EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 303 



of the players. People who take an interest in and patronize 

 professional or high-class amateur ball games do so because in 

 them skillful and well-trained players do difficult things. It is 

 the same in the breeding of fancy live stock to a high standard 

 of excellence. When a breed or a variety is first made, the inter- 

 est of the breeders centers in a few characters, precisely as the 

 interest of a novice in any line centers in a few prominent fea- 

 tures. As breeders grow in experience and in skill, and as the 

 characters to which they first give special attention become fixed, 

 they demand better quality in these and also turn their attention 

 to the development of other characters. The more difficult a 

 combination of characters is to produce, the greater interest the 

 fancier takes in trying to produce it. When a standard calls for 

 a high degree of excellence in many characters, the proportion 

 of specimens of high excellence, as measured by that standard, 

 will almost always be small. It is because this is the case that 

 the rare specimens are considered so valuable. 



Fancy and utility types in the same variety. The great 

 majority of American breeders of fancy poultry seek to secure a 

 high degree of practical value in combination with fancy quality 

 in their stock. There are some fanciers who breed only for fancy 

 points, and some market poultry growers who pay no attention 

 at all to them, but as a rule those who give market poultry 

 special attention want well-bred stock of good ordinary quality, 

 and those who keep poultry for pleasure want the flock kept 

 for this purpose to supply at least their own tables with eggs 

 and meat. The breeder who wishes to combine fancy and utility 

 properties in any kind of live stock must breed only from speci- 

 mens that are meritorious in both directions, selecting much 

 more carefully than when breeding for one class of properties. 



