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Show I I POULTRY B APPLIED LAWS OF BREEDING. I Bj Growth is a biological characterises characteris-es tic habitually displayed by plants and M animals and is effected by integrat- sng with the individual, units like m those of which it is built up, leaving m behind the unlike units. Growth is H a concomitant of evolution and is an M important factor in breeding to stan-H stan-H dard requirements. Growth will us-H us-H ually depend largely upon the abund-H abund-H ance of nutriment which the powers B of the bird cnablc.it to appropriate. H If the necessary food elements art H lacking, an inferior growth will re-H re-H suit. Fertility of the eggs and vigor of the progeny arc largely dependant upon the vigor cf the parentage and may not be expected from a stunted progenitor. Experienced breeders are well aware of this fact, hence their anxiety to keep the youngsters growing, grow-ing, pushing them incessantly until a full sized vigorous growth has been attained. Here again we note Principle Prin-ciple VI: "Size and general type are more often transmitted to the progeny pro-geny by the dam." As soon as the pullets arr old enough to distinguish dis-tinguish them from jthc cockerels, they should be separated and placed in an enclosure to themselves. - In order that they may make the most vigorous growth possible, an Abundant Abund-ant supply of cracked corn, whole wheat, and if possible cracked oats r and cracked or rolled barley and ground shell should be before them all the time. The roosting quarters should be kept ocrupulously clean and the roosts well oiled with coal oil to keep clear of lice and mites, which in themselves will do more to retard growth than any one else. A well shaded, well watered range in connection connec-tion with the foregoing will do very much towards promoting rapid vigorous vigor-ous growth of the young birds-. In any event, plenty of clean, cool water must be kept before them always. Again, there is a very close relation, in perfect development, between growth and exercise. If the young birds arc confined small enclosures where there is not much incentive to constant movement, there will be less vigorous growth than where the runs arc large and shady regardless of the food and Water supply. It is an accepted fact by all naturalists natur-alists that our different species of birds have been evolved by the slow process of nature through countless ages of the past from reptiles and that the mariy species and Varieties were brought about by variation arid natural selection. If through dharigc of environment, a species was not adapted to its surroundings in the struggle for existence, it gradually lost out and became finally extinct, only to have its place taken by some species stronger and better able to continue the battle of life, and this preservation of the varieties possessing possess-ing advantageous structure, consti tution and instinct is termed natural selection, which is only another, term for survival of" the fittest, and in the natural course of evolution applies directly to the individuals of each species life and perpetuation to the strong, death and extinction to the weak. It has been said that nature abhors a vacuum, and persists in supporting sup-porting the largest amount of life possible pos-sible on each area by great diversification diversifi-cation in structure and constitution of its inhabitants in order that there may be no unnecessary waste, and by the continual production of new J forms through variation species have been evolved that possess some ad- I vantages over the others leading eventually to the extinction of the less improved species. This is Na- ' turc's method, and it is very slow indeed in-deed and has required untold ages to arrive at the present stage of organic development. As each form of life has had to compete with many Other forms in the struggle for existence and as each individual must vary in some slight degree from its fellows, and as the laws of natural selection , act by the preservation of individuals ii and species winch arc advantageous under the constant conditions of strife, an animal or plant will thus slowly become similar in ructurc and habits to many other ani... Is and plants and to the physical conditions to its home. ITence, we have the second sec-ond principle of breeding: "The con- 1 stant repetition of any definite func- J tion will eventually create a structur- f al modification.' Instead of follow-? I ing the slow process of nature in nafc- j ural selection, rhe breeder may take 1 advantage, of the principle involved and accomplish similar rcsmltA i a f I infinitely shorter space of time by substituting artificial selection. As an illustration of what may be accomplished accom-plished along these lines, Cochin and Langshan breeders of ten have difficulty diffi-culty in getting combs with live even serrations. This has been and may be accomplished as follows: When the chicks have sufficiently developed combs to enable one to count the serrations, ser-rations, with a sharp pair of shears, trim the combs neatly, cutting the rear of the blade to correct shape and 'trimming out unnecessary serrations. When making up the breeding pens the following year, select from those of best type, the young birds with most nearly perfect combs.. It is surprising how the trimmed combs will dcvclopc, if cut early and prop- crly, and by thus trimming and by 1 constant care in selecting each year, in a very few generations, a considerable consid-erable number of youngsters will be hatched with combs so nearly perfect that trimming will be unnecessary. Almost any modification may be accomplished ac-complished in time by artificial guid-jt guid-jt ancc and strict selection of the indi-i indi-i viduals. Orpington breeders occasionally occas-ionally have difficulty with the ap-f ap-f pcarancc of the fifth toe, due to Dorking Dork-ing transmission. This defect in the young chick may be easily remedied by early clipping. Occasionally side ' sprigs will show in Cochins and Lang- ft shans. Birds that would otherwise J" be valuable, arc disqualified by so j small and insignificant a thing as a fl slight sprig, perhaps not larger than , a darning needle nor more than a quarter of an inch in length. By the ; exercise of watchfulness while the combs arc growing, a close clipping " will rid the comts of the side sprigs, t and in succeeding progeny, these will l more likely appear in alternate gencr- l ations. Principle VIII: "Pcculiari-i "Pcculiari-i tics of rcversional hcridity make their f appear; ice in alternate generations." ' A disqualification in Light Brahmas is the appearance of solid black feathers feath-ers in the back. The bird might be otherwise excellent but the fatal black feather would render the bird valueless value-less as a breeder. Would it? Not to the, experienced breeder, for we know that by plucking the black feathers of this generation and watching carefully and eradicating those that appear in alternate generations, the defect may he affoctually eradicated, llowovary for practical purposes, this method' . wbuld be too slow, and it is only here mentioned as an illustration of what may be accomplished in the application ap-plication of the second law of breeding. breed-ing. Again, "breeders of Cochins arc sometimes troubled with a vulture hock. These arc stiff quill feathers growing on the thighs-, pointing backward back-ward even with the knee joint, or hock, and where these appear without a sufficient quantity of fluffy feathers to relieve the sharp angle view in profile, pro-file, they constitute a defect that amounts to disqualification. Here, again, the shears may be brought into play upon the growing youngsters and the defect eventually eradicated. Time, patience and persistence in selection se-lection will gradually bring about almost al-most any modification desired. In the former chapter, a difference was noted in the shape of the Light and the Dark Brahmas. This variation varia-tion is due to the law embodied in the tenth principle of breeding: "Pecu liarities of direct hcridity arc transmitted trans-mitted to the progeny generally from tiie more vigorous parent." The most authentic record of the origin of the Dark Brahma is that it is a variation resulting from a cross between the Cochin and the Gray Chittagongs and rccrosscd with Light Brahmas and Partridgo Cochins, two Cochin blood lines, to one each of Chittagong and Light Brahma, hence the preponderance preponder-ance of Cochin contour displayed in the Dark Brahma type, due to vigorous vigor-ous impression of the male Cochin line impressed upon the progeny until un-til a variation type was established so nearly like the Brahma type that the Dark variety has been classed under un-der the same breed as the. Light Brahmas, Brah-mas, when as a matter of fact, they arc no more true Brahmas than the Black Orpingtons arc true Orpingtons. Orping-tons. . 1 1 1 |