LB | 
) 
crop well started can usually be depended upon to complete itself success- 
fully, even if the bird is not kept all the time at the highest pitch of nutri- 
tion, while a somewhat lowered condition towards the close hastens the 
ripening of the quills by the more rapid withdrawal of the blood. Eix- 
perience has proved, and physiology lends support to the notion, that a 
new crop of feathers is more likely to make a successful start if at the time 
the bird is improving or on the upgrade, as it were, as regards its nutritive 
condition. During the ripening of the quills some farmers prefer to allow 
their birds to get into a lower state than usual, and then one or two.weeks 
hefore the time of quilling begin to build them up by high feeding and 
special treatment. Under such improving conditions we should expeet 
that the increasing physiological vigour would be most favourable for 
renewing the activity of the feather germs previously allowed to become 
dormant. 
UNDER-RIPENESS AND OVER-RIPENESS “OF THE QuILLS—THE PRODUCTION OF 
BLANKS. 
_ The degree to which the quills are allowed to ripen before being drawn 
is a matter of importance in starting a feather crop, and different practices 
are followed, partly dependent upon climate and partly upon the intention 
of the farmer as regards his birds, that is, as to how much he intends to 
force the growth. It is well established that a quill or feather drawn be- 
fore ripeness, that is, while still growing and richly supplied with blood, 
is sure to be immediately followed by a new feather. This is best seen in 
the case of plumes which are trampled out while only partly grown. New 
feathers invariably appear from these sockets, and in the management of 
their birds some farmers take advantage of this fact and pull the quills 
while yet far from ripeness. The advantages are twofold: (a) time is 
saved, so that another clipping can be secured earlier, and (4) a full com- 
plete crop of plumes is assured, without any blanks. 
Unfortunately, Nemesis, in the form of a shorter and smaller feather, 
follows upon this unnatural procedure, and if the practice is persisted in 
the feather-producing powers of the bird are greatly impaired, if not alto- 
gether ruined. Most farmers, therefore, hold it to be desirable to allow 
the quills to ripen to such a degree that practically all the blood is with- 
drawn from the medulla and the tip of the quill is becoming hard and 
dry. In this case the succeeding crop may be expected to be as good as 
the previous ones. 
Where ripened quills are allowed to remain in the sockets for four 
or five months, the blood has largely withdrawn from the feather-germ, 
and naturally it takes somewhat longer to re-establish the full cireulation 
in a dormant germ than where, as in a green quill, it has never been re- 
duced. It is very desirable that all the feather-germs on a bird should 
start evenly, for feathers appearing in advance of the general crop are 
nearly always imperfect, while those later are usually perfect. 
The production of blanks can be readily understood from a knew- 
ledge of the physiology of feather-growth. When a quill is drawn green, 
the feather-germ at the bottom of the socket is still in an active growing 
condition, and the removal of the quill at once gives the necessary stimulus 
to the germ, and it sets about the production of a new feather to take the 
place of the one lost. On the other hand, the feather-germ below a quill 
which has been ripe for some time is dormant, the bload is largely with- 
drawn from it, and though ordinarily the removal of the quill stimulates 
it to renewed activity, this may not occur if the bird is in a feebly nourished 
state, or if the seasonal conditions are unfavourable. <A “ blank’ repre- 
sents a feather socket of which the feather-germ has either heen destroyed 
