THE LEGHORNS 



of such great importance, as long as it does not prove 

 either of the two extremes. A medium buff is what we 

 should strive for. Evenness of color, too, is of the greatest 

 importance; all sections should be one even shade. 



Very few persons who now have the pleasure to look 

 at the beautiful Buff Leghorn as it appears in our leading 

 shows have any idea of the cost, patience and time it has 

 taken to place it in the position it now occupies in the 

 poultry world. Pardon us for saying that we have spent 

 a small fortune to get this breed before the fanciers of 

 this country. We have paid out many hundred dollars 



for birds we imported, having paid over $800 for eight 

 birds from the yards of Mrs. Lister-Kay, of England, be- 

 sides buying a number at prices running from $30 to $75 

 per head, and nearly one hundred additional breeders, 

 none of which we got for less than fifteen dollars per head. 

 In conclusion we will say that all real fanciers should 

 be proud of the success that has crowned the efforts of the 

 fanciers in America in improving and getting this valu- 

 able variety of the Leghorn family so near perfection. We 

 shall feel ever proud of the honor of introducing the beau- 

 tiful Buff Leghorn into this country. 



Modern Buff Leghorns 



Their Great and Growing Popnlarity. Excellent Market Properties. Improvement in Type and Colo 

 to Feed, Train and Condition for the Show Room. 



I DO NOT think there is any variety that has made 

 such rapid strides in the past three or four years as 

 the Single Comb Buff Leghorn. Especially during 

 the past year a veritable Buff Leghorn wave has swept 

 the country from coast to coast. 



In corresponding with several of the leading special- 

 ists, I find their cases the same as my own: they are ab- 

 solutely unable to fill orders for eggs and breeding stock, 

 the demand far exceeding the supply in all instances. I 

 have been refusing orders for the past three months. 



Now, fellow fanciers, "where there's smoke, there's 

 fire," and where there is a demand for a certain variety so 

 large that orders are being turned away the country over,, 

 I think you can safely say this particular variety is mak- 

 ing good and the public is waking up to the fact that it 

 has been losing a good thing and it is -getting busy in 

 order to procure this good thing as soon as possible; 

 hence the shortage. 



A statement of some of the qualities on which we 

 Buff Leghorn cranks base our claims, will not be amiss. 



First, they are the hardiest of the Leghorn family, 

 inheriting a rugged constitution from their birthplace, 

 Denmark. They are less susceptible to the general ail- 

 ments of other breeds and one rarely finds a bird out of 

 condition. They mature very fast and if hatched by hens 

 are soon able to shift for themselves. Both as chicks and 

 as matured fowls, they require much less feed than the 

 Whites, Browns and other varieties of Leghorns. I have 

 found that they will lay farther into the molt and will 

 start sooner when coming out than the Whites. It is an 

 acknowledged fact that they will breed truer to color than 

 any other buff variety. For broilers "they are it," making 

 a one or one and one-half pound broiler quicker than any 

 variety I know of. They dress a beautiful shade of yel- 

 low, so much desired in our high-class markets. They 

 lay a large, pure-white egg and "are on the job" month 

 in and month out. Some visitors, when here buying stock 

 or eggs for hatching, have said: "I do not wish anything 

 but utility stock, for I have been told exhibition birds do 

 not lay as well, being bred too fine." 



For answer I take them to my breeding house and 

 show them the egg record of my first Buff Leghorn pen 

 at Madison Square, 1909. There are six females in the 

 pen and in the month of March they laid 130 eggs. Need- 

 less to say, I usually make a sale of exhibition stock. 



There are two things which Buff Leghorn breeders 



have to improve; first, head points; second, tail carriage. 



Going through this class at New York, Philadelphia 

 and Boston, you find the males very apt to be coarse in 

 comb. They are large and beefy and the back of blade 

 falls over; they also show heavy thumb marks. The tail 

 carriage is apt to be too high and the tail not fully fur- 

 nished, having a pinched look. I would like to say here 

 that I am not in favor of the other extreme, i.e. the tail 

 carried almost horizontal with the back. I believe there 

 is a happy medium, and when we have our males with 

 tails horizontal with their backs we are getting away fromi 



r~':^4^^!^ 



i 



FIRST PRiIe hen AT BOSTON SHOW 1910, 

 5HAPE ANb COLOR SPECIAL' PREh Si OVNEb BY 

 MONMOUTH POULTRY FARMS FRENEhU N- J- 



The Buff Leghorn hen illustrated above distinguished 

 lerself by winning both the color and shape specials 

 It Boston, 1910. 



