POULTRY PRODUCTION AND POULTRY INDUSTRY 29 



The Production-breeder. — A breeder is one who seeks to 

 improve stock through proper selection and mating. From 

 the standpoint of poultry production, with the exception of 

 ostriches, improvement refers to an increased eflSciency in 

 the production of human food. A breeder whose primary 

 aim is to raise the food manufacturing efficiency of any 

 species of poultry may for convenience be called a "produc- 

 tion breeder". A comparatively small, but constantly grow- 

 ing number of breeders are turning their attention toward 

 production. Their principal function with regard to pro- 

 duction is to furnish the producer with breeding males of 

 standard varieties with which to grade up his flocks. Pedi- 

 gree breeding, the only method by which prepotent males 

 able to sire efficient producers can be secured, is out of reach 

 of the producer, who must make his profit by securing a 

 narrow margin on many birds, rather than a wide one on a 

 few. The true breeder is a producer in the very best and 

 highest sense. The producer can follow only as far as the 

 breeder leads the way. 



Fanciers and Fancier-breeders. — ^The term "fancier" refers 

 to one who keeps poultry for pleasure rather than for the 

 production of food, while a "fancier-breeder" is one who 

 breeds poultry for fanciers. At the present time the fancier- 

 breeders as far outnumber the production-breeders as the 

 fanciers are outnumbered by producers. 



The preponderance of fancier-breeders over production- 

 breeders is largely due to three causes. The first is the 

 elaborate poultry show system in vogue in this country, the 

 second is the lack of anything like the general adoption of a 

 merit system in the purchase of farm poultry products, and 

 the third is a profound ignorance of the laws of productive 

 breeding. s 



The poultry show system of America is more complete 

 than for any other line of live stock. Nearly every city 

 (and very many of the towns and villages) throughout the 

 United States and Canada has its annual poultry show, at 

 which the fanciers from a greater or less range of surrounding 

 territory exhibit their birds in competition for premiums. 



The characteristics or points by which competing birds 



