JuHe2,imS.] Agricultural Gazette of N.SJF. 461 



Black Orpingtons. 



The original vai'icties of the brown eo;g or Asiatic on the one side, 

 and the white egg or European on tlie other, existed before our ken, and 

 constitute the origiuHl })ure breeds. The Bhick Orpingtons are of modern 

 development, and contain the two Ijloods, and is a pure lueed only in intcr- 

 uiating.- TliH origin is of Langshan and Minorca l)kx)d — both, no doubt, the 

 okl style---and the result is afii'stclass utility fowl. The laying type is not 

 ,so easily fixed in this composite breed as it is in the Langshan and Leghorn. 

 The pen that was second in tlie second test was made up of very large show- 

 type hens, weighing about fS lb. each ; and they laid considerably over 1,200 

 eggs. Illustration No. 2o is xer^' similar to tlicin in type, this pen winning 

 the third prize for geuei-al utility, the si.\ hens weighing \'-M lb. Illustration 



No. 9. Whice Leghorns. P. Lowe. 



No. 17. 41 111. foi- ') liens, and laying nearly l,l.'00 eggs, indicates a good show 

 type ; and the siniile specimen — Illustration No. 18 — is wliat we would takef(»r 

 a typical layer in Black Orpingtons I)oubtless there is plenty of material 

 here for the scientific selector to work uj) a strain of the greatest capacity. 

 In this breed, leaving out fads, show properties and laying capacity can be 

 combined. For the best layers and smallest eaters, or, in other words, t' e 

 mosr |.a\able type, keep away fiom the Cochin type f)f fluffy, big-headed 

 fowl. 



Black Orpingtons, although a plain-coloured biid, with no head ornaments, 

 and very little room fm- fads, still have had to take their chance of tlecay 

 through the fancy running on wrong lines. That this has been noticed b\ 

 Orpington breeders this quotation from the Dnihj Tehyroph of lOO-'' will 

 show : " As a result of the warning thrown out by a correspondent in this 

 column a couple of weeks ago, regarding the threatened extinction of the 

 Black Orpington, fr<)m a utility point of view, by the pieference given by 

 judges at Sydney shows of late for the small, fluffy, Cochiny type of bird. 



