2S2 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



Crystal Palace show next year we found three 

 pens of that same stamp, reporting of them : 

 "Third prize [W. Morris] and 1611 and 1620 

 (Thomson, unnoticed) struck us as the nearest 

 together to any real type, and one which we 

 last year thought might possibly have given the 

 breed some character of its own." Mr. Thomson 

 stated next week that his birds were from a 

 totally distinct importation of his own, a fact 

 we were entirely ignorant of. At the Birming- 

 ham show a week or two later we noted again 

 that "in old Langshans Mr. Croad's and Mr. 

 Thomson's birds were the only pairs, so the 

 utter difference in type could be seen readily." 

 The birds referred to were very bare of feather, 

 and had very moderate to short legs, very full 

 breasts, and a full " flowing " tail and " sweep " 

 of profile, which we compared to that of both 

 the Dorking and the Hamburgh, with a justice 

 that will be seen from the small illustration 

 given. It rapidly became, and for some years 

 remained, the winning type of Langshan, as 

 exhibited by Mr. Bush, Mr. Orme, Mr. Pope, 

 Mr. Housman, and others ; and with its adoption 

 we hoped at one time that the long controversy 

 had been settled. 



But the bitter feeling of the inner cult of 

 this mysterious fowl — deemed "joss" or sacred 

 in China, there really did seem something 

 uncanny about the bird— forbade this, and the 

 recommendation of the type was imputed to us 

 as a fresh offence and injury. Judges in general, 

 and ourselves in particular, had been pointedly 

 appealed to for such a selection, and all had 

 agreed upon this model most unmistakably ; but 

 all concerned in it were now attacked tooth and 

 nail. Miss Croad affirmed* that our preference 

 was expressed " as an apple of discord thrown 

 in " ; it was said that we had " attacked her yard 

 through his " (Mr. Thomson's) t ; and when later 

 we noted similar birds as shown by Mr. Bush, 

 we were accused point-blank of " personal 

 hostility" for not stating a fact we could not 

 possibly know, that those birds were from Miss 

 Croad's own eggs, a fact we gladly published as 

 soon as it reached us. That was the first know- 

 ledge we had of her yard ever producing this 

 type ; and when a year or two after we noticed 

 birds of the same stamp to be now and then 

 shown by Miss Croad herself, we gladly said so. 

 But this proved yet another offence. She wrote 

 at once,t " This I emphatically deny I' and stated § 

 that she had rejected all birds from eggs Mr. 

 Thomson had sent her, " because they were so 



* Live Stock Journal, fune 27, 1SS4. 

 t Poultry, June 4, 18S6. 

 : Ibid, May 7, 1886. 

 g Ibid, June 4, 1886. 



different from my own." However this may be, 

 the small illustration herewith is reprinted from 

 a block prepared for and used by Miss Croad 

 herself to illustrate advertisements of her own 

 stock in the year 1888, and which is the exact 

 type we first observed in 1877. This type of 

 bird was, however, now opposed to the bitterest 

 extreme, for no apparent reason (since Miss 

 Croad's own yard was proved to produce it) 

 except that we had recommended it. She wrote 

 admitting that our advocacy of it "certainly for 

 a short time had the effect intended," but 

 intimated that the victory was not won yet. 

 And it was not. These birds were now furiously 

 attacked as Cochiny ! At the Dairy Show of 

 18S4 the chief winners were Mr. Merton Orme 

 and the Rev. A. C. Davies ; it was said of 

 Mr. Orme's winning pullet that " it was a 



As Advertised by Miss Croad, 1888. 



decided Cochin type, short-legged, atid if more 

 prolific in feathers might have stood for a Black 

 Cochin ; second pretty much of the same style."* 

 Mr. Harrison VVeir affirmed that the winning 

 cockerel had none of the Langshan character- 

 istics, and " ivould have passed muster in a Black 

 Cochin class!"[ It was proved that all these 

 birds were of Croad blood, absolutely uncrossed ; 

 and such reckless assertions are a truly curious 

 commentary upon the many previous statements 

 that there was nothing in common between 

 Langshans and Cochins I 



All this is only important now, because it 

 affected the Langshan itself profoundly. For it 

 succeeded, and stamped that type out. The 

 inner circle, whose vehement zeal 

 Reaction finally achieved this result, bred 



Fmher Change, fo"" "lore and more height of leg 

 and of tail, and carried those 

 points. When they had succeeded in this, and 

 the deep-bodied and short-legged model had 

 been fairly displaced, an astute breeder and 

 dealer who saw its superior merits, stepped in 



• Live Stock Journal, October 10, 18S4. 

 f Hid, November 7, 1884. 



