The hen that will produce the largest amount of eggs with the small-
est amount of meat possible for her capacity is of the nervous tem-
perament. The hen which uses one-half of her vitality in producing
eggs and the other half of her vitality in producing meat—in other
words, the dual-purpose hen—is a combination of both the sanguine
and bilious temperaments and is called “the hen with the sanguine-
bilious temperament.” The hen that produces the largest amount
of flesh and the smallest amount of eggs consistent with her capacity
is of the lymphatic temperament.
In a fowl all the different temperaments and their different degrees
of combinations are indicated by the pelvic bones. In the horse they
are indicated largely by the breed. The Arabian, the ideal running
and trotting horse, is a good type of the nervous temperament, the coach
horse is a good type of the sanguine-bilious temperament, and the
Clyde is a good type of the lymphatic temperament. In cattle we
have a good example of the nervous temperament in the Jersey, and
of the lymphatic in the beef family of Durham, also Hereford and
Polled Angus, while the Holstein and Ayrshire cattle are good types
of the sanguine-bilious combined.
I have made this deviation so I could offer to my poultry friends
this thought: that there are certain laws in Nature that have no regard
for our theories, and the better we understand these laws, the less liable
we are to make mistakes.
CHAPTER IV.
CAPACITY.
In the preceding chapters we have given the reader an idea of the
method we use in judging the value of a hen for the purpose we wish
her for. In the succeeding chapters we will explain the method in detail.
