28 
HISTORY OF ANCONAS 
horns. The new standard allows for 
plenty of comb and wattles, sufficient 
to give this refinement and also egg 
production. I want to see a good de¬ 
velopment of comb in my youngsters, 
of velvety texture, well set and firm, 
keeping pace with all other body 
growth. Uniform growth means early 
maturity, and early, sound maturity 
means early profitable egg production. 
Ancona Type. The new Standard of 
Perfection represents a better utility 
type than the Leghorn female. The 
Ancona has a somewhat more angular 
line with fuller abdomen. Selecting 
along this line raises the quality of 
Ancona breeders, both in beauty and 
egg production. 
Ancona Color and Feathers. I have 
been convinced that the exact type of 
feather for breeding stock correllated 
Y7 '1 1 early matur ty. c : -e. st'm in and 
productiveness in the female, is not 
the narrow feather, but the well finish¬ 
ed feather with clean markings and 
Ancona Chicks eighteen days old 
plenty of width is what is most desired 
for best results. I have failed to find 
a single exception where the feathers 
narrow down to a fine point in order 
to make the small neat tip of white, 
hut that the birds matured more slow¬ 
ly, and consequently do not produce as 
1 rofitably as those of the broader 
feathers. Examination of Official con¬ 
test winners in all breeds shows the 
high egg producers having the broad 
feathers. So a selection should be 
made along more useful lines. For the 
Ancona Chicks tiuenty-five days old 
Useful Ancona is going to be the bird 
in demand more and more each year. 
After selecting for vigor, size, re¬ 
finement and head points, type, color 
and markings, comes the all important 
ones, that of size and quality of eggs. 
This becomes quite easy as the size 
and egg type called for in the new Stan¬ 
dard allows for a large roomy egg 
capacity. All breeding stock should 
lay uniform eggs, weighing 24 oz. or 
more to the dozen. And in Anconas 
the pure white egg should be chosen, 
as they are more attractive and com¬ 
mand a higher commercial value. 
Taken as a whole the new 1923 Sian- 
dard for Anconas is a work well done 
and will put Anconas in a more promi¬ 
nent position in the poultry world than 
heretofore. It excels for allowance for 
useful poultry, and while I readily a- 
gree that a feather narrowing to a fine 
point looks prettier than a broad one, 
it is better to have the broader ones 
when they mean early maturity. For 
vigor, size, and type will outweigh the 
result gained in breeding for the nar¬ 
row feathers. 
The proper selection of breeders is 
the first step in producing what I like 
to see in my youngsters. I now have 
