POULTRY PICKINGS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 168, 15 January 1914, Page 6

POULTRY PICKINGS.

LATEST Xi-'WS ITEMS JT;n.\| America. A Stratford reader of 1 lie V-cw Yo:.'; Herald oilers tile following <-lipp;;i;j- Inr the benefit nf Stratford ;nei o 1111' r poultry raiders. The notes will lie continued as the latest advices arrive. lIOW t;<H)J) Kli«; LAVKUS AUK liKKi). There are. certain characi eristic- in ;,ll pure bred varieties of poultry which lie.' ■fancier desires to eliminate and other..which ihe desires to perpetuate and extend. A considerable, number of characteristics have been found to 'behave differently in the two sexes ,savs the St. ■Louis Post-Dispatch. due of the most striking cases of this ■kind is the barring of the feathers in the barred Plymouth liock-.. If a barred Plymouth llock male be crossed with a brown Leghorn lien all of the progeny ■will be 'barred like the Plynioutks. tint if a barred Plymouth liock fi ina'c lie mated with a brown Leghorn male the results are quite different. All of the ■male oll'spriug will lie barred, while the •female oll'spriug will be black. The female Rock transmits the black color io tooth the innle ami female, oli'spriiig and this black cover.-? the brown' Leghorn color, but the barred liock female transmits the barring only to 'her oli'.-pring ■ The same is true of the high egg l.i .- ■ill"- capacity in fowls. If a male i-pure ■bred with reference to high egg laving capacity then he will transmit ivgii egg laying quality to all his oli'.-pring, ■both male and female. The egg laving ■capacity of the male is judged In his female oll'spriug. Hut a female of high egg laying quality transmits this capacity only to her male oll'spriug. It fallows that a female con inherit b'gh egg la.\ing capacity only from ilier nirc.. while n male may inherit this character either from his -ire or his dam. or both.

This shows that in order to develop a strain of fowls having the high egg laying capacity more attention in::,; be given to t'he males used than to the females.

A daughter of a hen' with high egglaying capacity is of no value as a breeder, unless this daughter has inherited a high egg-laying capacity from her sire. It is well known that most of our new varieties of poultry, as well as some, if not all. of the older breeds, 'have been crossed and the application of Mendel's laws have enabled us to understand them better and to explain how the improvements' have been made. A knowledge of .Memlelism should enable ibreeders to extend the excellence already attained, which is of more importance than a, knowledge of the way to create new varieties. The more knowledge the breeder has of the history of his particular breed the easier be will recognise the constantly recurring atavistic signs of their previous history and be enabled to combat these tendencies by corrective mating.

MISSOUU POULTRY RECORD, 45,G75,2-lodi>l. FOR A YEAR. Poultry and eggs to the value of S4K,(ITS,2-10 were sold last year by farmers and poultry raisers of Missouri, according to figures prepared in the otl'ice of -John T. l-'itzpatrick, Commissioner in the I'ureau of Labor Statistics ill that State. The. lignres established a new record and justified the eralm of residents of Missouri that the State is '-poultry Queen of the West." Four years ago the State was awarded a (dace ; at tilie head of all others for the. value of it.-r poultry products, and while Eastern sections have been conspicuous for the .splendid quality of their stock, the have continued to take advantage of climatic and soil conditions which have made the State notable in the industry.

• Shipments of poultry, egg's and feathers from .Missouri to the larger markets show that the IH counties of the State forwarded to Xew York, lloston, Philadelphia, Washington, Cleveland. Chicago, Memphis, Kansas City, St. Joseph and their own distributing centre at St. Louis products ty the value of If:JO.UO'2,410.

The largest item li>t,ed is that of eggs, ■ this commodity yielding returns far in excess of that credited to poultry in live or dressed form. Kgg shipments reached the enormous total of 11),V>7,'5,757 doxen. Shipments and home consumption of eggs added together represent it valuation ot iy:i.7.")4,estimated on a low basis of litteen cents a' dozen for the eggs. , More than half a million dollars' worth of feathers Were sold. Figures for this downy product give an idea of the cxtensiveuess of the poultry industry in Missouri. Tile poundage was l,2li,'{,!>■!!). -J he leathers used at. home arc not included.

Every county in the State is now a .poultry producer, 'but the Ozark section leads in quantity produced and value. CAX-MNT, FRESH EGGS. Tint Pood Research T.aborotory of the I'ederal llureau of Chemistry is conducting experiment.-, in a number of ogg breaking establishments in order to assist (he manufacturers in canning perfect eggs tor winter use. According to the specialists ol the department there is no reason why eggs cannot be. broken, canned and preserved as an excellent food, just the same as other products arc chimed and 1 kept: for use when the fresh supply is low. As in all canning, however, says the American Poultry World, the specialists have made clear clear that it is essential that, nothing but perfect eggs lie canned. and only under such conditions of cleanliness and in such low temperatures that tliev have no chance to spoil. Inder tile new system the eggs are. canned in rooms ami with iitensils'tliat rival in cleanliness the appointments of a hospital operating room. Evcrvthing is Sterilized, and those who actually break tilie egg;s have to cleato their hands as thoroughly as a surgeon docs before operating. Kacli egg before being broken is candled, and nothing but perfect, eggs come into the breaking room. Every egg is broken separately into a cup. It' by any chance the egg is other than lirst class it is removed from the breaking room. :md before Uie breaker can resume work hit must clean bis hands, thoroughly and sterilize all the instruments used. The actual egg-breaking is doni) at a low temperature, in a room where, the air is cold enough to prevent any change in tili.fi nature of the egg. The cans of 'l'ggs are then sealed and frozen and kept, frozen until they go to the baker at the time of egg shortage* Through these means the specialists are confident that good eggs can be canned at the' time when eggs are plentiful and thus 'provide an ample supply of reasonable priced eggs for bakers when eggs mount tip til price.