The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-26
EDUCATING THE HEN.

The United States, in its government tai capacity, is about to undertake what we may fairly call a momentous job, and that is to make the hens lay more eggs. Now. from reading ana observation we have thought of a hen as one of the old English verse e-makers said of woman, which runs something like this:
 For if she will, she will, you may de-
 pend ont;
 And if she won't, she won't; so there's
 an end ont.
 So of the hen. If she is ready to laS' an egg nothing but death will wouldn't hurry If the fate of the uni verse depended on her motions. That is the way we have sized up the hen, but the wise men at Washington pro- Cess to look on that idea as nothing hut old fogyism, and propose to dis- prove 1t by establishing between New York and Baltimore an educational in stitution designed to teach the hen family that its members have not been coming fully up to the measure of their duties. It is to be a sort of educa- tional institution. and The Manchester Union says of it: t..
 Education? We'll, yes-if develop ing one talent at the absolute expense of another may be called "education. it is proposed to educate the American hen. That nOn-reasoning bird it ap- ignored the advent of n cubator. and persists in devoting a part of her valuable time to hatch ing the eggs she and her sisters lay. Professor Slocum. assisted by an able faculty. is entrusted with the tritllng task of eradicating the mother instinct from the henly' breast and persuading the hen to leave the multiplication Of her kind to manmade. wooden com oetitor. Whether the red -flannel-tied risht-leg method. or the abusing Of proody Biddy in cold water will be most favored in the poultry college urriculum Is not stated. The funda- mental principle upon which the work will be based is said to include the fact that there is in the heart or every creature desire to excel" and that. if one hen can be trained to lay without interruption, other hens will be stirred to equal her accomplish ments, and eventually all hen-kind will be engaged in one gigantic egg laying contest.
 The theory sems to be that when the 'Iens catch on to the idea they will at once enter into d contest for supre- macy in the producing business md the product be vastly increased. f is believed that the hens themselves will be so excited by a praiseworthy ambition to excel that they will think .f pnthipp n,It increaSipo ba This will not only be a source of Joy O the layers but much more to the !ealers and consumers. For the form TT there will be no lack of supply ana ;he latter will have eggs to throw at rats if they like to indulge in that sort of pleasantly. s.> F. .:~
 But there is another side to fl. and The Union reasons that the idea or
 attempting to supplant the landahle mother instinct for the sordid ambi- ion to make money Is altogether wrong, From the viewpoint of logic.
 he argument that the uninterrupte "gg-laving performance of one hen would tend to inspire enthusiasm llong the same line in other hens seems plausible enough so far as it goes but what assurance Is there that the one hen, holding the relation of d little leavcn." would leavcn the whole lump" of other hens? Rather would she not, upon pecking through the wire fence and seeing one or more mother hens engaged in the cOmmen- liable work of caring for chicks be tempted to relnduish the task of con verting them to her ways and to try to excel them in the hatching and care of young? Nature has more joy over one hen that follows her materual in- stinct and hatches chicks than over ten "educ4ted' hens that leave the job to a wooden box"
 Well. W" cant tell what may be the result of this new and radical depart- are. Science aCcumplishcs so many things in this day of invention and dis ,overv that no man may safely pre-