14 POULTRY-CRAFT. 



own eggs and poultry, and having these articles strictly and reliably fresh. In 

 many instances family hens are from a dollars and cents standpoint unprofitable. 

 It costs more to produce the eggs and poultry used than it would to buy them 

 a state of affairs for which there is no good excuse, for very little skill in 

 handling fowls is required to make such small flocks pay their way. Not 

 many families are so situated that, wishing to keep a few fowls, they are unable 

 to do so. As will be shown in succeeding chapters, there are breeds of fowls 

 specially suited to close quarters. A little plot of ground, a little poultry 

 house, a little flock of hens, and a little love for domestic animals, make a 

 combination which will give the poor man in a city, at trifling cost, luxuries 

 for which his rich neighbor is glad to pay liberally. 



13. Poultry for Pleasure. For Exhibition. For Fancy. 



Though not the most important, this is the most prominent feature of poultry 

 interests. It is so intimately associated with the business of breeding high 

 class stock that it would puzzle many breeders to say whether they were in 

 poultry for fancy or for business. The majority of fanciers, however, are in 

 "the fancy" for pleasure. Pleasure means to one, winning at the exhibitions ; 

 to another, the possession of fine fowls ; to others, the acquisition of knowl- 

 edge of the laws of breeding and the exercise of skill in mating for special 

 results. Many keep fowls simply that they may have some restful pursuit not 

 in line with their regular work, to occupy mind and body in leisure hours. 

 Poultry fancying is more than a mere amusement ; it is a useful amusement, 

 a recreation having a recognized moral and educational value and, aside 

 from the fact that it makes " business " for many people, the poultry fancy has 

 an industrial influence in giving the initial impetus in the development of 

 economic poultry interests. Everywhere general improvement in common 

 fowls, and increased profits from fowls, have followed the introduction of 

 "fancy " fowls. The claim of some fanciers that this improvement was due 

 to the diffusion of the blood of their high class stock, can be only partially 

 admitted. Undoubtedly new blood has done much, but practical illustrations 

 of the advantages of good care and systematic breeding for a definite purpose, 

 have done more. The "fancy's " best contribution to the growth of industrial 

 poultry culture has been along the line of suggestive teaching. The real 

 usefulness of pleasurable poultry keeping needs to be better and more univer- 

 sally understood. It is equally desirable that fanciers should not make public 

 extravagant estimates of the benefits they confer, and that the true value and 

 dignity of poultry keeping for pleasure should be recognized by all poultrymen 

 and by the general public. 



14. Women as Poultry Keepers. The bulk of the supply of poultry 

 products comes from flocks cared for principally by women. On farms the 

 care of the fowls is usually left to the farmer's wife or daughter. In towns 

 the absence of the men from home during the working hours leaves the care 

 of the poultry mostly to the women, even when the men take an interest in it. 



