31 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



BREEDS FOR THE FARM AND FARMERS AS POULTRY 

 BREEDERS. 



By John H. Robinson, Editor ''Farm-Poultry," Boston, Mass. 



When I was a boy in Illinois thoroughbred fowls were rare, and even 

 less frequently found on farms than elsewhere. But there was one 

 thing about the farm flocks in those days that I often think of with 

 regret, — in the improvement of poulti'y stocks that feature has been 

 lost, — the fowls in each flock and the flocks throughout each community 

 were, in general, very much alike. 



To be sure there was not the uniformity one finds to-day in a lot of 

 selected specimens from a stock of well-bred birds. The best specimens 

 were not to be compared with the finest developed specimens of to-day 

 for either color, shape or size. Yet I am inclined to think that, aside 

 from the matter of color, the average farm flock of those days was more 

 uniform than even the average fancier's flock of to-day, and there are 

 some breeds now popular for which I would not except color either. 

 Observe that I do not claim that the flocks of the old days were as good 

 as those of to-day, — only that they were more uniform. 



It is to be regretted that in the improving of flocks, which has fol- 

 lowed the introduction of new breeds, uniformity in flocks and of the 

 flocks in the same section have so seldom been retained. Thei'e have 

 been so many new and improved breeds to select from that as soon as 

 people began to go outside of their own immediate neighborhood to get 

 new blood, and to try to introduce blood that would improve their flock, 

 those who had before used the same kind of stock began to use some 

 very difi"erent stocks ; and as they still continued exchanging " roosters " 

 and eggs with their neighbors, the result was that the flocks often 

 became fearfully and wonderfully mixed. The poultry stocks of the 

 country, considered as a whole, continue so. There are here and there 

 farming localities where nearly all farmers keep the same kind of fowls, 

 and in some sections flocks of certain breeds are much more numerous 

 than elsewhere, but there is not anywhere such greater uniformity and 

 better general excellence as might reasonablj- be expected after two- 

 thirds of a century of improvement. 



That this last statement is not in accordance with general ideas I am 

 well aware. Any one who will consider the lack of uniformity in the 

 poultry found in the ordinary farm flock as well as in the ordinary town 



