18S 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



September, lyi3 



Mating. 



A question which often puzzles 

 the new beginner is the difference 

 between single and double mating. 

 It is also rather complicated by 

 the fact that the utility breeder 

 uses the word single as applied to 

 mating when he uses it at all, in 

 a somewhat different sense to the 

 fancier. The former woidd be un- 

 derstood to mean that he was 

 mating one or several pairs of 

 birds and keeping track of indivi- 

 dual pedigrees. If the fancier 

 used the word one w^ould under- 

 stand that he was trj-ing to so 

 mate his birds that he would get 

 standard colour cockerels and pul- 

 lets froan the same parent ij3en and 

 pair. Double mating in the fan- 

 cier's sense is unknown to the 

 utility man, though we know of 

 some who believe that they get a 

 better type of cockerel, more mas- 

 culine and vigorous, from a certain 

 type of hen and better pullets from 

 another type, and following this 

 idea, they do to some extent 

 double mate, but they n&ver> as 

 the fancier in some varieties does, 

 mate birds, half of whose offspring 

 he is practically certain will be of 

 no use to him beyond providing an 

 occasional meal. Double mating in 



the fancier's understanding of the 

 term, is where a different mating 

 is required to produce cockerels for 

 the show pen than that which will 

 produce show pullets. 'It is a 

 matter which appears to have been 

 carried to extremes in England and 

 America. Nearly all marked breeds 

 are said to require double mating 

 in a greater or less degree. Ply- 

 mouth Rocks (the barred variety), 

 Silv^er Wyandottes, and Brown Leg- 

 horns, are, because of their greater 

 popularity, the breeds in connec- 

 tion with which it is most fre- 

 qiientlv spoken of. Generally speak- 

 ing, a rather light cock with show 

 piillets or hens is iised to get 

 standard colour pullets and rather 

 darker than standard bens or pul- 

 lets with a show standard male to 

 produce cockerels. Tliis is very 

 crudely put, and there are refine- 

 ments in the practice on which 

 books have been written, and end- 

 less discussions in the poultry press 

 of two continents. In Australia, 

 except in a very limited circle, 

 the necessity, or rather the sus- 

 picion of it, carries with it con- 

 demnation of anv breed to which it 

 is more or less justly attached. 

 The fact that double mating is or 

 may be necessary (and it has never 

 been absolutely proved) does not 



in reality make the slightest differ- 

 ence to its utility value, but prob- 

 ably few people take up any breed 

 for utility without some more or 

 less vague expectation, if not 

 actual intention of breeding up to 

 the standard of that breed and the 

 double mating bogie will conscious- 

 ly or iiiTiconsciously weigh in the 

 balance against a breed to which 

 the stigma apples. Hitherto and 

 to a great extent the poultry 

 world has been governed by the 

 fancier to whom the maxim " the 

 greater the dilTiculty the greater 

 the honour " is supposed to ap- 

 peal with peculiar force. It may 

 be so and it certainly sounds verv 

 nice, but however that may be, it 

 is only b}^ the creation of new 

 varieties and purposely adding to 

 the difficulties of breeding, show 

 birds by raising and altering the 

 standard, that the interest in the 

 fanciers' world has been maintain- 

 ed. Things are going to be different, 

 tbev are different in Australia al- 

 ready. In England and America 

 a breed is jud"ed b" i*^s standard. 

 In Australia it is tested by the 

 produce merchants' sales account 

 cheque. 



This matter is one of great im- 

 portance to those breeders who are 

 interested in varieties to which 



Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia. 



INOORPORATED. 



LIVE STOCK SHOW 



September lO, 11, 12 and 13, 1913. 



At lubilee Exhibition & Grounds. 



CONCERTS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHTS. 



2i/- Tickets admit Member and Two I/adies to this and March Sho w. Junior Member Tickets, 10/6. 



ON VIEW :— FLOWERS, FRUIT, VEGETABLES, POULTRY. 

 Stud Cattle, Pigs, Dogs, Horses, Machinery in Motion, and Miscellaneous Exhibits. 



23, Way mouth Stn.-et, Adelaide. Telephone 371. J. A. RiLEY, Seoi-etary. 



