Evening star., 1916-08-20
FIELD, FARM AND FLOCK.
Gardeners Stock Rase Ochardsts and
Cleaned From Researches of Experts
through close inbreeding, poor man
agement or other causes.

Farmers and suburban poultry keep
ers are often at a loss to know what
| particular kind of 'varmtnt' Kills or
carries off chicks, broilers or grow n
| fowls. While an inquest over a dead
/ chicken doesn't do a great deal OF
good, there is, after all. a certain sat
| isfaction in being able to tell from
the individual case what caused the
demise or disappearance. y hawk usu.
ally carries OF young chicks, but If
of the fowls will be left. 1t will be
found that death was caused by a
tear at the back of the neck; the skull
will be torn open and the feathers
scattered but not trailed. If. however,
the fowl is found lying on its side
dead, with a small wound in Its neck.
it is the work of a weasel, the animal
having sucked the fowls blood lf the
carcass is found with the head and
breast devoured, cat has been the
marauder. AS a rule, rats do their
deadly work at night, and carcasSes
left by them are badly mangled. The
entrails are drawn out but not eaten,
and the carcass is bitten and gnawed
IN many places.
The flesh of the guinea fowl has a
gamy flavor and appearance, and these
fowls are rapidly coming into use as
substitutes for game birds in many of
the larger cities of the country Young
guineas weighing about two pounds
chants at from As to so cents each, the
old ones bringing no more than 20 to
80 cents apiece. In some cities, how
ever. notably New York, prices for
guineas are twice these ,hgures or
even higher. The prices quoted, it is
to be remembered, are those paid to
farmers for the birds. Guinea eggs
usually bring about the same price as
hens eggs. They have the advantage
of possessing much thicker shells and
broken in shipment or handling.
The first thing the average beginner
with poultry wants to know is the egg
producing qualities of the breed or
strain he has selected. Increased egg
production along systematic lines anu
investigation of egg-produclng aolnty
OF breeds and individual hens Is com,
paratively recent work in the Uniteo
States The first actual work in trap
nesting was started about sixteen years
ago by the late Prof. Gowen. at the
Maine experiment station. Prof. Cow
ell set his mark at 100 eggs year,
though he stated that this figure was
chosen more in order to have definite
goal toward which to work than Tor
any other rea son. The work begun then
has been. carried on by Prof Covers
successors and by hundreds of other
investigators in other parts of the
country, until at the present time there
are many thoroughly authentic records
of hens that have laid more than 300
eggs in single laying year. When Prof.
Gowell began the work there were no
precedents TO guide him, his sole theory
being that a heavy-laying hen would
Re more likely to produce heaVy-laying
daughters than a hen that was not
good layer
After the death of Prof Gowell the
work was taken up by Prof. Raymond
Pearl, who made the first scientific
analysis of the records that had ever
been made. He found that in almost
every case the daughters of certain
male birds were heavy layers, while
daughters of other males were poor or
Indifferent egg producers. no matter
how their mothers might have ex-
celled as layers. This led to the dis
covery that egg production is a sex
linked characteristic descending in
zigzag line from father to daughter
and from mother to son. In the end
Prof Pearl advanced the now accept
ed theory that a male bird pure bred
FOR eggs would produce daughters
whose egg records could be foretold
with astonishing accuracy.
That the public is demanding laying
bred hens is very apparent to those
who have taken pains to increase the
laying ability of their focks. Winning
at shows is not the only requirement
these days. Besides ability to win at
shows, the PUBIC wants laying aDllity
also, and a great many progressive
poultry keepers put laying ability first
in their requirements. There Is con-
siderable discussion of this matter in
the poultry press. A certain faction
persistentIy argues that If it were not
for the fancier there would not have
been any pure-breds with which to be-
gin seeking laying ability. The argu-
ment is not good, because persistent
trapnesting would have produced lay
ctr Il n hld
been used as a foundation from which
to work