POULTRY ARE NOT DETERIORATING. 



177 



fancier, it was their proper business to do it 

 from first to last, and not his at all. But they 

 have not done it, while he has ; not without 

 errors and mistakes, as we have seen, and as his 

 bitter accuser does well to point out, but still 

 he has done it, and it is his work entirely. We 

 may cite as a crucial witness the Surrey fowl, 

 which Mr. Tegetmeier himself cites 

 jjjg again and again, especially complain- 



Surrey ing that the Royal Agricultural 



Fowl. Society offers hundreds of pounds in 



prizes to " fancy poultry," whilst " the 

 Surrey and Sussex fowls, which constitute nine- 

 tenths of the very best and most remunerative 

 birds coming to the London market, were 

 absolutely excluded from competition." The 

 iact is, as shown at length in an earlier 

 chapter, that the old so-called " Surrey fowl " 

 as known in the 'sixties has almost disap- 

 peared in the fattening districts ; that at several 

 shows within our recollection the " fanciers " 

 have actually given classes for it, from a desire 

 to encourage it, but there have either been no 

 entries, or nearly all have been mongrels with 

 no Surrey blood apparent in them ; that at the 

 Smithfield Shows of dead poultry, crosses 

 between the pure breeds which the fancier has 

 provided have been the finest specimens, while 

 amongst those actually exhibited as Surrey 

 fowls, most of the very best have been not 

 really Surrey at all, in the sense of the old 

 breed, but the identical feather-legged crosses 

 which are being so industriously condemned. So 

 far from supplying London markets, it is not 

 too much to say that unless exhibitors can be 

 induced not only to again give classes for it 

 (already tried in vain) but also themselves to 

 take it up and exhibit it, the genuine old 

 Surrey fowl will soon be a thing of the past. 



There is another point, always forgotten by 

 those who bring these wholesale accusations, 

 and make such comparisons between the present 

 and the past. That is, the differ- 

 Difference ^'"^^ ^'^ markets. In the old days 

 in the demand and supply were small ; 



Market. j^q^^ they are enormous, and the 



great mass of both is for a cheap 

 product, of necessarily inferior quality. As 

 already hinted, there is no market practically 

 for fowls at the best French prices ; it is not 

 therefore reasonable to expect, at far lower 

 figure, equal birds. But going back only to 

 1S65, in that year we personally heard the late 

 Mr. John Baily, whose authority is well known, 

 state at a dinner that the price then and for 

 years past commanded by good early spring 

 Surrey chickens was ''four guineas per dozen" 

 or 73. each. The supply was small, the breed 



was still to be had for it, and the price sure, 

 and relatively equal to at least 9s. each now. 

 That price will still obtain as good birds — nay, 

 a less price will do so, and in far larger quan- 

 tities than would have been possible formerly. 

 Such is the work exhibitions have done. But it 

 is not reasonable, when meat is 60 per cent, 

 dearer than then, to expect that chickens, 

 meant to be sold for very much lower prices, 

 should equal such as Mr. Baily spoke of. At 

 the Smithfield Table Poultry Shows, however^ 

 we have seen many pairs of fatted fowls at 

 14s. per couple — the same price; and one of 

 the foremost West End poulterers told us that 

 no better fowls, if as good, could ever have 

 been found. 



We have discussed this question in some 

 detail, because it is an important one in itself, 

 and also because there really are serious points 

 for concern in connection with it. If 

 Practical it is matter for regret that a veteran 

 Remedies. judge should have shown so much 

 want of moderation in discussing it, 

 it is not matter for regret that he should have 

 raised it ; and even his method may perhaps 

 enforce its consideration as more moderate 

 treatment might not have done. The practical 

 issue is to find remedies for so much as admits 

 of remedy. It is easy to say that none is 

 possible ; but the contrary is known by expe- 

 rience. We have shown that points now 

 proved injurious, were first adopted as utility 

 points ; it is not impossible, if general opinion 

 can be carried along with the change, so to 

 modify the standards as to remove most of the 

 evils now found. Beyond a certain point we 

 cannot of course go. The best show specimen 

 can rarely be the best layer ; for it must be 

 judged by the outward, while laying is an 

 unseen and unknown point so far as showing is 

 concerned. If careless in-breeding does impair 

 constitution, that too we cannot check in a 

 show pen ; we can only teach methods, as in 

 the next chapter, by which such evils may be 

 avoided. But all these problems need not 

 trouble us much, since the farmer and the 

 feeder mainly prefer crosses, for many reasons, 

 and in the first cross most of these evils dis- 

 appear ; moreover, we aim also to teach him how 

 to breed fowls upon his own utility lines, from 

 the stock the fancier provides. After you have 

 scoffed at the latter to your heart's content, and 

 though his very best show specimens may not 

 be good layers, possibly — some of them are — 

 we shall still find in practice that tlie fancier is 

 getting eggs when the farmer gets hardly any, 

 and that the fowls he kills for his own table are 

 better than most which are bought in the shops. 



