A Half Century of Advances in the Genetics and Breeding Improvement of Poultry1

interest to review the progress tha t has been made from the study of the hen dur-ing the half century. In this paper we shall consider the progress in the field of genetics and breeding. Although these years span most of the period of history of genetics it is desirable to review briefly the publications appearing during the few years intervening between 1908 and the rediscovery of Mendel's law which gave both impetus and direction to subsequent studies of inheritance in the chicken. PREVIOUS WORK By 1908 all but a very few of our recog-nized breeds and varieties of poultry had been developed. The wide variety in form and size, and the diversity and perfection of color pat terns stand as a tr ibute to the early fanciers. This was accomplished with no knowledge of the laws of in-heritance and by men and women who bred poultry largely as a hobby. Published works on the genetics of poultry before 1908 were necessarily limited since only eight years had inter-vened since Mendel's laws of inheritance were generally known. Bateson of Eng-land published the first scientific paper on the genetics of poultry in 1902, and this was followed by papers by himself and 1 To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Poultr