Il6 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



and not the possible, that should he taken as a basis of 

 expectation. I saw a statement, recently, that just this 

 fault belittles nearly all the work published from the 

 Experiment Stations: that they are too prone to give 

 favorable figures, but leave unnoted items of expense, 

 such as labor, etc. Possibly the critic did not consider 

 how difficult it might be to allow a fair amount for 

 labor, since those who do experimental work need to 

 have superior help (at superior prices, probably) ; and 

 apportionment to specific jobs may also be difificult. In 

 fact, it seems to be a human failing to ignore the difficul- 

 ties of " the other fellow " and to look at his results only, 

 casting upon these a very critical eye. Perhaps that is 

 the way we keep each other in the straight line ; but it 

 does not always seem quite generously fair. 



As an instance of the way the mind of the owner 

 works, an item from a poultry periodical of the spring 

 of 191 1 may be illuminating. The breeders of one 

 certain variety had been asked by the editor how many 

 eggs per hen they considered a fair, average yield per 

 year, in that variety. A baker's dozen of replies came 

 to hand. One breeder gave himself leeway by making 

 the output of pullets from 160 to 200; several gave 

 185 as the average they considered "fair"; one did 

 not choke on 200 as his estimate of this "fair" average 

 for the breed ; and my own average, figured from all 

 but one, which I will mention later, makes the consen- 

 sus of opinion 163, and pulled down to this chiefly by 

 the figures of one who probably estimated the pullet 

 year from a different date, as he gave 138 for pullets, 

 and 160 for hens. One man alone gave facts instead 

 of estimates, stating that his entire flock of many bun- 



