PEDIGREE BREEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION. 
which he adopts), includes also a mode of identi¬ 
fication whereby he can not only tell the parent 
stock, but also the elate of hatch of each chick, 
early maturity can be had as easily as prolific 
laying; combining the two makes it of course a 
little slower of accomplishment. 
It does not always follow that because a pul¬ 
let matures slowly, she will not make a prolific 
layer; but most of us have no use for a slow rna- 
turing bird. 
If in addition to early maturity and prolific 
laying, a breeder also desires large size in eggs, 
two methods present themselves, either of which 
may be adopted. One may either abstain from 
setting eggs that are under a certain size which he 
may fix in his mind, or he may take the progeny 
of a hen laying the largest number of heavy 
eggs, and mate them to the progeny of the 
heaviest layer. Discarding the eggs that come 
under the limit is of course the quickest way of 
obtaining all large eggs, but one is apt to lose in 
this way the use of some of his heaviest layers. 
I don’t mean by this that the heaviest layers 
lay the smallest eggs. My experience has shown 
that size of eggs has no bearing whatever upon 
prolific laying. Xo. 61 for instance lays an egg 
that averages very close to two and a quarter 
ounces. 
If one desires in addition to heavy laying, 
early maturity and large size of eggs, to breed 
to a certain color of egg, he again adds to the 
time it will require to accomplish his four-fold 
aim. 
We occasionally read that prolific laying and 
the breeding of show specimens cannot be com¬ 
bined. I am quite confident that those who 
make this assertion have not made the proper 
effort. 
In preparing birds for the show room, one of 
the requirements would be that they be checked 
from laying eggs, so that they may appear in 
their best dress. The only harm here done is 
that the individual record of that bird is slightly 
reduced. If she is a prolific layer and mated to 
the son of a prolific layer, her daughters will not 
suffer from this reduction. 
My experience has been that just as soon as 
the birds are permitted to lav, in fact the second 
or third day of the show, they start in and keep 
everlastingly at it; even the journey home does 
not stop them. 
True, I have not yet evolved a flock of world 
beaters, either in the show room or in the nest; 
I did manage to get third at the late New York 
show, with June hatched pullets, two of them 
daughters of my second heaviest layer. Per¬ 
haps, this is but a straw but it shows the “ way 
the wind blows.” It shows that utility and 
beauty can be combined if we go about it right. 
Mliere one’s aim in breeding is a single pur¬ 
pose, I repeat it is comparatively easy of attain¬ 
ment; far easier than where the object includes 
a multiple of aims. 
A. J. Silberstein in Farm Poultry. 
A Study of Profits. 
We present herewith some tables of egg yield 
and profits of different flocks under different 
conditions, the purpose being to get a basis for 
comparison of profits. We have long preached 
that the creamy profits are from the eggs layed 
in November, December and January, and that 
the sure method of getting those November, 
December and January eggs was to keep early 
hatched pullets, kept steadily growing until they 
reached laying maturity, and then kept laying 
by good care’’ and good food We believe that 
such early hatched pullets, got to laying by 
October and kept laying, will produce from one 
hundred and seventy-five to two hundred eggs 
apiece within a year of reaching laying maturity, 
and that the best profit is got by selling them off 
to market after about one year of laying,—that 
is, just before the next generation of early lay¬ 
ing pullets are brought into the houses to succeed 
to the work. We have also preached and fully 
believe that, generally speaking, the keeping of 
the old hens is far less profitable. We believe in 
the great majority of cases it gives almost no 
profit at all, and the record of the old hens in the 
table illustrates this point. For convenience, 
and to facilitate comparison, we have figured 
the cost of food and the selling price of the eggs 
the same in all the tables—the cost of food at 
$1.25 per head per year, that being about what 
it costs us to feed a fowl a year, and feed her well. 
Table No. 1 is a report of the laying achieve¬ 
ment of thirteen White Plymouth Rock hens. 
Table No. 2, that of eleven White Wyandotte 
pullets, and these two columns show an average 
of 215 and 210 plus eggs per fowl within a year, 
and prove conclusively that fowls bred for eggs 
can be made to produce 200 eggs per year or 
better. Whether fowls kept in larger numbers 
would do that however, is uncertain. Table 
No. 3, of 280 White Wyandotte and Barred 
Plymouth Rock pullets and hens, shows an 
average of 178 eggs within a.year; and table 
45 
