THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



281 



i'loody birds, llic "impuro" broody 

 iitraiii will throw ilic tiirei.- sorts, and 

 the recessive or "soaked-iu-broodi- 

 iioss" strain will thri>vv all broodies, 

 though possibly they may not show 

 it unless they eat loo much or too 

 little bran. It would be possible to 

 Iniild up on Mendclian lines a strain 

 ol which every bird would show 

 broodiness, and lay tinted and small 

 eggs, and yet be pure White Leg- 

 horns. On the other hand, on the 

 same law it should be possible to 

 build up a Hock, every bird of which 

 will be non-broody, and lay white 

 eggs of large size, and do it in three 

 generations from the same original 

 pen. Quite similar breeding has been 

 done times out of number with peas 

 and beans, and animals, &c. Re- 

 turning to the "pure" non-broody 

 strain, it is not that broodiness is 

 mislaid or dormant, it is simply, that 

 the capacity to brood has passed out 

 of their constitution, and no amount 

 of effort or bran will bring it back. 

 Their is just as much chance of a 

 white man and woman producing a 

 black family. Blackness in the one 

 and broodiness in the other is simply 

 non-existent. 



— Where We Stand. — 

 The practical opportunity given to 

 breeders does not rest on theory. 

 Dr. Pearl has put up the results of 

 four years' work. He has shown that 

 he or any other breeder working on 

 certain lines can breed birds of good, 

 bad, or indifferent laying capacity, 

 and do it with certainty, and he puts 

 up the figures to show it. Not figures 

 from 6 or lo birds, but from lo hun- 

 dred. There appear to us to be just 

 three possibilities which would war- 

 rant scepticism. The gentleman may 

 be mad, his figures may be a dream, 

 or he is wrong in his assumption that 

 pullets of equal age will show in the 

 first few months of laying which 

 class they belong to. Failing either 

 of these somewhat unlikely possibili- 

 ties, the figures must stand, they may 

 be ignored, but they cannot be ques- 

 tioned on any other ground. The fact 

 that color, comb, leg-feathering, ex- 

 tra toes, crests, skin coloring, and 

 many other characters in bird, animal, 

 and plant life have been shown to fol- 

 low similar rules, as those suggested 

 by Dr. Pearl, and the known influence 

 of the male in such closely allied 

 character as size and color of egg, the 

 further fact that so essentially a femi- 

 nine trait as broodiness is equally in- 

 fluenced is, of course, no proof that 

 number of eggs is also governed by 

 the same laws, but it is at least pretty 

 good presumptive evidence. 



Wanted: An Explanation. 



.Some monllis ago wc were discuss- 

 \ny; the inconsistent scores made by 

 many competitors in successive lay- 

 ing competitions, with a breeder who, 

 in his day, was well in the first llight. 

 We asked him why he dropped out of 

 it. Apart from the stereotyped "No 

 lime" and "Not worth while" excuses 

 lu- owned up that the real reason was 

 that he could not keep it up, and hav- 

 ing had a place in the lead the ruck 

 was not good enough for him. "As 

 you know, I had good stock," he said, 

 "and by all the rules of the game they 

 should have improved, for I bred 

 from higher scoring birds, they hatch- 

 ed better, eat better, grew better, 

 feathered better, and worked better, 

 but they didn't lay better — not by 

 long odds. I don't know why, unless 

 it was that the strain on the vital 

 energy was too great, and that the 

 general stamina was reduced." In 

 this particular case, every point was 

 considered, and everything that know- 

 ledge and observation could suggest 

 was put into the birds, but still they 

 went back. Few breeders have been 

 so thorough in their methods, but 

 generally speaking, the case is typical 

 of others, as far as can be judged by 

 the performances of birds at our lay- 

 ing competitions. It may be, of 

 course, that the decreasing stamina 

 idea is correct, there is, at all events, 

 a good deal to be said in support, but 

 it is a little surprising that such birds, 

 or at all events, these particular birds, 

 were about the healthiest, busiest, and 

 most active set of invalids we have 

 ever seen. One would expect that they 

 would show other signs of impaired 

 vitality. If we hadn't seen them we 

 should have been more sanguine as to 



the correctness of the theory. That 



was four or five years ago, but wc 

 hear tiiat tlicy are still able to sit up 

 and take a little nourishment. 



♦ 



An Achievement. 



"Tropical Agriculture," qu(jting 

 from the journal of the "British Board 

 of Agriculture," refers to the report 

 of the poultry expert. South Australia, 

 and says that it deals with the general 

 progress of the industry. It also re- 

 fers to the result of an experiment 

 with Leghorns and Black Orpingtons. 

 We are particularly happy to have 

 seen this notable record, as it hap- 

 pens to be the first we have come 

 across in regard to the recently de- 

 funct poultry stations, and we hasten 

 to do justice to the occasion or try to. 



Who can say now that the work of 

 the South Australian Government 

 Poultry Experiment Stations is not 

 well known! In view of this discov- 

 ery (though possibly dimly guessed at 

 before) of so unusual a contribution 

 to the world's accumulating know- 

 ledge of the hen and her peculiarities, 

 it would not be surprising to know 

 that the experts, experimentalists, in- 

 structors, and investigators of 28 

 countries, together with their report- 

 ers, typists, secretaries, and general 

 backers, at their recent very interest- 

 ing conference, received the news 

 with enthusiasm before adjourning 

 for drinks, which might have been 

 very appropriately chalked up to the 

 Agent-General. 



In the natural agitation arising 

 from reading of such a record of ex- 



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