1826 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
December 13, 1010 
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How docs it come that the two daugh¬ 
ters of Success-—a poor layer—average 
so well? Charity was a bird that was 
compelled to ask her ow r n name in large 
letters in order to keep out of the frying- 
pan. Yet her daughter laid 213 eggs. 
With that record would you keep Charity 
for a breeder? I took a chance on her, 
and we obtained some good pullets. The 
two daughters of Polly ran true to form 
aud averaged 181 eggs. The third daugh¬ 
ter laid only one egg up to the middle 
of July. She was killed, and examina¬ 
tion showed that owing to an accident she 
had been unable to lay. There was a 
great mass of partly absorbed eggs within 
her. But for this she evidently would 
have laid as w T ell as her two sisters. That 
would have added at least 150 eggs to our 
score, and put our pen third or second 
among the Reds. When Polly’s daughter 
was killed they put in a substitute that 
laid 54 eggs. The most surprising thing 
of it all to me is the behavior of Nos. 
4, 5 and 6. I considered their mothers 
by far the best hens in the pen, yet they 
proved the worst quitters of all, unless 
they laid a large proportion of those out¬ 
side eggs. Many readers will ask why 
there was not one daughter from each 
bird during the third year. It so hap¬ 
pened that Belle, Queen, Rufa and Polly- 
ann produced no pullets. There were a 
number of cockerels from these hens, but 
not a single pullet, while Polly seems to 
have given few if any sons to the cause. 
So they did their best to make up the 
pen. Of course, a pen made up in this 
way could not equal one where some 
breeder could hatch out more chicks and 
make a personal selection. There were 
only 15 pullets in all hatched from my 
pen, and they took 10 of them, or two- 
thirds of all. Everyone knows that in 
selecting pullets from a large flock about 
75 per cent would be rejected. It was, 
however, as fair for me as for another, 
and we have no complaint. 
***** 
I shall reserve Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 for 
a breeding pen, and I would like to mate 
them with a cockerel from Betty M. I 
know her daughter proved a sad fizzle if 
Our Red hens came back from the 
Vineland egg-laying contest in due time 
and we sent 20 pullets down for the next 
contest. The way these pullets made the 
journey is an indication of what we may 
expect from the new hen—or more prop¬ 
erly from new men. Formerly we all 
shipped individually by express. This 
year the express strike made great 
trouble, and so six of us combined and 
sent the birds down on a truck. They 
were brought to Hope Farm, and a 
poultryman who has a light and lively 
truck put them all aboard and made the 
trip from Bergen County to Vineland. 
He got there on time in good condition. 
This is but one instance of what is hap¬ 
pening to the express business all over 
the Atlantic coast States. By co-operat¬ 
ing so as to provide a full truckload 
farmers can become largely independent 
of the express service, and control their 
own shipments. In our case the ideal 
{ flan would have been to arange for some 
oad to be brought back. It might have 
been sweet potatoes or something else pro¬ 
duced in South Jersey and needed up 
here. That is what will happen in the 
future—an interchange of products, with 
the truck loaded on both trips. 
***** 
But at any rate our Red birds came 
home. We did not have any brass band 
to meet them, for only two out of 10 
succeeded in writing their egg record in 
red ink. I canot say that these Reds 
produced any riot among poultry men. 
They did not come within gunshot of 
their cousins in the Underhill pen, but 
we are good losers here, and most of 
these Reds seem well suited to grace or 
grease a frying-pan. Perhaps some of 
our readers do not understand about this 
laying contest. Three years ago we sent 
10 pullets to Vineland. They were tested 
and trap-nested during their pullet year. 
Then in their second year, as “hens.” we 
had the privilege of sending a cockerel to 
mate with them. They were given an¬ 
other year’s record, and efforts were 
made to raise one pullet from each hen. 
These pullets were then given a year’s 
test, the object being to see how closely 
the pullets would follow their mother’s 
laying habits. So you will understand 
that these Red birds that I speak of are 
the daughters of the original 10 which we 
entered three years ago. 
***** 
Now the two years’ record of these 10 
old birds is given as follows—for the tw r o 
years: Polly. Belle and Queen were own 
sisters. Betty M., Faith and Hope were 
also sisters—of a family long selected for 
high performances. Charity, Success. 
Rufa, and Pollyanna were also sisters of 
another strain or group which we have 
worked out at Hope Farm. See what 
1917 
1918 Total 
Pollv . 
. . . .146 
160 
306 
Belle . 
. . ..168 
91 
259 
Queen . 
. •. .100 
36 
136 
Betty M. . . . 
19S 
295 
Faith . 
....178 
147 
325 
Hope . 
....130 
106 
236 
Charity . ... 
. . . .146 
119 
265 
Success . . . . 
....104 
148 
252 
Rufa . 
.... 80 
120 
200 
Pollvanna .. 
....149 
194 
343 
It is hard 
to believe 
that Polly 
and 
Queen were own sisters, or that Rufa aud 
Pollyanna had the same parents. They 
were all healthy and strong—yet they 
vary in performance the same as children 
in a large family will often vary in be¬ 
havior. There was something the matter 
with Rufa from the start, as she waited 
until nearly a year old before laying an 
egg. Before she went to the contest our 
“expert” discarded her as too thick and 
fat. too small a head and not enough 
pelvic space. I sent her in order to test 
the expert’s theory. He was right—but 
what a chicken pie Rufa finally made. 
She entered it as she never entered a 
trap-nest! Yet after all, why should I 
wonder at these differences among feath¬ 
ered sistei’s, when right in the house I 
see even greater difference among the 
children. 
***** 
When it comes to the breeding test 
with these birds we got one of the best 
cockerels we could find of the Underhill 
stock. Thus, as I say. our pullets may 
be ranked as cousins of the famous birds 
which laid 2,431 eggs in the year. Here, 
I thought, was a fair chance to test the 
value of breeding from improved stock. 
The result will give us all a chance to 
think it over. 
No. 
Parent 
Record 
Mother’s Rec. 
1 
Polly 
179 
146 
2 
Success 
212 
104 
3 
Polly 
183 
146 
4 
Betty Ml 
85 
197 
5 
Faith 
124 
178 
6 
Hope 
130 
130 
7 
Charity 
213 
146 
8 
Success 
179 
104 
9 
Polly 
55 
146 
10 
Hope 
94 
130 
This is not as clear a lesson as it 
should be, because 107 eggs were laid out¬ 
side the trap-nests, and could not there¬ 
fore be credited to any particular hen. 
For example. No. 4 is a daughter of the 
best bird in the old pen, yet she is credited 
with only 85 eggs. She has the marks of 
a good layer, and I think she must have 
laid a good share of those outside eggs. 
you go by these official figures alone, but 
I think from her appearance that she 
laid a good many of those outside eggs, 
and I know what there is back in her 
breeding. As for the remaining five, the 
sooner they are eaten up the better. They 
simply learned how to eat expensive feed 
during their course at college, and I 
never did believe in those people who 
come back to live on the old folks. It is 
evident that our best birds are improving 
and gaining in egg-laying power. The 
best five of those mother b. ’ds laid 838 
eggs, an average of 1G7. The best five 
daughters laid 966 eggs, or 193 each, 
that means a gain of 36 egg... each, or 
about a dollar at our average prices dur¬ 
ing the past year. The entire pen of 
pullets, even with the failure of No. 9, 
laid 1561, against 1425 for their mothers. 
If No. 9 had been normal the record 
would have i - eached nearly 1,700. So I 
am satisfied that the inti’oduction of good 
blood from an egg-layingstrain is a paying 
proposition. I am quite sure that if a good 
breeder could have taken five or six of 
the best birds in that old pen, mated 
them with the cockerel I used, hatched 
10 or 15 pullets from each bird, aud then 
selected 10 of the best by their shape and 
quality, he would have had a pen fitted 
to give any of them a good race. 
***** 
The fact is that we are just beginning 
to learn some of the most important 
things about a hen. No, I should not 
say that, because I am sure that for 
many years past there have been practical 
men who knew about all we know now. 
They knew it by a sort of instinct, but 
could not well tell others about it. Now 
we are learning how to classify this 
knowledge, and what is most important,. 
how to analyze a lien. I think that is 
the way all knowledge grows and de¬ 
velops, First come men who know by 
observation and experience that certain 
results are quite sure to follow certain 
methods or operations. They do not know 
why, and do not perhaps care. Finally 
it becomes necessary to teach others and 
make this knowledge available. Then the 
teachers cannot get away from the “why” 
of their pupils, and they are forced to 
analyze and expei’iment. Their wei'k is 
not usually a search for new truth, but 
a stx-uggle to test and explain the old 
truth. Sometimes the old-timei’S are in¬ 
clined to sneer or become impatient at 
this testing and analyzing, but it is an es¬ 
sential part of education, for no mind is 
capable of education unless it carxy the 
compelling power to demand a reason and 
ask ichy. 
***** 
Speaking of poultry knowledge and its 
application, I think there are hundreds 
of farm flocks in this country like Under- 
lxill’s and several others recently brought 
to light, which would show on a careful 
test, the most remarkable production. The 
owners of these flocks have, without 
knowing it, been px-acticing the very high¬ 
est type of the art of bx-eeding and select¬ 
ing their birds. I believe that out of some 
of these now unknown flocks there will 
come in the future pens of 10 and 20, 
averaging 300 or more. No, I have no 
such dreams of the Hope Farm bix-ds, be¬ 
cause we do not pretend to be in that 
class, but there are today flocks now 
ranked as oi-dinary farm bii'ds that are 
capable of px-oducing the prize layei’s. An 
Alaskan savage builds his bonfii’e of drift¬ 
wood and oil and shivers beside it wrap- 
xed in his furs. Yet a few yards beneath 
xis feet, in the earth, may be found 
enough coal to heat the homes of an entire 
nation. lie freezes within touch of this 
potential heat because he does not know. 
A farm woman throws a handful of corn 
to her flock of chickens and watches them 
scramble for it. She has selected and 
mothei’ed these birds and loves them, but 
her thought is to sell them for a few 
cents a pound. Yet in that flock there 
may be hens capable of laying 20 dozen 
eggs and producing a sti-ain of wonderful 
layers. This is no idle fancy for it ac¬ 
tually proved true in our “Favorite Hen 
Contest” of a few years ago. Unlike the 
cow a hen is not the slave of a pedigi*ee. 
I have a grade cow that will, I believe, 
hold her own with the majority of pure- 
bred cattle. She might beat her aristo¬ 
cratic sistei’s so as to drown their pedi- 
The Atlaa Portland Coment Company 
(address the Atlas Office nearest you) Name 
it Please send me a copy of “ Concrete on the Farm ” and 
“Concrete on the Farm in Cold Weather” without cost . , , 
or obligation. Q8 -Address 
Build with Concrete 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
