{■>2 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 



the greater half «>1 the battle. These liens were no better tbuii hundreds 

 of thousands of hens; not nearly as good us many, probably. Why- 

 should they be? All the good layers that use trap nests and prove 

 their worth to their owner are called "exceptional liens." It is far more 

 reasonable to infer that those owners who know which are their best 

 layers and breed from them are exceptional poultry keepers. 



Good methods of maintenance should follow good breeding, but they 

 can never, only to a a limited degree, offset bad breeding. We will 

 never get good results from hens that are inherently unable to give good 

 results. Suitable methods of feeding and care ennhlc our hens to respond 

 to their own individual egg-producing inclinations; they do not make 

 them lay. 



The feeding and housing of poultry, or their general maintenance, can 

 never by any possibility appear in the same light to large numbers of 

 breeders. No one set rule in these matters would work the same with 

 different flocks. It is, therefore, impossible that any one method of 

 feeding and care, however good it may be, can ever obtain- a sufficiently 

 general adoption to greatly benefit the industry, (rood breeding proves 

 itself under many widely differing systems of maintenance ; but rational 

 systems of maintenance rarely, if ever, prove anything but the 

 breeding. 



Certain methods of breeding practiced along the same general lines — 

 not specifically the same, — by many breeders having practically the 

 same aims have established the general Standard qualities of our leading 

 breeds and improved them to a degree that probably was not dreamed 

 of two generations ago. There is no evidence that such a course has 

 ever been pursued with the utility qualities kept to the front. 



Observation has been the only means generally employed for selection, 

 and observation is powerless to discover and keep track of the best 

 layers, except with a few fowls given a great deal of attention. 



Large numbers of birds are of great advantage to any breeder who 

 has room and time for them, as they give him a large field for selection. 

 This is so true that expert selection for the show room often wins the 

 ribbons away from the expert breeding that actually produces superior 

 average merit. This principle is as true with utility as witli fancy 

 points. 



There is no available evidence that proves that the average pure-blood 

 lien lays any better than Hie average mongrel under similar conditions. 



Our not wanting this to be true will not change the present facts in 

 the matter. A comparison of pure- and mongrel-blood sufficient to dis- 

 prove this would also require proof that the specimens tested fairly 

 represented the average of each class. Uniformity of performance can 

 never be obtained and maintained with impure blood; if it has yet been 

 reached with pure blood the cases are probably rare, it can only he 1 

 determined by the individual record. 



It would seem from the general view that there is plenty of room for 

 improvement in the utility qualities of any of our popular breeds with- 

 out permanently sacrificing any rational Standard qualities. 



Those who will start with the best Standard blood that they can get, 

 cull closely, with utility always to fly fore, ruthlessly discarding heavy 

 laying on high scoring specimens when they are unsuitable for the 

 breeding lien, never inbreeding closer than is consistent with constitu- 

 tional vigor, mid -neper introdneiiiif mm blood tni/i :tx it is knotrn to be 

 in harmony irith the end in riiir, — those who will pursue 1 such a course 



