THE FANCIER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 242, 6 July 1908, Page 3

THE FANCIER.

A MUCH-ABUSED MAN. WHY SHOULD HE NOT BREED FOR FEATHER? Extraordinary attacks aro being repeatedly made by newspaper' writers upon tho breeders of fancy poultry. While the writer confesses to a weakness for the. utilitarian • element iii most ; things, ho does not go sofar as to set himself up to reprimand all thoso who breed fowls' For feather. Eggs, in theso days' of dear prices, aro certainly important matters; but eggs arcliot everything. There is more in lifo than mere lucre. Tho man who keeps hens for tho eggs they lay is doing it to make money, and just as •most useful members of society toil for money six days*in tho week. But lifo. that is ail, labour is surely a miserable business. Recreation of some sort is essential to the health oKovery man's mind, and while 0110 person may find his mental relief in excitedly —or languidly—watching a football match, another may cxtract equal—and perhaps more wholesome—joy in breeding deep-feathered white wyaiidottes, or lanky langshans, or crookod-backed ■ fantails. Would lie get equal pleasure from watching a dismal-hued pullet filling a nest - with eggs ? Shall he drop the fancy and seek relief from the languor of a week's work by breeding birds that lay themselves to death? The gods forbid! While it is not to be denied that' some forms of recreation are probably carried to an excess, riotousness and extravagance, one has yet to learn that the task of painting the pencilliugs on a champion hamburg has injured any man's morals or pocket. To devoto one's legitimate leisure to beautifying, according to one's taste, or tho recognised standard, a particular breed of. poultry or. pigeon or canary or dog—for that matter—even cats, has a refining influenco that tho mere egg-farmer loses. It stimulates. . It strengthens the mind, broadens and deepens the intellect, and gives a rest from nerve strain that the poor modern city man solely needs. It will be a bad day when "tho fancy" is dead. ■ The trouble with some people is that they cannot sco that there is a distinct difference botween the fancy man and tho utility man —distinct; fields of operation, and plenty' of room for each; Their aims are diametrically different. Tho one does hia work for the pleasure he gets out of it. It is his hobby. Tho other does it for money. It is his livelihood. To one, tho birds penned in the old Drill ..Hall at Wellington to-day aro living treasures, to bo petted and admired, and, if necessary, coddled. To tho other, a fowl is a practically lifeless machine, to lay eggs, and be eaten. Each of thoso men lias a legitimate purposo in view, and neither can say that the aim of the other is debasing. Tho utilitarian side appeals strongly to one through its bearing upon tho farm industry, aild because it caters so oxcellontly for tho food, needs of a nation. But 0110 has yet to learn. that the utility men hayo reduced hto price of eggs, or that they aro hindered in their operations'by "the fancy." _ One might hear it said that the fancy lias damaged tho egg industry by contaminating it .with feathered monstrosities that can't lay. But from tho fancier's view point, the utility man has utterly ruined the beautiful lacing'of silver wyandottes, robbed tho leghorn. of' its dorking frame, -its piituresquo comb, its sizo; killed everything that mado poultry beautiful. Neither party, therefore, can call the other "black." - Neither has any right to ask the other to do its work for it. Tho egg-seeker can surely perfect his machine by-his own resources,, for ho has only one-.thing to breed for.; And,, after all,'tli'o fancier has given the utility man more help than ho has received back in return. Ho has rescued varieties from their native ,haunts,_ and,,preserved,;.thcim;intact,;-or;-. atleast distinct. He has. separated varieties' and emphasised , different characteristics. He has given ;■ us ' birds" that -aro" a pleasure to look at. .He has at least saved tho world from,, being re-, stricted to a raere barndoor'mongrel. Amiafter all,' ho has been going largely on utilitarian lines. Hasn't the breast-meat of tho Indian game, tho Dorking, and the Houtian always been encouraged? Isn't table quality a consideration in. the ..champion Orpington Wyandotte, and Plymouth Rock? The fancier -really, has been more practical in his fads than some newspaper writers, give him credit for. It is from his material that tho record-breakers at all the egg-laying contests have directly descended. The fancier and the utilitarian can fitly, walk sido by sido without tearing each other's feathers out, just, as tho breeder of dairy, Jorseys can tolerato tho Shorthorn breeder who brtc-ds for beef. .The fancier who breeds birds whoso beauty gives pleasure to all who own them is certainly a utilitarian of the highest order. Will those who decry the fancier go to tho extent of saying that.tho man who keeps canaries must breed for eggs or songs? And for what should dogs bo kept? Eor company? Well, it is for that that many fanciers keep fowls. ; .<

But while one sees many uses in tho work of "the fancy," there aro'some things that all must admit to be undesirable. There is a Leghorn rooster in the Drill Hall to-day that' has a crooked neck. He is absolutely de-| formed. Yet a prize card honours his cage,' and informs tho world that the Wellington Poultry Society can tolerate crooked neckseven in a rooster, whose one purpose in lifo is to breed progeny like himself! Some peoplo are feeling grieved over a little black fan-, tail that cannot ,rest its head. ".Tho fancy " has decreed that a fautail's neck shall arch backwards to such an extent that his head shall touch his tail. This little black creature has obeyed that dictato liberally, and seoms to pass his life in a.yain,cffor.t to hold, his head comfortably in that position. It. is a pitiable; spectacle. There will be no rest for. that weary little neck till it is twisted. Tho attitude is graceful, it is perky, it is liovel; but all these considerations are lost in .the fact that it is painful. One could do without the arched neck, and bo well content with the beautiful tailv. Want of repose or stamina can mar the beauty of any'creature, and rob'it of - its power to give pleasure. . '

But these incidents do not condemn, tho whole fancy. Every mainis entitled to pursue a harmless hobby,_ and get all tho pleasure 'he * can out of it. If he chootms to breed weird designs into tho feather colourings, or introduce a new fashion in topknots for pigeons, or develop a four-legged variety of duck—for which there _ probahly exists enough material for a beginning already in tho country—if it gives him" any pleasuro to do so, nobody has a right to reprimand—not even those of us who have leanings towards utility. " *'