March 3,1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 183 
less solid, but might prove useful food for early ewes and lambs, as 
well as milch cows.— Agricola (in Agricultural Gazette). 
PRACTICAL SCIENTIFIC BREEDING. 
(Continued from, page 143.) 
FORMING A STRAIN. 
Whether the beginner adopts the first or the second course 
which we have indicated, the method of breeding which he must 
pursue will be very similar. The distinction, as we have already 
pointed out, will lie chiefly in the fact that in the first case starting 
with birds which have been already inbred to a considerable 
extent, he is less likely to be able to carry out the system so far 
without the strain deteriorating in certain points. This will 
render it necessary that great care be taken not to harry the 
process of inbreeding too far ; but as birds purchased in this way 
may be either very closely or only very distantly related to each 
other, it is impossible to indicate how far inbreeding may be 
carried in each particular case, and this must be left to the dis¬ 
cretion of the breeder himself. 
Artificial selection is to some extent a separate process and 
must be dealt with separately, but the course to be pursued in 
regard to the first two cases being so nearly identical they may 
be discussed together. 
Let us suppose, then, that the breeder has purchased a cockerel 
A and a pullet B quite unrelated to each other and as free from 
faults as possible. He must mate these together, and set every 
egg laid during the hatching season. When the progeny have 
come to maturity it will probably be found that none of them are 
really good. The breeder must not, however, be discouraged by 
this, as it is merely the natural result of breeding from perfectly 
unrelated parents. The best cockerel of the progeny must be 
chosen for mating with the pullet B, now a hen one year old. 
From the progeny of this pair the best cockerel must again be 
chosen and mated with B, now two years old. 
In regard to some breeds of poultry this is as far as the length 
of life of the birds will permit the process to be carried ; but in 
regard to other breeds and to Pigeons it may sometimes be carried 
a year or two further. We will suppose, however, that three 
laying seasons is as much as can be depended upon. The progeny 
of the first year’s breeding being one-half of the blood of A and 
one-half of the blood of B, and a cockerel of this year having been 
mated with B, it follows that the progeny of the second year 
would be quarter A and three-quarters B ; and upon the process 
being repeated the third year the progeny will be one-eighth A 
and seven-eighths B. A precisely similar process having been 
gone through on the other side by mating the three or four best 
pullets of the first year’s progeny, which were one-half A and 
one-half B, with the cock A, and so on for the three years, it will 
be manifest that at the end of the three years the breeder will 
have the two original birds A and B, which will as a general rule 
be now unfit for further use, and a number of birds some of which 
are seven-eighths A and one-eighth B, and the rest of which are 
seven-eighths B and one-eighth A. He ought also to have reserved 
some birds of the previous year which are three-fourths A and 
one-fourth B, and three-fourths B and one-fourth A respectively. 
He can now adopt the method, which is found to be on the 
whole most advantageous, of mating cockerels and pullets with 
birds over one year old, aud ought to be in a position to start four 
yards of good birds which are only distantly related to each other 
—that is to say, he can mate a cock which is three-fourths A and 
one-fourth B with pullets one-eighth A and seven-eighths B ; he 
can mate a cockerel which is seven-eighths A and one-eighth B 
with hens one-fourth A and three-fourths B ; and he can also 
mate a cock three-fourths B and one-fourth A with pullets one- 
eighth B and seven-eighths A, and a cockerel seven-eighths B and 
one-eighth A with hens one-fourth B and three-fourths A. 
When he has got thus far he may be fairly said to have formed 
a strain of his own, and his subsequent course of action must 
follow as much as possible in the lines already indicated—that is 
to say, he must for as long a time as possible keep the blood of 
each yard distinct from that of the others, merely using the others 
for the purpose of comparatively fresh blood when necessary, or 
for correcting any point in which one yard may be deficient. 
Of course these directions must only be understood as general 
principles to be followed so far as circumstances admit; not as 
rules to be fixedly adhered to in all circumstances. It may be 
that even though the two birds originally chosen were themselves 
free from glaring faults of any sort, yet they may have inherited 
tendencies to such faults, which by the course of breeding adopted 
have been developed in the progeny. If this be so the method 
suggested must not be followed so far as we have indicated, but 
at an earlier period a bird may be selected from the other yard 
with a view to the correction of the fault in question. 
In starting a strain we are entirely averse to the system we have 
seen suggested by some writers, of mating birds with faults which 
mutually counteract each other. For instance, in the case of 
Brahmas, heavy feather and vulture hock on one side, against 
poorly feathered shanks on the other side ; but when a bird is 
introduced into a strain merely for the purpose of counteracting 
a fault in the strain, and there is no intention of inbreeding from 
the bird thus introduced, the same objections do not apply. In 
that case, a bird having developed in an exaggerated degree the 
point in which the strain is deficient, may with advantage be used ; 
but we shall have more to say upon this point when we come to 
speak of introducing fresh blood. 
We now turn to the course of procedure to be adopted where 
the method of artificial selection is chosen by the beginner. 
Here, just as in the other two cases, it is necessary that the 
breeder should have clearly settled in his own mind the points 
which he is aiming at ; and he must in the first instance choose 
birds which to a certain extent, however small that extent may 
be, have developed these points. If not, the process of artificial 
selection will become a most difficult, and, indeed, perhaps an 
impracticable one. 
Here it is as well to begin with as large a number of birds as 
possible, so that the process of selection may have as wide a scope 
as possible, and that when the strain has been formed the birds 
may not be so closely related to each other that it will be necessary 
at once to introduce fresh blood. A well-known breeder of our 
acquaintance, who was recently starting a yard upon this principle, 
said to us that he always liked to have as great a variety as possible 
to begin with ; and in this respect we quite agree with him. As 
many chickens as possible must be hatched and reared so far as 
necessary to make sure of their quality every season. From these 
must be selected those which most closely approximate to the 
standard of perfection of the breed. These again must be mated 
together, and the same process repeated with their progeny, only 
those birds being kept and bred from which have developed to 
some extent the points sought after. 
If the number bred be large enough it will be found that after 
two or three years of this process the number of the progeny 
which are valuable will be largely increased, and when a reasonable 
proportion of good birds are produced the breeder may with 
advantage adopt the course we have advised above, and keep two, 
three, or four yards each as distinct as he can in blood from each 
other, but so far related to each other that mutual crosses may be 
resorted to without fear of the progeny throwing back to inferior 
ancestors. 
FOOD FOR EARLY CHICKENS. 
Good food is at all times very necessary to the well-being of 
young fowls. Especially is this the case in cold weather and early 
in the season, such as in February and March, when they have few 
chances of picking up anything for themselves, and ordinary 
summer food is not sufficient to keep out the cold, or the body in 
a healthy growing state. Hot food is very desirable at this time, 
and is probably better produced with spice than hot water. Apart 
from warmth, however, the food must also be strong, and in this 
respect few kinds are better than hard-boiled eggs chopped up 
and mixed with the meal. The only objection which can be 
offered to the use of eggs at this time is their scarcity and expense, 
but a remedy for this may be pointed out. As a rule not above 
half the number of eggs placed under a hen to hatch are fertile 
thus early in the season. It is a loss in every way to allow the un¬ 
fertile eggs to remain under the hen until those that are good have 
hatched out. Cheap egg-testers can now be had with which any¬ 
one can prove whether an egg is fertile or not after it has been 
under the hen for a few days, and all eggs should be thus tested, 
only the good ones left to hatch, and the others taken away. 
After being under the hen for a few days or a week the latter may 
not be relished at table, but they are very acceptable as food for 
the young chickens, and do for them as well as the best fresh 
eggs. Those who may now be setting many dozens of eggs weekly 
will find it true economy to test and use their unfertile eggs in the 
manner we have indicated. They should be boiled hard and after¬ 
wards chopped fine, shell and all. With many some dozens of un¬ 
fertile eggs may be found weekly, and there is certainly no better 
use to which they can be put than giving them as food to the 
young chicks.—J. MUIR. 
[A moderate quantity of chopped egg is very good for the 
