ORIGIN AND DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS 35 



Even the Houdan may properly belong to the general pur- 

 pose class on account of its weight and meat qualities. The 

 weight of the adult female is 6 pounds. The crest is more 

 ornamental than useful and this peculiarity' has undoubt- 

 edly had a great deal to do with the lack of appreciation 

 shown for it among utility poultry-keepers. It lays a white 

 egg, the color of legs is pinky-white, mottled with black. 



GENERAL PURPOSE BREEDS 



American breed makers have run altogether to the gen- 

 eral purpose type of fowl. In the American class we have 

 the Plymouth Rock, the Wyandotte, Java, Dominique, 

 Rhode Island Red, Buckeye, all of medium size and of 

 general purpose characteristics. Out of those six breeds 

 twenty varieties have been made, there being of the Wyan- 

 dotte alone eight different varieties, the differences in 

 varieties being wholly in color. It is true that American 

 breeders have "made over" other breeds that have come 

 from foreign countries until some of them would scarcely 

 be recognized as of the same breed, but the work has been 

 chiefly confined to fixing external points of color, not in 

 altering type. 



The general-purpose fowl is a modern innovation. Be- 

 fore the days of the modern breeder there were practically 

 but two types of fowls the large, slow, fleshy Asiatic, and 

 the small egg-laying Italian. The modern breeder has con- 

 cerned himself not so much in improving these two types 

 as in making various combinations of them. Our American 

 breeds are therefore the result of crossing the two pure 

 races mentioned. The poultry industry has doubtless 

 gained from the making of these varieties. A question 

 naturally arises as to whether it would not have been better 

 if the breeders had confined themselves to improving exist- 



