CHOICE OF BREEDS AND CROSSES. 



139 



round. In Dorkings, pairs of coclcerels fetched 

 21S., pullets 23s. and i6s. ; English Game 

 cockerels 14s., pullets 24s. and i6s. ; Lang- 

 shans (one class) i8s. and 15s., both pullets ; 

 Orpingtons (one class) 40s. and i6s. (cockerels) ; 

 Rocks (one class) 19s. (these were pullets from 

 a Sussex feeder, Mr. Kenward of Waldron). 

 In the crosses. Game Dorkings fetched 21s. (two 

 pairs); Indian and Dorking, i8s. (two pairs) for 

 cockerels, and 27s. pullets ; the class for all 

 others, 23s. in cockerels for Indian and Lang- 

 shan, 15s. in pullets for same cross, and another 

 iSs. for Indian and Sussex. 



In 1898 there was again strong competition, 

 and we append the results in fuller tabular form, 

 which show some interesting variations, though 

 the main conclusions remain as before. Pure 

 Dorkings beat all other pure breeds both in 

 highest price and average ; next come Lang- 

 shans in highest price and Plymouth Rocks in 

 average. Again the competition value of the 

 Indian Game cross is manifest in higher prices, 

 but it also gives nearly the lowest price ; and 

 the winners and most of the others in Surrey 

 and Sussex fowls had feathered less. 



In 1899 the prize birds were not sold by 

 auction but left to be claimed, only the residue 

 being sold at the close. The results were not 

 different, quality being high all round. Dorking 

 cockerels realised i6s. per couple and pullets 

 I2S. ; English Game, 12s. (cockerels); Indian 

 Game 15s. (two pairs, both cockerels); Lang- 



shans, 1 6s. (three pairs) and 15s. (two pairs); 

 Black Orpingtons, i6s. and 15s. (cockerels); 

 Buffs, 15s. (two pairs); Plymouth Rocks, 15s. 

 (two pairs) ; Wyandottes, 15s. ; any other breed, 

 14s. and I2S. 6d. for FaveroUes, which would un- 

 doubtedly have fetched more. In the crosses, 

 Game and Dorkings made iSs. and 15s.; Indian 

 and Dorking, 24s. for cockerels, and 1 8s. pullets; 

 any other cross, 24s. in cockerels for Sussex- 

 Dorking ; i6s. in pullets for Indian-Langshans ; 

 Surrey or Sussex 20s. and i8s. for cockerels, i8s. 

 and 15s. pullets, nearly all these being more or 

 less feather-legged, according to what we have 

 said before. 



Later figures than these are unnecessary for 

 the intelligent rearer and fatter, and he will 

 learn from such facts and the table on p. 137 

 to select his birds according to the 

 SeLection ^^^'^' P^'ice, and market he is work- 

 ing for, and his own circumstances 

 and experience. Such shows as have been cited 

 have done, perhaps, as much good in promoting 

 greater freedom in this respect, as in teaching 

 the public what good poultry is, and the cash 

 value of it ; and it should be more generally 

 known than it appears to be that the Worship- 

 ful Company of Poulterers offer their gold and 

 silver medals to any County exhibition of dead 

 poultry which comprises not less than fifty ex- 

 hibits, from which one month's notice and 

 application has been sent to the Clerk of the 

 Company. We have been informed by several 

 poulterers and salesmen in the wholesale 

 London markets that the former prejudice 

 against both black legs, and yellow legs and 

 skin, has largely disappeared, though not en- 

 tirely, but that white legs and skin still have 

 real value. It is remarkable that in America 

 the yellow skin and leg are actually preferred ; 

 and most people who have made direct compari- 

 son at the same meal have admitted that there is 

 a certain kind of moist juiciness in the meat of 

 many yellow birds, which does not as a rule exist 

 in the white breeds. The flesh of the latter is 

 typified in perfection by that of the pheasant, 

 or in fowls of the Dorking, both of which many 

 people think rather short and dry, though very 

 superior in other respects. This is the probable 

 explanation of a theory held by nearly all 

 Belgian feeders, that the best results in table 

 poultry are obtained by crossing a yellow race 

 upon a whitc-fleshed race, which is singularly 

 borne out by the Indian Game or Brahma cross 

 upon the Dorking ; by the Buff Orpington or 

 Lincolnshire Buff, which has taken the Buff 

 Cochin into indigenous white-skinned stock ; 

 and by the FaveroUes, which is admitted by 

 the French to surpass the original Houdan. 



