THE POULTRY YARD.

FANCIERS 3 NOTES. (By OVO.) ■] In reviewiug the doings of the year 1902, "The Field" says: During the past year there has been but slight change in.;t>he con- | dition of the poultry industry. The large shows such as the Crystal tqlace and Birminghaoh have been as successful is usual, exhibiting many thousands of fowlsybred in accordance with the fancy standardly which have- no reference whatever to -practical Utility. Several so called new breeds have been introduced. A common 'farmyard fowl of France^ the Faverolla, a la,i4iß mongrelised cross, but which has in it® native country been bred for utility, has |)een in- ■ troduced, and in some cases classes have been given for it. It is characteriseel chiefly by a large usele*ss beard 1 or tuft of ffeathers under the beak, aaid the hens, according to the English famcy standard, arc tolbe bred for their salmon colour or their beina eligible for. prizes. Another black and while breed, the Lakeiif elder, a fowl possessed of|no very definite character beyond its black- aM white plumage has 'also been exhibited. Among the old breeds, the Dorking, the. Indian game, and the Brahma, still holdi thipir own. Wyandottes, Leghorns, and even MY} rtout h Bjocks; timr&. been bred for ."^aribtfs^ctStfrs, and classes have been- .^established for Lhese varieties at our large fancy shows. Some attention has been paid 'to the exhibition of dead table poultry, and .there haive been Aveil filled classes at Birmingham, the Dairy au<3 Smithfield. Shows, but, the arrangements have been very unsatisfactory, and at' the latter the birds have only been received with half-hearted approval by the officials. The Crystal Palace Show, the largest in the world, has ignored utility poultry altogether. The Utility Poultry Club has continued its laying competitions, which are doing some good! work, in showing that fancy breeds are the least productive, but their operations require to be carried out on a much larger and more extensive scale to be of any very great benefit. The National Poultry Organisation Society comes mo-re prominently before the public in its appeal for subscriptions than in the evidence of its work, which appears to consist" chiefly in sending its officers to the various capitals of Europe- where poultry shows ar.e held, without much practical bearing on English organisation. The South Canterbury Poultry Society has appointed Mr J. Macintosh (Wellington) to judge all classes of poultry at the championship show, Mr Tonar (Auckland) being unable to officiate. Mr A. Gapes (Christchurch) has been appointed to judge pigeons, and Mr P. H. B. Luscomba (Timaru) to judge canaries. Nelson is making a strong claim for the big egg championship. A Minorca hen there decently laid in one week three eggs weighing four ounces each, and one weighing 6|oz. The big egg was nine inches in circumference the long way, and 7Jin' round the big ■ end. The egg had three yolks. A week later the same hen produced an egg weighing 6£oz. , The biggest hen egg ever recorded was' laid by a Minorca, in Sydney, weighed 7|oz, and was 9|in by fc^in in girths. The ■ Nelson eggs, it is claimed, come next. ■ •,