PROFITABLE POULTRY.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7124, 21 July 1888, Page 6

PROFITABLE POULTRY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. - Sib, —I see by recent Shows our beautiful elegant is in danger of being gradually changed into a coarse Cochin. The snort-backed, deep-chested, compact bird mast give way to size and weight. It seems so. As Christchurch i 3 • centre of education, it ought to be a centre of advancement in everything; and what I claim is oar jadges ought not to be crippled with Old Country rales and points, oat should be allowed free use of their own sound sense and good judgment. If we are to have profitable poultry judges know, and every breeder knows, a great coarse hen is about the worst layer in the yard, most unprofitable to keep, only fit for the table; and here, I think, breeders will again agree with mc, loose coarse birds come up even slowly to the table — unprofitable every way. An old hen-wife said to mc the other day, " I 'aint a'goin' to keep them 'ere big tilings; they eats too much for the eggs they give." Some breeders at Home and Societies have made the Tjmgi»K»n dean as a rock on the legs. Fancy getting Biddy's old wing that had been hall worn on the hearth, and sticking it on to a beautiful bird's leg, harbor- " ing vermin, making the hen uneasy on its nest and endangering the chicks. I once stood behind a canny Scot at a horse show in InvercargilL His splendid Clydesdale maze took first prize. She had literally a .mopof hair to 'he knees. His face lit up as he descanted on the hairy legs, when a laddie said, " Did you ever dry them clean when they cam* in frae the plew?" The Suffolk cart-horse is clean, and a brote has yoked the noble animal to a butt at a tree, and its heart broke and dropped dead. A cross with a thoroughbred and Suffolk mare has produced clean-legged hunters, worth £300 to £400 as weight carriers. I know you will kindly excuse this digression, bat Americans, I saw also, have swept their working horses clean of hair. Their poultry they have made so profitable they have beaten their wheat crop in value. I think the colonials are quite as intelligent, taking them all round, as Americans, only the latter will use

their own sound sense and good judgneat, as I want our judges here to do. I ronffw a great weakness for the beautiful Spanish fowl, but the young chicks die from the least damp. The judges in this breed discard timber and strength where most wanted, and there is an utterly worthless cargo of comb to carry, penishing the poor bird, and blinding Staemin the hot weather. I saw a hen at the Show had to throw her comb over each side to be able to see. It weakens this beautiful breed. The roosters frequently go part blind. Judges should increase their strength. Juarge, strong Birds have been discarded, a noted breeder of these birds told mc. And here you get a most profitable cross between a pare JLangshan and pure Spanish, imparting the best qualities of both birds ; any farther you get mongrels, and they are always unprofitable. But why not make the '-■"g'th*" and Spanish as good allround birds as the cross undoubtedly is a SU»t profitable bird.—l am, &c, A Bbkeoeb.