COM 'LI .SKIN 123 



with the lively, intelligent interest and persistence that has characterized 

 tlie work of thousands of fanciers who aimed at the blue ribbons will 

 do what few have y«-t done and should achieve what has seldom been 

 achieved. When improvement is once started along' lines that become 

 generally recognized as correct it expands and grows with ever increas- 

 ing rapidity through the distribution of improved blood throughout the 

 land. 



There are many fanciers and many farmers who actually do not know 

 what a good egg yield is; and, furthermore, many of them do not care. 

 Of all poultry breeders the fancier should possess the highest standard of 

 egg production, for the established Standard-bred bird presents the 

 suresl and the shortest route to prolificacy. 



Early in the game I became convinced that the practice of keeping 

 hens in small flocks, devoting more time anil money in caring for theni 

 than they were possibly worth, in order to force or coax them to the 

 limit of their capacity for egg production solely to get 200-egg hens to 

 to use in the breeding pen. was a great mistake. It is theoretically and 

 practically wrong. 



If a bird is able to lay 2<K> eggs in one year thai should suffice without 

 using force to compel her or coddling to coax her to prove it to the 

 limit of her vitality. It is often far more wise to hold her back. 



When thi' experts rose up and declared that we could not tell if the 

 hen was able until she did it they unwittingly exposed the utter fallacy 

 of the observation theory upon which the whole matter has rested from 

 time immemorial. 



Large flocks of cheap hens have laid profitably within range of my 

 observation for many years. Similar flocks no doubt exist all over the 

 laud. Their owners neither read, nor contribute to the poultry press. 

 These are not the exceptional flocks. The flocks that we read about 

 are the ones that are exceptional, for the reason that written-up flocks, 

 good or bad. are n small part of the whole number of flocks that exist. 



The 2iHl-egg' hen a.- an individual can be no new thing. She has been 

 here all the time. She wears the patchwork coat of the mongrel and 

 the fine raiment of the prize-winner. Fine clothes do not make the man nor 

 tine feathers the hen. yet both contribute to an appearance of merit. 



The discovery of the 200-egg hen is what is new to an ever increasing 

 number of poultry keeper*. Like political capital they are being pro- 

 duced unknowingly all of the time by already established factors. 



The reason that the average production with well-cared-for flocks is 

 commonly so low is that so many poor layers and ordinary layers are re- 

 tained in service. 



Suppose we have -everal pens of fowls of twelve females each. One 

 pen average* 1 oO cfiii^ per hen in nine month*. If we have individual 

 records of all of the females in all the pens, and select from the records of 

 the whole lot the twelve heaviest layers, and quote an average of 2 2.1 

 eggs each we would be criticised because the twelve birds were not all 

 in one pen. But what sense would there be in such a criticism? One 

 hen or any number of hens are entitled to credit for what they do 

 individually . If they do good work handicapped by unworthy associates 

 and unfavorable conditions their value is emphasized and they should 



