POULTRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1260, 23 April 1896, Page 28

POULTRY.

j;y red c.\r. BREEDS OF THE FUTURE, The progressive poultry-keeper is ever on the look-out for good and profitable birds. The man of the future in poultry-keep-ing will bo the man with his eyes open and his faculties keen, so that due advantage may bo taken of every now advantageous phase of the wonderful development going on all round us. Tho question of breeds needs constant study, as in the selection of birds much of success or failure lies.

The fine old Dorking breeds are grand always, but they fail in all points. Short on tho legs, broad breasts, pretty in plumage, and graceful in general appearance, those birds have long been the pride of many an old English squire and poultrykeeper of tho past. With cocks weighing from B .Jib to 111 b, of course they make splendid table birds, and if their laying qualities could be improved, they would bo profitable fowls indeed. Then Langshans, if bred truer to tho old and original typo, and not so long on the legs, would be an excellent bicod still for poultry-keepers, their laying and table qualities and beautiful green iridescent plumago making the birds objects of admiration wherever they are seen. Tho Hamburg breeds, sprightly, and with beauty of various shades and forms, are also good birds, especially tor laying qualities. They produce white eggs, and plenty of them. Tho Leghorn tribe are the layers of the future,and with their sprightly little lurms are useful to all sorts ot poultry-keepers, where hardiness and a large number of eggs are required. The Game varieties also have a future before them. For crossing and for table purposes Indian Game cockerels are among the most excellent birds to use, and with their lovely plumage, and line qualities generally, the old G,'llllo breeds will live long, and always be useful. Wo are indebted greatly to tho French for the noble breeds, such as ffoudans and others, which have proved such lino birds for crossing purposes. For laying and table qualitiescoinbiued, this grand pattern breed of Iloudans can scarcely be surpassed, although in the row English breeds a great excellence all round has been obtained by using the Langshans and other breeds that have served to increase the excellence of Orpingtons and tho American breeds that have been introduced into the country. Tho old heavy broody Cochins and Brahmas, with abundance of feather and fluff, but not so much of real utility of course, have been very useful and very ornamental, as these grand old breeds, despite their failure in much that is required under tho order of things, may yet bo used with abundant success in crossing, and for various uses, especiallly for hatching' and rearing, as these heavy breeds furnish us with tho best sitters and mothers, their propensities tending rather in this direction.

Then the, Bolands, Redea ps, Andalusians, and the Minoreas all Jit in in their places. "While,crowning tho old and as the pioneer of a new order ot things, the fine massive Orpingtons have come, containing the excellencies of many breeds, to transform tho poultry-keeping of the tut lire by their healthful and invigorating influences, both upon crossbred birds with which tho cockerels are mated, and by showing what is to be done by judicious mating and selection.

Scotch Greys and some others of the hardy fowls that have boon produced by combination of circumstances in the past will, of course, stand or fall upon their merits, and wo shall find that as “ timo proves all things,” so tho merits of the breeds will cause them each to find their level.

Plymouth Hocks have proved themselves good birds, but their yellow legs have always been a little against them as table birds; but iu many respects they have been a lino breed and remarkably useful.

Of course, some of our crossbreeds are now so well established by custom, that some sort 01 distinction mighs well be made between one and another 01 them. Of course, in a cross, everything depends upon the mating'. The Itoudan crosses have been remarkably success!id and good. Such crosses as ILmiduu-Looliin, IL>,ok. 11Minorca, and Houdan-fucliau Game have, of course, boon fine birds always, rug useful in the extreme. jHinorca-Laugshan is another cross m wfqeh the uprightly Minorca has intensified ih tae alrea'ffy valuable Langshan many of

its best qualities. Cross-breeding is so valuable because it may be looked upon as producing that medium kind of birds, that are to poultry-keeping what light and shade are to painting and sculpture, even the intermediary portions of the work, and fill niches and serve to heighten the general effect. Loghorn-Plymouth Rock, DorkingBrahma, Indian Gamo-Dorking, Plymouth Rock-Brahma, Orpington-Dorking, White Orpington-Light Brahma, OrpingtonBrahma, and Leghorn-Orpington are all breeds that will bo mentioned as the crossbreeds of the future.

Of course, as the industry assumes its proper place in our midst, the work of great minds and capable managers will be marked in even more successful combinations, until the old and new breeds shall combine to make the future more the ideal of poultrykeeping days, that shall induce success, and so render the assistance so greatly needed at this time.

Of course, the old breeders have done much good work, and if they were only a little more plastic in their ideas, and allowed the progressive order of things to prevail, they would be more respected for the past and listened to in the present and future, but, sad to say, several of the best known of them have ceased to help forward the work of producing the most profitable breeds, and have hugged the old varieties, and have expended much valuable time and energy in forming a ring of calumniators and have inveighed witli the bitterest invective and ridiculous vehemence against the men who have dared to brave their scorn and indignation, and still go forward. This, however, is no new thing, and we wish these old, disappointed, although scarcely discredited, breeders the joy ot real conversion to the more progressive and profitable order of things, so that perhaps in the future, when great advances shall have been made, the leaders of Ihe two lorces shall meet, like Blucher and \\ ellingt<>ii after Waterloo, tho advanced army and tho reserve forces rejoining alike. — W. Cook, in Farm and Field.