POULTRY FOR PROFIT 77 
practice is still followed by many poultry 
breeders, but is a job that consumes consider¬ 
able time, and it can be seen that only those 
who are constantly with the flock could be able 
to do this. But within the last few years, there 
has been developed a system whereby one can 
tell by the external appearance of the bird just 
about what her ability as an egg producer will 
be in one year. A Mr. Hogan was the first 
man to notice these characteristics and his 
method has been so far perfected that most 
poultry keepers are quite familiar with it, and 
thereby saved the bother of trap-nesting. 
This culling process, as it is called, is best 
accomplished during the months of August and 
September. By picking up each female in the 
flock at this time, except of course the spring 
pullets, one can find out which birds are still 
laying, and wtych ones have already quit. It 
has been in the past too much the custom of 
farmers to go out into their poultry flock in 
the fall of the year, and pick out the birds 
that had not yet started to moult, and whose 
appearance was ragged and rather uncomely. 
These birds would be picked out by the farmer, 
or in many cases his wife, and sent to market 
