| Show multiplication of breeds of poultry with our domestic animals as with ciuc and cheese the value of a breed depends in some measure upon ais age if bleeders breeders bre eders realized this there would bo less running after the so called breeds which spring up every year or two at the imo tho leghorns Leg horns acro first brought to this country they were a most unpromising lot as we remember them but they had cle ments of great value to predominate and the single combed white fowls were separated sepe rated from the others and carefully bred it was several years before a fixed breed was established even with this excellent foundation tha foundation was good because all the birds had the bamo general characteristics which were peculiar and valuable euch as were possessed by none of the then existing favorite breeds so when the leghorns Leg horns were introduced with tho uniform points of a fanciers fowl they became at once great favorites and had deserved then this excellent and unique breed was made to carry forward with it towards popularity a number of allied brecks all decidedly inferior to it browns blacas etc and now it seems the breed which properly affiliates with tho spanish is to be gazed and given a rose comb for aught we know blue legs it id true that irregular rose combs occasionally appeared in the original stock but they were regarded as abnormal now it is really absurd to introit duce them for no merit hut simply to add another breed or three or four breeds perhaps to our already too long list of the leghorn family some time ago a croas waa made which had dominique plumage with large size hardiness small bone yellow skin quick growth and the characteristics of a general purpose fowl tins is the plymouth rock variety it was not a breed but a cross however after years of breeding to a fixed standard it now is perhaps worthy of bring received as an established breed but it is still shaky left alone a few years it would more or less and in the best regulated families black fowls are constantly putting in an appearance As if one such breed were not enough another has been aniro deuced with no merit that we arc aware of that the plymouths Ply mouths have not it is a speckled mongrel looking breed in the yard though magnificent in the pictures and yet the whole world of american poultry people seem to be going daft over it probably because it is so well advertised it is pretty near a crime to admit these mongrel breeds if they may be so called to the standard and give them the approval of the united poultry bleeders breeders bre eders of this country we have now breeds enough unless somebody will get up a breed of fowls that will lay buff eggs and will not sit that would be both novel and useful it would be better for poultry fanciers to try to improve the breeds we now have and to learn by experimenting how to best use them in crosses american agriculturist for july |
