66 WYANDOTTES. 



" It is a fact worth noticing that, after all the years the Plymouth 

 Rock has been in this country, the British farmer is only just 

 awakening to the merits of that variety. Let us hope for a quicker 

 and better future for 'our pets.' 



" For quick growth and early maturity, they are only beaten by 

 the Leghorn. This point, alone, is a very great consideration in a 

 monetary sense. 



" As egg-producers, they are better than many of the non-sitting 

 breeds, the average being fully 170 eggs per annum, and some thirty 

 odd hens, in the season of 1887-8, averaged 180, the Whites showing 

 a little ahead of the Silvers. I have kept Minorcas, Red Caps, 

 Andalusians and Leghorns, all at the same time, and under similar 

 conditions, and I can only truly say that the latter have beaten 

 them. A few Andalusians I found equal to the Leghorns, but the 

 greater number made an inferior show. In days gone by the An- 

 dalusian laid extremely well, but I am afraid that, through the 

 system of breeding adopted, its useful qualities are lost, with the 

 exception of a very few strains. 



" The Minorca and the Red Cap, although very fair layers, I 

 never found equal to what has been claimed for them, and they are 

 assuredly no better than the Wyandotte." 



The author has appended a foot note after the preceding para- 

 graph, as follows: " Mr. Charles G. Baker, writing of Silvers and 

 Goldens, says, ' I have kept a good many sorts in my time, and I 

 never kept better layers all the year round, and they are a good table 

 fowl of a nice flavor.' " 



Concerning White Wyandottes, the Rev. Harold Burton, who 

 makes them a specialty, writes: "I know they are very good layers; 

 they run wild on unlimited grass, go just where they like, and are 

 only fed when let out in the morning and shut up at night; I am 

 well pleased with them as useful, all round fowls, capital eating, 

 excellent layers, first rate sitters and mothers, hardy, cheap to keep, 

 tame and gentle to handle, yet lively and active; very pretty, too." 



Breeders are almost unanimous in declaring " It is the finest all 

 round fowl ever yet seen; an unequaled egg producer among the 

 sitting varieties; unsurpassed as a table bird for rapidity of growth 

 and quality of its meat; small boned, plump and not overwhelmed 

 with noxious fat, and one that, with proper treatment, is always 

 ready, even for a connoisseur's table, without any system of artificial 

 fattening. Moreover, it is hardy, easily reared, and is the breed of 

 all others from which to select hens for hatching and raising chick- 



