Vul. I,XXVIII. 
Published Weekly by The Rural I’ubllsblile Co., 
833 W. 30(h St., New York. I’rlco One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK. NOVEMBER 15, 1919. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, June 20, 1870. at the Post 
Office at New York, N. Y.. under the Act of March 3. 1871*. 
No. 4560 
World’s E^g, Record Painted in Red Letters 
The Story of Some Famous Red Hens 
CHEAT PERFORMANCE.—Not since Tom Bur¬ 
ro)) cniiic l<» lliis country ami taught the Van 
sees how to win in an egg-laying contest has there 
•ecu such a sensation in tin 1 poultry world as the 
Underlrill Reds have made al Vineland. Their per- 
drniance is all the more remarkable when we take 
into consideration tin* fact that these birds were 
raised at Vineland under exactly the same conditions 
as nearly all the other jams in the contest, yet they 
stand out as the best layers in the race, with an egg 
record for the 10 pullets at tin* end of the con- 
island Reds for egg production. And right here is 
the secret of their success. They realized the prin¬ 
ciple in breeding that “like begets like,” and bred for 
eggs, instead of feathers of a certain shade. IIow, 
many other breeders in this country have been hon¬ 
estly breeding for egg production for -<> years with¬ 
out getting the color fad mixed in and starting to 
breed for color instead of eggs? Co into any poul¬ 
try show and ask the exhibitors if they have good 
layers. Then ask them to back up their claims with 
official egg records, which speak plainer than words. 
bill's word, and it was necessary for him to show 
the proof, which he was always quite able to do. 
Judging from his experience. Mr. Underhill says 
he could breed White Reds or Black Reds or most 
any colored ~ * if he was willing to sacrifice egg 
production, nut he cannot breed high producers 
which conform exactly t>> our present arbitrary 
standard of perfection. It has simply been a case 
of eggs or color with the Underbills., and of course 
they chose eggs, but the Underbill Reds are fairly 
good colored birds at that. They would not, how- 
A Flock of the Underhill lleds at Home. Norman Underhill . One of the Brothers, is Standint/ at the Left. For •>}/ 
test, which is over 600 eggs ahead of their nearest 
competitor in the Red class. Perhaps this sounds 
like a chicken story, but it is not, as the records 
made at the Vineland International Egg-laying and 
Breeding ('oldest are official and absolutely accurate. 
This leads us to the conclusion that here is some¬ 
thing that we would like to know more about, as 
here is a man and woman and two boys who have 
done something worth while, something that is wor¬ 
thy of the serious thought and earnest consideration 
of every breeder of high-class live stock in the coun¬ 
try, and something that will go down in poultry his¬ 
tory as one of the greatest achievements of the age. 
BEGINNING NEARLY TWENTY YEARS AGO, 
before the two boys (Underhill brothers) were born, 
Mr. C. M. Underhill and his wife, to whom at least 
half the credit is due, started to breed Rhode 
BREEDING FOR EGGS.—Mr. and Mrs. Underhill 
do not claim to be scientific experts in the poultry 
game, but they kept a small flock of Reds, gave them 
good care, introduced new blood occasionally when¬ 
ever they could find anything suitable, and devel¬ 
oped an excellent strain of layers simply by the 
process of elimination. As they were with their 
birds a great deal and knew the best layers by name 
it. was not necessary to use trap nests. This prac¬ 
tice continued several years, and Mr. and Mrs. Un¬ 
derhill gained the reputation around Lakewood of 
having a very good flock of Reds. Indeed, it was a 
rare occasion when the neighbors gathered at the 
corner grocery of an evening to tiiv'l a poultry man 
who was making a bigger record than was being 
made by the Underhill Reds. At times some of the 
neighbors were so unkind as to doubt Mr. Uuder- 
ever. win with our present system of judging at poul¬ 
try exhibitions. 
TRIES LEGHORNS.—Right here I want to say 
that Mr. Underhill's first love (poultry love, I mean) 
was for the Reds, but when he saw white eggs selling 
at a higher price than brown eggs he tried the 
White Leghorns a few years, selling off all of his 
Reds except 11 of the very best. His present valu¬ 
able tiock all originated from these Id hens and a 
cockerel, which constituted his entire flock of Reds 
about five years ago. Mr. Underhill got a bad start 
with the Leghorns and soon dropped them. 
THE BOYS BECOME INTERESTED.—It was at 
this time the two brothers became interested, and 
during the two years previous to the starting of the 
Vineland contest they had such good success with 
the business, clearing each year around $1 on each 
