58 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



and beauty. The use or harm of these standards depends 

 upon the balance preserved between those characteristics 

 that are of economic importance and those that are merely 

 attractive. The standard of any breed that does not find 

 beauty mainly in utility is a false standard and if persisted 

 in will surely bring about the economic downfall of the breed. 

 Strong breed characteristics, even though they add only 

 to the attractiveness of the breed, and of themselves have 

 no economic value, are assets to any individual and are of 

 value to the producer. Utility points being equal, that 

 individual which most strongly exhibits breed and variety 

 characteristics is likely to be the individual whose pedigree, 

 could it be examined, would show the most intelligent and 

 careful breeding. 



Economic Value of Fancy Points. — Because there is little 

 apparent value in some of the so-called "fancy paints" is 

 not just cause for condemning them wholesale. As a whole, 

 producers have been benefited by the work of the fancier- 

 breeder. Without it there would be no breeds, and no 

 uniformity which is so vastly important with animals that 

 are fed, or products that are sold, in numbers. 



Other things being equal, the bird that shows most plainly 

 breed and varietal characteristics, provided these do not 

 conflict with indications of constitutional vigor, should be 

 the breeder selected. Strong breed characteristics may be 

 considered to indicate close and careful breeding and to be 

 a mark of prepotency. The great difiiculty is the tendency 

 to overwork them and make them a fad. Their purpose is 

 to furnish uniformity to the carcass for market purposes 

 and to indicate internal and functional uniformity for 

 feeding. Such a purpose does not carry the necessity for 

 the extremes of color now somewhat in fashion. If we may 

 learn from other live stock, we find absolute color require- 

 ments almost totally lacking. The lonely example pf the 

 Dutch-belted cattle among the dairy breeds is one where a 

 color pattern requirement is associated with mediocrity of 

 production. 



Classification of the Breeds. — ^There are several ways of 

 classifying the breeds. For our immediate purpose, they 



