128 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



can be guided only by public results. If asked, 

 where are the best Leicester sheep in England, 

 the reply at once is, at Mr. Sandy's, Holm Pier- 

 point, Nottingham and why? because, in a 

 royal competition, open to the United Kingdom, 

 he carries off the prize. People may hug them- 

 selves with self-complacency, and flatter them- 

 selves that they have better at home; but let them 

 compete, and perhaps they will discover that 

 there is something in a home atmosphere which 

 leads to optical illusions, and thereby to defective 

 judgment. A little solitary hill in a wide plain 

 looks wonderfully large, for want of others with 

 which to compare it ; and both cattle and poul- 

 try have been known to look much larger by 

 themselves than by the side of their rivals. 



"It is a question how the variety known in 

 England under the name of ' Speckled Dork- 

 ings' was first produced. Some maintain that 

 the pure white Dorkings are the original breed 

 with five toes, and that the speckled and gray 

 Dorkings is a recent and improved cross, by 

 which the size was much increased between the 

 original white breed and the Malay, or some 

 other large fowl. From this opinion I must en- 

 tirely dissent on the ground of strong, though 

 not absolutely conclusive, evidence to the con- 

 trary. It seems to me that Columella's favorite 

 sort of hen could not differ much from the 

 speckled Dorkings as they at present exist. He 

 says: 'Let them be of a reddish or dark plu- 

 mage, and with black wings Let the 



breeding hens, therefore, be of a choice color, 

 a robust body, square-built, full-breasted, with 

 large heads, with upright and bright-red combs. 



Those are believed to be the best bred 



which have five toes.' It appears that Colu- 

 mella had the white sort, but he rejected them ; 

 for he advises : ' Let the white ones be avoided, 

 for they are generally both tender and less vi- 

 vacious, and also are not found to be prolific/ 

 faults which are still attributed to them by some. 

 Mr. Courtney, in a letter to Captain Morgan, 

 who imported some of these fowls in 1845, says : 

 ' The old white sort is altogether bred out, and 

 the speckled and gray varieties are now all the 

 rage, and altogether are, perhaps, the best barn- 

 yard fowls in existence.' " 



Mr. Dixon says, after speaking of the good 

 qualities of the speckled Dorkings, " With all 

 these merits they are not found to be a profitable 

 st6ck if kept thorou gh-bred and unmixed. Their 

 powers seem to fail at an early age. They are also 

 apt to pine away and die just at the point of 

 reaching maturity ; particularly the finest spec- 

 imens, that is, the most thorough-bred, are de- 

 stroyed by this malady. These, and a few other 

 apparently trifling defects, seem to show that 

 with the speckled Dorkings the art of breeding 

 has arrived at its limits." 



"Fearing total ruin in our chicken depart- 

 ment (Dorkings)," says A. B. Allen, in the Amer- 

 ican Agriculturist, " two years ago we displaced 

 the Dorking cock, and introduced a thorough- 

 bred, spirited Shawl-necked Game-cock into the 

 yard. The immediate consequence of this was 

 the fecundity of the eggs, almost every one hatch- 

 ing that was set, the rearing of almost every 

 chicken, and the replenishing of the yard with 

 a fine robust stock of beautiful young birds, pos- 

 sessing the valuable qualities although somewhat 

 lessened size of the Dorking, with the vigor, 

 hardihood, and fecundity of the Game. Select- 

 ing our best pullets, we disposed of the Game- 

 cock, for he was a pugnacious rascal, we brought 

 back two or three young Dorking cocks, bred 

 from a part of the old stock at another yard, to 

 which we had removed them, as we still wished 

 to retain a preponderance of that blood. Last 

 year we raised over a hundred as good chickens 

 as ever graced a barn-yard, yielding as fine, del- 

 icate, and juicy flesh as the original Dorkings. 

 They are abundant layers, of good size, beauti- 

 ful plumage, and altogether, please us exactly. 

 Plow long we may keep them so, is to be tried, 

 as they are mongrels ; but alternating between 

 the Game and Dorking, as necessity may appear 

 to demand and wanting no others so long as 

 they breed satisfactorily we hope to keep them 

 as they should be." 



The chief points of merit in a Dorking may 

 be briefly stated as a broad, deep breast, broad, 

 square shoulders, short legs, with, in the hens 

 especially, a well-rounded stern. 



A cock is about at his best at two years old, 

 and still excellent at three. 



