LAWS GOVERNING THE BREEDING 
But the ‘‘old beginner,’’ he is the original drag 
on the wheels of progress; worse even than the 
fossils who live in the cobwebs of the past. The 
“old beginner’ in poultry culture is the literal 
definition of the term, always beginning and nev- 
er advancing, whose claim to tenacity of purpose 
is that in spite of repeated failures of theories and 
plans, he is still an enthusiastic poultryman, 
growing older in years with a greater accumula- 
tion of theories but proving nothing. This ‘“‘old 
beginner’’ finds one year that the penciled breeds 
are the best ever; the next year the laced breeds 
are in his favor; then barred breeds attract him; 
blacks or whites, reds or buffs and so on. He is 
never long enough with any one breed to be other 
than what his name implies; an ‘“‘old beginner.”’ 
He is ever the slave of capricious whims, scorning 
advice and proven facts. Yet to him I offer these 
pearls which have been the backbone of every 
successful fancier and breeder for many decades 
past and will be for many decades to come. These 
laws are not intended by the simple reading of 
same to turn out skilled breeders and fanciers. 
Faith without works is dead; they must be prac- 
ticed and applied, studied and tried. A complete 
realization can only come by years of actual ex- 
perience. 
The thoughts written here can only serve as 
hints and warnings, rudimentary at best, yet 
based entirely on a life-time of investigation and 
observation of nature’s laws as applied to domes- 
tic fowls. I have such absolute confidence in the 
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