Bisbee daily review., 1912-02-04
PRACTICAL HINTS FOR
 POULTRY BREEDERS

One of life's riddles which this chicken enthusiast has never been able to solve is: Why does anyone raise scrub poultry" Yet it is fact which no one will attempt to deny that the number of mongrel chickens in this broad land oi ours far exceeds the number with purebred ancestry. How any person in these progressive days of the twentieth century can be so blind to his own interests as to harbor flock Of nondescript dung hill fowls is indeed a puzzler.
 The principal reason is undoubtedly a lack of education and the consequent lack of appreciation of the suDerior qualities of purbred poultry as con- pared with those Of poultry of the mongrel type. That money talks" is certainly true in this commercial age. Let q man or woman once clearly real lZe that any one can make more money by keeping purebred poultry and the scrub flock is soon on its way 10 market
 There come 10 me two good reasons why e"ery one should keep purebred poultry. Either is amply sufficient to sound the doom of the moncrel
 In tho hrst place, they look better 9 sentimental reason, to be sure. Yet The person who is utterly devoid of sentiment IS a dangerous character. What IS more beautiful than a flock of purebred poultry, uniform in type and color, scattered over an alfalfa field or dotting the city mans lawn? Such flock marks inc owner a person or intelligence and progress. apDreciativs ot the beautiful and alive to his best financial interests.
 The second and 10 most of us tho nose important reason for keeping parchred poultry, is that they not only look better. but they are better They are more profitable from the business standpoint of dollars and cents. Even though not single bird is sold for breeding purposes. not single egg for matching, still they are more prof itable.
 We are told on good authority that the average American hen lays nor 10 exceed 7J eggs per year. The aver age purebTed hen of any of the layin, varieties which dces not lay twice that many eggs in years time is not tolerated in the yards ot a reputable breeder. hid you ever ston 10 consider that thc pure bTed hen that lays just twice as many eggs ds the nongrcl is three, four or even more times as prof.
 table? lt costs the same to feed both Of them for a year, Let us as- sume, for purposes or comparison. that it costs th- price of .,0 eggs to keep each hen a year. The keeper Of the mongrel has 2J eggs left as his The g.F has loo eggs for his profit-iust four times aS many. But wait q minute The scrub lays her egcs in the spring and summer when the sun is warm thc grass is green and the bugs and worms plentiful, and eggs cheap. Dur ing this same season of the year the pure bred hen jays 25 eggs and then repeats the stunt during the faI, and winter, when prices are three or four times what they were during the summer months. Thus it does not re- quire much or a mathematician tol appreciate the fact that the pure bred nen that lays twice as many eggs as the scrub may easily be six or eight times as profitable.
 The same thing holds true in rais- ing market poultry. tho perhaps the difference is not 50 marked. NO one things of arguing that the beef-bred steer does not produce better meat and more Of it than thc long horn Texas ranger. Yet every once in q while VIC hear some one assert that scrub poultry is just as good for mar. Ret purposes as. the pure bred. Moth !ng could be further from the truth. Talk to any market poultry buyer who is in touch with the demands of the city markets, and he will tell you at least two reasons why a shipment cf purebred poultry always commands a premium over the ordinary kind which 'iniests' our city markets. The first reason which he will i,rObsbly men, ton will be that q shipment of pure bred poultry. uniform il. size, shape and color. is more attractive. both alive and dressed. ard, therefore. com. mands a higher price. The second reason is that the pU-c pred Is more early maturing and caE, therefore, be placed upon the TIarket at younger age, thus reaching the consumer while l the mea is still tender sweet and juicy
 In addition to the reasons which l have already been mentioned for raising pure breG tolltTy rather than mongrels, we should no- overlook the ] fact that in every community iheIc IS 1 a strong and growing demand fer cockercls for breeding purposes and | eggs for matching from the utility | NarIelieg al from three 10 ten times l ihe market price, depculiay upon guality Those. who arc in .ositiJn ] Co supply this demand are rcapiDg al ricn t'iTcst. Why nos you?
 This is question every pOlirry man !, has been asked at some time or other ! Reese V. Hicks, the president of the l American pOnlfrV assnciafinn ansNers