POULTRY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1949, 2 July 1891, Page 5

POULTRY NOTES.

POULTRY AS PROFITABLE STOCK.

The snbjeot of poultry, considered as profitable farm stock, has been a matter of. interest with me for. a very long period.. Nearly 40 yeara ago. I published a Work on profitable as distinguished from fanoy or ornamental poultry, whioh was exceedingly well reoeived. During the third of a- century I have been j employed in -awarding prizes at the poultry shows, held by agricultural and other societies, during which time I have never failed to bear ia mind the importance of poultry as yielding a valuable supply of food, in ;the form of chickens and eggs, but year after year I have aeen, with increasing regret, the gradual tendency of poultry shows to encourage mere fanoy varieties, and to ignore altogether the profitable value of the birds exhibited. This has gone on to such an extent that I do not think I am ' over-stating the case when >I affirm that no one breed of fowls has been taken in hand by the fancier, but that it has bean seriously depredated as a useful variety of poultry. 1 At Bhows, as at present conducted, fanoy points only have to be considered by the judges. The result ia that the economic value of mmy breeds has been entirely loßt. For example, Spanish, from being abundant producers of large white eggs, have become very indifferent layers,— indeed, some of the most notorious prize-winners have never laid an egg, Ooohins, that were formerly the best layers pf any sitting varieties, are' now amongst the worst. Dorkings, that formerly supplied the best fowls for the London markets, are now bred as show birds, and are not equal to the oroßsbred Surrey f owla, that are chiefly valued by the higglers and the feeders. The game fowls, that were formerly bred for the oock pit, and for their value as table fowl, are now enlongated out of all knowledge, and look more like the •* stilt birds," or waders, of the ornithologißt, than a. variety of poultry fit for praotioal use". „ Nor has the depreoiative effeot of compel* tlve shows been confined to fowls ; it pervades to a greater or less degree all animals that are exhibited in competition. At dog shows the various breeds ara shown exclusively for fanoy points, whioh have no referenoe whatever to the utility of the animals from a practical point of view. A prize greyhound, fot example, is not an animal that would figure at a coursi ing mafcob, and Fullerton, the winner of the j Waterloo Cup, would be passed without commendation by the judges at a dog show were they ignorant of his unexampled performances. For example, noless an authority than the editor of the Kennel Gazette the recognised organ of the Kennel Club, after speaking of the effeotß of the present show system on other breeds, writes in July 1890 : " Turn to •the Bheepdogs. How many collies of the present day who have won prizeß could dear a ihigh hurdle, or scamper over the backs of a flook of sheep to turn it." ... . In the oase of pigs, useful varieties, such as the Berkshire, have been bred so diah-f aaed, in aooordanoe with the requirements of the fanoy, that they have loßt their profitable oharaoter, and are now no longer in favour with the farmer who breeds for the pig market ; consequently he has to fall back upon a coarser Yorkshire variety, in order to make his pigs pay their expenses. The same is the case with cattle, the enormous sum of money given in premiums not going to the great body of agriculturists, but into the hands of a few, who breed solely in order to win prizes at the shows. Some yeara since, the late secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society, Mr H. M. Jenkins, stated that the present ahow system was merely tli9 offering of enormous sumß of money to bo scrambled for by a very few exhibitors. Mr O. T, Dyke Aoland has indorsed the opinion, and has shown conclusively that the large sums of money offered go into toe bands of a very small section of the exhibitors. He has published a summary of the prizes awarded for 11 years at j the principal shows frcm whioh it appears that of tbe hll,Zlb awarded for prizes to cattle, sheep, and pigs, 62 exhibitors obtained no less than i&ttU, or considerably more than one half of the total BU BeUeviDg'as I do that the value of poultry as

asonroe of food wonld be largely increased by a different method of procedure, I am induced to write the present eeriea of artioles. It is with considerable regret that I find myI aelf opposed to the poultry-keepers with whom I have aotea so long, but my conviction* as to the inutility of fanoy fowls as profitable poultry leaves me no alternative. I have no objection to fanoy poultry considered as such. A poultry-keeper has every right to breed ornamental fowls up to any pattern that he thinks fit. . I am perfectly conscious of the faot that the breeding of fanoy poultry is a sonroe of great amusement and interest to large numbers of people ; it affords them pleasant occupation, and is attended with a oertain result. What I object to ie that fancy ponltry should take tbe place of useful birds that are fitted to supply the markets with poultry and eggs. At present, the aim of the poultry fanoier and exhibitor is not to breed fowls of any real value, btst to produce them in accordance with the requirements of the fanoier to win prizes, and to sell the birds at enormous prices as winners, and likely to produce others in their turn. The aim of the fanoier always is, as was remarked by Darwin, to go into extremes. He has not even a standard of beauty whioh he regards as final. The greater the extent to which he can make the specimens he produces excel others in fanoy points is the objeot at which he alms, consequently the hideous monstrosities are not unfrequently prodaoed and exhibited. The only advantage of which, from a scientific or practical point of view, is to prove the extent to whioh living organisms are variable. Cochins are one mass of useless feather, game hens stand a foot or more from the ground, Polish are bred so that they can scarcely see to feed, and so on, more or less, with every variety. In the following artioles I propose to show f owlb as they were when they were regarded as useful produoers of meat and eggs for the table, compared with their present condition, after having been developed by the aid of the fancier. I wish to show that for agricultural and economical purposes, the modern fanoy breeds are useless, as contrasted with tbe older varieties, I consider it ib absolutely necessary that such a view should be set forth, for at the present time our agricultural societies are doing what I conceive to be considerable injury by giving prizes for valueless biids, and ignoring, at least to a very great extent, the breeds that would be of benefit to the farmer and to the nation at large.— W, B, Tegetmbieb, in the Field.