138 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



a great deal of offal in the shape of heavy, coarse 

 bones and useless feathers, the proceeding is not 

 desirable. Crosses of this kind have found no 

 favour in the eyes of our practical neighbours, 

 the French, nor are the birds appreciated by the 

 feeders who buy for the purpose of fattening 

 fowls for the market." Of Plymouth Rocks, it is 

 similarly stated that they are " not adapted for 

 market fowl in England," and of Wyandottes, 

 that " they are, as might have been expected, 

 destitute of any merit as market fowls." When 

 we proceed to test such statements, practically, 

 by either the experience of the " feeders," or 

 by the practice of " the French," or finally 

 by the results at good shows of dead poultry, it 

 will be found rather difficult to compress a 

 greater number of errors within so i&\\ lines. 



Taking first the feeders, the extremely small 

 proportion of the old Surrey breed has already 

 been referred to, though that is not from choice, 

 but from necessity : also the curious fact that 

 the cross of Indian Game and Dorking has been 

 tried by them, and not approved for the bulk of 

 their business. It is admitted to make the very 

 finest specimens at a certain cost, if a certain 

 price can be reached ; but it does not meet the 

 greater part of the figures above, or pay at the 

 size the feeder chiefly wants : it needs age and 

 size to show profitably, and does best late in the 

 year. Their own present local breed, as already 

 stated, has a strong Cochin infusion, shown by 

 fluff and feathered shanks ; and the rest are 

 chiefly Brahma or Plymouth Rock crosses. The 

 first is specially liked by a large number, who 

 say it "pays" in their particular connection 

 better than any other. Mr. Kenward, who 

 raised and fattened 8,ooo of his own birds, 

 preferred the Dorking and Brahma cross to any 

 other, as making most money, and told us 

 personally that some of his birds realised 

 /s. 6d. each, about the top price of the London 

 market. These birds are not at all deficient in 

 breast, but on the contrary specially good in that 

 respect, as good Brahma crosses generally are. 



French practice is to the same effect. The 

 bird most in favour with French feeders of the 

 present day, the Faverolles, is a combination of 

 the Houdan with the Dorking and the Brahma 

 — two English components to one French ! 

 This cross-bred bird has now nearly displaced 

 the Houdan in the Houdan district itself ; and 

 we thus see that in actual fact a cross of this 

 kind, so far from finding no favour as alleged, 

 is amongst " our practical neighbours " their 

 last and favourite production. And at some 

 Smithfield exhibitions the Faverolles displayed 

 were considered by all the poulterers, without 

 exception, about the best birds at the show. 



The same conclusion is enforced by the prices 

 realised at the Smithfield shows of dead table 

 poultry : observe, we say by the prices, rather 

 than the prizes, prices being the real 

 Results in criterion of the professional fatter. 

 Competition. Passing a few of the earliest years 

 as possibly questionable on the 

 ground of " ignorance " (which has, indeed, been 

 alleged against their results), we take as the first 

 the year 1894, in which it was known the Duke 

 of York would enter birds, and there was accord- 

 ingly heavy competition. The Royal entries 

 should be omitted, as realising obviously 

 "royal" prices; of the remainder, the highest 

 price for a pair of fowls was realised by Lady 

 Rothschild's Brahma-Dorking cockerels, weigh- 

 ing 16 lbs. 14 ozs., entered at 15s. the couple, and 

 fetching at auction 30s., while the cup pair of 

 Indian Game and Dorking cockerels weighed 

 12 lbs. 10 ozs., and realised 27s. This was the 

 more remarkable because the 1894 show was 

 dominated by the theorists here in view, to 

 the extent that there was only one class in each 

 sex for all cross-breds beside those Game and 

 Dorkings and " Surreys " favoured by them, and 

 only one each for all other pure breeds, the 

 winning pullets in the latter being Wyandottes, 

 entered at 12s. and realising iSs. On the other 

 hand, what is said above about the very highest 

 quality and occasional special prices, was borne 

 out by the Earl of Yarborough's six-group of 

 the Indian Game and Dorking cross, which was 

 bought by Mr. W. Bellamy for the Constitutional 

 Ciub for six guineas ; this group weighed 

 55 lbs. 14 ozs., averaging 9 lbs. 5 ozs. each, at an 

 average price of 2s. 3d. per lb. We notice these 

 particularly because the prices approximated to 

 French prices, and the fowls accordingly fully 

 equalled French fowls. For years past French 

 feeders have had nothing to teach English, so 

 far as anything like such prices can be obtained ; 

 but it is not reasonable to expect a bird sold for 

 5 s. to equal a French one sold for 20s. 



In 1S95 the highest of the Dorking cockerels 

 realised 15s., pullets 13s.; the English Game 

 cockerels i8s. ; Indian Game lis.; and pullets 

 los. 6d. Again there was one class only in 

 each sex for all other pure breeds, Langshans 

 winning in each, and realising 13s. and 13s. 6d. 

 Of crosses, top prices were in Game Dorkings, 

 14s. and 15s. ; Indian Game ditto, i8s. 6d. (very 

 large) and 14s., while in the one class each for 

 all other crosses, two pairs of Dorking and 

 Brahma cockerels realised i6s. and 15s., and 

 the best pullets 14s. We have no notes of 1896, 

 but by 1897 the merits of other breeds had 

 made themselves felt, and competition in all 

 was stronger, with high prices as the result all 



