114 



The Illustrated Booic of Poultry. 



produce per pound than small, besides making their weight at so much earlier an age, and her.cc 

 giving a quicker return for the capital invested in them. We might say indeed, that the bare fact 

 of our possessing large breeds at all is an evidence of the value of this cultivation of size, being 

 simply the result of that selection which arouses Mr. Gould's doubts as to its utility. 



Lastly, Mr. Gould's own cardinal principles will not stand when practically applied. The 

 breed which combines the greatest weight in smallest relative compass is unquestionably the Game ; 

 and that which has the greatest proportionate weight in the choicer parts is probably the Malay, 

 which in relative weight of the breast, merry-thought, and wings together, exceeds any other fowl ; 

 but neither of these breeds in ordinary circumstances can be called profitable poultry. Mr. Gould 

 in the same address admits the Brahma to be one of the most valuable breeds ; yet by both these 

 canons it would be excluded. There are in fact a dozen circumstances to be considered before 

 the value of a breed is known. There are not only to be weighed its proportion of parts, but its 

 laying, its hardiness, its domesticity, its precocity, and the comparative cost per pound to produce 

 its carcase ; and from these various causes almost every breed has some special value, for the sake 

 of which it could ill be spared, and even when comparatively of little value in itself, is often highly 

 useful as a cross. 



The question has also another aspect. By thus keeping a high standard of artificial points, 

 below which a bird is comparatively valueless, conventionally perfect specimens will always be 

 few ; and we ensure a large number of birds which in these particulars are below par, but which 

 possess all the economic merits of the variety to which they belong, and which are available for 

 purely commercial purposes at a very moderate price. That celebrated breeders are often glad 

 to dispose of such extra stock at only a few shillings over the price of ordinary fowls is notorious; 

 and as the hiring of a good ram at a high price is directly remunerative in the increased fleece 

 and mutton produced, so the effect in the case of poultry is equally capable of being calculated. 

 Supposing a farmer's breeding-stock of one ordinary cock and seven hens is worth £\, or 2s. 6d. 

 each bird, the difl"erence in value of a fair Dorking cock at ^^i and seven Brahma hens at los. 

 each (and we have often been glad to sell pullets possessing every desirable quality, but useless 

 for show, at this price) will be ^^'3 los. ; and if all their eggs were set and reared for market, this 

 extra cost would be many times repaid in the extra weight, hardiness, and early maturity of the 

 produce. And though these parent birds would be such as by the amateur are vulgarly called 

 "screws," they are such as will never be reared by the mere farmer. The birds of fanciers attain 

 a size which is never kept up long by the commercial breeder, simply because they get such food 

 as the breeder or farmer will never give. The best milk, the best meal, eggs, meat, assiduous care 

 — are all devoted to them ; and the despised amateur thus maintains the stock, which furnishes 

 the raw material for all real improvement in market poultry. Without his "points" to breed to, he 

 would never do this. Granted that his standards are artificial, and some of them even ludicrous 

 and opposed to every principle of Esthetic beauty, still they are dear to his heart — they are his 

 ideal of beauty and grace. Every one has such. Dear, simple Hans Christian Andersen under- 

 stood this uell, and we cannot do better than quote one of his exquisite fables; but wc uill 

 change his title, and call it for the nonce a treatise on 



THE BEAUTIFUL. 



" Gone ! gone ! The beautiful is gone ! The roses have faded, and the leaves fall down. The birds which used 

 to sing are dumb, and the pigs go out hunting for acorns, and they are now the lords of the forest !" 



Thus sighed the rose-king. Do you know him? He is easily recognised. Go up to the wild rose-bushes, and 

 when in autum:! the flowers are all faded, and only the hips remain, you will often find under them a great red-green 



