 

 conclusion." 



Buyers of market poultry prefer the American breeds. The buyers 

 of market poultry throughout the Middle West encourage the keep- 

 ing of the American breeds because of the satisfactory size attained by 

 the mature specimens. In some places a premium of two. three or even 

 four cents a pound is paid for hens that weigh from four to four and 

 one-half pounds and up; in other words, hens that weigh less than 

 four pounds bring two to four cents a pound less than the heavy sizes. 

 In explanation of this price schedule, Stanley Wyckofif, president of 

 the Indianapolis Poultry Company, writes: 



It is almost impossible to sell small sizes that dress out under four pounds, 

 except at a loss, as the average family does not wish to buy a chicken under four 

 pounds for a roast or stewing purposes ; and small sizes are neglected by hotel, cafe 

 and dining-car trade, as they positively will not purchase any fowl under four and 

 one-half pounds, and prefer five-pound stock, as it is more economical for slicing. The 

 canning trade that puts up chicken soup will not use small fowl even at a discount, 

 as they say it is not economical in comparison with the amount of meat that can be 

 taken off, in comparing the frame with larger sizes. 



When H. C. Pierce, now of the United States Fooi' Research 

 Laboratory, was working for his master's degree at Cornell, 1907, 

 he made up a table showing the proportion of edible meat to the 

 dressed weight, and the breeds made the following showing: Barred 

 Plymouth Rock, 74 percent; White Wyandotte, 72 percent; Bufi^ 

 Orpington, 69 percent; White Leghorn, 66 percent. 



This means that one hundred pounds of Barred Plymouth Rocks 

 carry eight pounds more edible meat than one hundred pounds of 

 White Leghorns. It also is equivalent to saying that the buyer kills 

 and dresses two three-pound hens to get four pounds of edible meat, 

 whereas he kills and dresses one six-pound hen to get approximately 

 four and one-half pounds of edible meat. The double cost of handling 

 the small sizes adds materially to the operating expense. It there- 



