192 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
hereditary disease got a good grip ; but of late years the inspection of cattle has been so thorough that even 
the careless breeder has had to reform, and Poultry breeding should be looked after on the same lines. 
" Inspection at the market and port of export is all very well ; but when reforms in our meat and milk 
trade were demanded, and carried through, some little time ago, the Government found that, in order to 
properly carry these out, they had to go right to the fountain-head, and insist on regular and systematic 
inspection of all dairy and breeding herds by trained experts on the properties. 
"Now, my contention is, that if ever we wish to see our export Poultry trade placed on a thoroughly 
sound footing, and turned into the valuable asset it should be, the Government will have to appoint just as 
practical men to act at the one end of the business as they already have at the other. Let these men 
educate the Farmer, so that they can see where they are wrong, and show them plainly how, by continued 
introduction of fresh blood, they can get on the right track to get sound constitution into their Poultry 
flocks, and, as naturally follows, healthy table birds, and plenty of eggs : and let every flock, that is so full 
of hercditar)' diseases that it is past redem[)tion, and every flock that is contaminated, and with which the 
owner refust-s to attempt to reform, be conipulsorily destroyed, as unlit to encumber the ground, as, while the 
present state of things exist, such disensL-infer,tcd stock are but doing harm to the good name of Poultry 
in general, and at the same time acting as one of the stumbling blocks to the material advancement 
of this fair country. 
"I am sorry to have to bear testimony to the fact that too close in-breeding for Fancy Points has also 
ruined and crippled man)- a yard of pure Poultry from a utility point of view. Many Fanciers have had to 
bitterly rue the day when, tempted to place too much value on a temporary craze for the unnecessary 
elaboration of some Fancy Point, they have gone once too oft to the ' well of in-breeding,' with the 
consequent result that they have lost from their strain that pre-eminent characteristic of health — viz., 
constitution, and also (as naturally follows when constitution is gone) loss of egg and flesh-producing 
powers. This is a ' pretty kettle of fish ' for any breeder to get his strain into, and my purpose is to tell him 
how to get out, and at the same time give a warning to others to steer clear of such glue pots. To put 
constitution into an enfeebled strain, we must have new blood, and let such blood be as distinct as possible 
from your own strain. I know this advice alone, before I go a line further on this subject, will bring the 
disciples of ihe school of in-breeding down on me ai masse, with assertions that such vigorous out-crossing 
is bound to endanger their pet Fancy Points, and also type as well, and will result in a lot of the progeny 
throwing back to the types of the birds the breed was made from. But if the foregoing ' gets their hair off,' 
they will, probably, go into horrors over the unorthodox)- (from their point of view) of my experiences on this 
subject, when I add, that in casting about for fresh blood to put new life into a strain (if birds of a thoroughly 
reliable and distinct strain of the same colour cannot be obtained), I would sooner work on another colour, 
or even introduce a \Vyandotte cross for the purpose, than chance birds that, for all you can find out, may 
be closely related to your own, and if used, help you very little, or not at all, in your trouble. That my 
opinions are not mere theory, but have been forced upon me by years of practical experience in 
experimenting with Rocks of several colours, most Fanciers in this country already know, and this has taught 
me that with Plymouth Rocks, if out-crossed for one generation with any other table breed (at all similar 
in conformation), type, colour, or any other valuable points need not be endangered. The statement is the 
result of facts within my own knowledge and experience. ' Rome was not built in a day,' however, and a 
breeder working on these lines must not expect anything fit for the Show pen in too much of a hurry. If 
he obtains any .Show specimens the second year he will be lucky ; but patience will reward him, very 
probably, in his third year, with a fair percentage of typical birds, and possessed of a sound constitution and 
vigour, and with an increase in size and bone which he could never possibly have obtained by working on the 
old lines. The first time I tried an out-cross of another table breed on Rocks, I did not obtain a single 
chicken of true type or correct colour in the first season ; but the second season I had 8 per cent, right in 
both respects, and the third season went with a bound to 80 per cent, of good coloured and typical 
chickens. 
