GOOD AND BAD QUALITIES OF 

 BREEDS. 



' CHAPTER II. 



THE SHORTCOMINGS OF BREEDS, 

 HENRY HALES. 



SO MUCH is said on the wonderful properties of this 

 breed by one person, and on the perfection of that 

 breed by another, that it is well to take a retrospec- 

 tive glance at the several varieties of poultry, and 

 give a few of their shortcomings (I cannot call them failings) 

 as well as of their merits. 



Let us commence with the old Games, as they are the near- 

 est in type to the original progenitors of our domestic poultry. 

 Although fine-flavored for the table, doing their own hatching, 

 excellent mothers, and beautiful in shape and plumage, their 

 eggs are rather small ; they themselves are not the best of lay- 

 ers, and are not easy to raise in large flocks for the market. 

 They are valued more for beauty or for their fighting qualities 

 than for the profit to be got from them for eggs or the table. 

 Some of our next earliest-known breeds are the Polish, for they 

 appeared centuries ago. They are very beautiful, but their top- 

 knots are a decided objection on a farm or wherever else ene- 

 mies of any kind can reach them, as they can not see well 

 enough around these tufts to escape, like most other fowls ; be- 

 sides this short-coming their flesh is poor. As chicks, too, 

 they are not very easily raised. 



The Hamburgs rival any breed for lovely forms, and exquisite 

 colors and pencilings. Moreover, they are excellent layers, 



