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Orient, ground down by heartless nobility and having at his 

 disposal but a mere fragment of land, factors so mightily in 

 feeding his more highly favored brethren. 



That the farm possesses those natural advantages best fitted 

 for a beautiful and prolific condition of poultry, is plainly evi- 

 dent, and yet, how few farmers pay any systematic attention to 

 this industry. A few forsaken looking, mongrel fowls of mixed 

 lineage and uncertain breeding, left to shift for themselves and 

 to depend mainly upon their own exertions for a livelihood, 

 represent the ne plus ultra of poultry breeding on the average 

 farm. To be sure there are a few notable exceptions to this 

 rule, but the number is very insignificant. 



There seems to be a tendancy among farmers to regard with 

 suspicion pure-bred or so called fancy stock in general, and 

 none more so than fancy poultry, the idea seeming to be preva- 

 lent that this kind of stock is bred solely to make a handsome 

 appearance, and that it possesses no practical worth to recom- 

 mend it. Now this is a great mistake, for, while as in every 

 thing else, there is great variation in the quality of different 

 breeds of poultry, yet we have a large variety of distinct breeds 

 that hold the same position among poultry in general, as does 

 the Arab among horses, and the Jersey, Guernsey and Holstien. 

 among neat stock. Indeed it was lamented by some that the 

 poultry department of the late Fair held at Beverly, comprised 

 so largely birds entered by the so-called poultry fanciers, rather 

 than by farmers, it being stated in substance that the fanciers 

 breed simply for feathers and external beauty, rather than, eggs 

 and flesh, the true practical qualities. In reality this is but the 

 expression of the notion that fanciers and farmers possess noth- 

 ing in common, which is b} r no means the case, nor are fanciers 

 themselves, as a class, so careless of utility as is generally sup- 

 posed. For while the breeding of fowls to feather and fancy 

 points to the sacrifice of everything useful is to be highly con- 

 demned, and undoubtedly the practice is in vogue to some extent, 



