Live Stock, 



138 



[August, 1911, 



to England forty years ago. As a general 

 rule deviations from standard type end 

 in other serious modifications. 



So-called Fancy Points.— Many of 

 these are characteristic of a breed in 

 its purity, and are to a large extent 

 distinguishing factors. Disregard of 

 these may end in a gradual, sometimes 

 sudden, alteration of a serious nature. 

 The combination of certain external 

 characteristics is pleasing to the eye ; 

 modifications often give displeasing 

 results — a mongrel appearance. A strain 

 of fowls may be pure for any one or 

 several characters. Where a breed is 

 pure for any character its inheritance 

 can be calculated, but it is also certain 

 that by selection any character can be 

 either eliminated or fixed, as desired. 



Broodiness. — For egg production it is of 

 course highly desirable that the material 

 characteristic known as "broodiness" 

 be eliminated. This character is in- 

 herited in a definite ratio. In the 

 present state of our knowledge the 

 exact process of the reappearance of this 

 lost characteristic in the non-sitting 

 breeds is not known. It has been sur- 

 mised that broodiness is due to a fer- 

 ment or enzyme. That is probably the 

 case, but the reappearance is due to 

 imperfect demarcation of its " presence ' 

 or ''absence." There may be another 

 character, intensified perhaps by ner- 

 vous excitement, which holds in check 

 this character which, while really 

 " present" in a very dilute form, is still 

 capable of reappearance, and would 

 thus account for a supposed mutation, 

 or be accounted a case of atavism. The 

 importance of rigidly discarding from 

 the breeding pen any specimen showing 

 the least signs of " broodiness " cannot 

 be too strongly emphasized. 



Structural. — Structural deficiencies, in- 

 cluding weakness in the organs of repro- 

 duction, are definitely known to con- 

 form to the general laws of inheritance, 

 and the inclusion of stock of this class 

 can but end in disappointment. It may 

 appear to the experimenter that the 

 conditions are unduly rigid ; so also are 

 the laws of breeding. The work of the 

 modern selector is in eliminating the 

 results of the carelessness and mishaps 

 of the past, and at the same time build- 

 ing up the general capacity of fitness 

 for the prime result of high egg pro- 

 duction. The true meaning of the 

 modern conception of the purity of a 

 character and its mode of inheritance 

 is the fitness of the bird or animal to 

 maintain that character in its highest 

 form. Thus it is quite conceivable 

 that a strain of hens may be so deve- 

 loped by selection as to possess the 



potentiality of very high egg production, 

 and yet through non-elimination of a 

 weakness in the organs of generation 

 (inherited) the birds have but a short life 

 of producth eness. 



Pedigree. 

 An accurate knowledge of the pedigree 

 of the subject of selection is most 

 helpful; unless strictly accurate, the 

 value is nil. From any starting poiut 

 the process of selection must include 

 an accurate history of each subject. 

 Written records are alone of use because, 

 however good the memory of the breeder, 

 errors small or great are likely to occur, 

 and time may be lost. In selecting and 

 mating the breeding pens for the pro- 

 duction of future generations, and for 

 correcting errors, an accurate knowledge 

 of each inmate of the pens is of vital 

 importance. The due maintenance, 

 through successive generations, of any 

 characteristic depends on mating sexes 

 both of which are pure for that 

 characteristic. If one is pure and the 

 other impure, the progeny will consist 

 of a few pure and probably three times 

 the number impure; that is to say in 

 other words, if a tested layer be mated 

 with a male bird whose dam was a poor 

 layer and descended probab,y from a 

 line of poor layers, the pullet progeuy 

 will certainly all be poor layers, some 

 of which, if bred " in the family," might 

 produce good layers in the second 

 generation. To such an extent does this 

 rule apply that experience teaches that 

 the mating must be "in the line," and 

 that the introduction of fresh blood, 

 even of equal value as regards laying, 

 will often give results similar to those 

 where the pedigree was poor for laying. 



Founding a Strain. 



First Fear.— With due regard to the 

 general principles enunciated, the breed- 

 ing pen or pens should now be mated, 

 and as large a number of chickens 

 reared as can be properly accommodated 

 without overcrowding. The difficulty in 

 obtaining stock with a satisfactory and 

 reliable pedigree renders it necessary to 

 Doth " line breed " and " inbreed " so as 

 to have as many matings as possible. 

 In working according to Mendel's law 

 the proper course is to breed the 

 various generations inter se until segre- 

 gation is definitely assured. This the 

 breeder characterises as "inbreeding" 

 and " undesirable." There is no more 

 harm likely to result from this method 

 if properly conducted than from any 

 other method ; less so, in fact. It is 

 commonly asserted that change of blood 

 is necessary to maintain vigour, &c The 

 truth is that it is necessary to gloss 



