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HISTORY OF ANCONAS 
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By Mrs. James A. Clevencjer 
The Ancona stands supreme as a 
profitable producer, a fact which has 
been proven in our greatest official con¬ 
tests and over and over again in the 
back lots and farm yards of the whole 
United States. 
I can produce (scores of letters as 
witnesses from all parts of the country 
to verify the above statement, from 
folks who had to be shown, folks like 
you and me, who want proof, and have 
gone about getting it in their own way. 
Most of these people have tried out 
the Ancona with other breeds to deter¬ 
mine for themselves which fowl is the 
most profitable, and in every case have 
discarded the other breeds in favor of 
the little speckled hens. 
Take our own case. We had been 
successful breeders of one of the larger 
breeds for a number of years, hut up¬ 
on trying them out in the West we 
found that there was not a great de¬ 
mand for them, as the western folks 
are after eggs, lots of them and big 
profits. They also want to buy baby 
chicks out here, and the kind we had 
were simply too hard to hatch to be 
very profitable in that way. We look¬ 
ed the field over, and came to the con¬ 
clusion that the Ancona was the breed 
we wanted, but being from Missouri, 
we must try them out beside our other 
fowls before coming to a definite con¬ 
clusion. 
The results far exceeded our fondest 
hopes. As winter layers they actually 
had our big fluffy birds ( who are very 
famous in this respect) beaten to a 
frazzle, and when we compared the 
size of the eggs, much to our surprise. 
the little speckled hens, although 
scarcely half as large, laid far the larg¬ 
er egg. Then best of all was the com¬ 
parison of the food consumed and the 
profits. We could keep twice as many 
Anconas on a given amount of feed, 
in half the housing space and gather 
more than twice as many eggs. Eure¬ 
ka! We had found what we were look¬ 
ing for, and lost no time in stocking 
with Anconas. 
Mrs. Etta Hughes of the Rainbow 
Poultry Farm is one of the most en¬ 
thusiastic Ancona boosters that we 
have in this section of the country. She 
had tried out Rhode Island Reds, White 
Rocks, Barred Rocks, and White Leg¬ 
horns in succession without realizing 
much profit until she began the breed¬ 
ing of Anconas. She has told me many 
times that there is no doubt in her 
mind as to which is the most profit¬ 
able chicken to keep. She has dis¬ 
posed of all the other breeds and is 
specializing in Anconas, and realizes 
a tidy sum annually. What she does, 
any farm woman can do if she will. 
I especially wish to tell you of the 
experience of Mr. C. C. Rawlings of 
Wyoming. I have been corresponding 
with him from the beginning of his 
experiment and have his complete re¬ 
ports before me, from which I will 
quote. Mr. Rawlings is a banker who 
wished to have some profitable side 
line by way of outdoor exercise and 
his attention was drawn to poultry cul¬ 
ture. He had heard much about the 
Ancona as a money maker, but as the 
White Leghorn had also been recom¬ 
mended he was undecided as to which 
