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FANCIER S' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



ing is the result: Fifty-eight chickens were hatched, three 

 are dead, eleven are yet too young to decide upon their sex : 

 of the remaining forty-four every one has turned out exactly 

 true to the old man's theory. This, of course, may be an 

 accidental coincidence, but I shall certainly try the experi- 

 ment again. I am now trying the same theory upon ducks' 

 eggs." 



But to make the matter more sure we will give the experi- 

 ments of Wm. J. Pyle, of West Chester, Pa., who writes: 



"I herewith send you my 'egg mystery,' and if you will 

 follow my instructions closely you will succeed every time. 

 Last summer I hatched one hundred and twenty-two chicks 

 from eggs selected on this principle, one hundred and nine- 

 teen of which were pullets. I always select eggs of medium 

 size, believing them to bo best for this purpose. I then get 

 a large lamp (kerosene), and take an egg in my right hand, 

 between the thumb and two forefingers, big end uppermost, 

 and hold it as near to the light as possible, then lay the little 

 finger of the left hand across the middle of the egg. This 

 will throw the light in the egg ; then turn it around slowly, 

 and you will perceive a dark spot the size of a three-cent 

 piece directly in the centre of large end, or on one side, as 

 in diagrams Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. 



"As I raise poultry for eggs and for market, I of course set 

 only eggs like No. 3, with a few of No. 1 to replace the 

 cocks of last year. 



" It would be well for an amateur to break a few eggs, 

 empty out the contents, and examine the large end where 

 the air-chamber in the different positions as in diagram will 

 be distinctly seen " 



We hope that the fanciers who read the above will try the 

 experiment carefully, and report through the Fanciers' 

 Journal as soon as satisfied whether the theory is correct or not. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION. 



J. M. Wade, Esq. 



Dkak Sir: Yours of the 27th inst. received, containing a 

 slip from the Ohio Farmer, in which one F. W. Babcock, of 

 Fair Haven, Conn., makes a slanderous attack upon the 

 members composing the American Poultry Association. 



Really I do not believe that the article emanated from his 

 brain, but that it was instigated by another. From the fact 

 that he was obliged to send the questionable article to an 

 agricultural journal in a distant State, where he was not 

 known, in order to get it published, will be, beyond a doubt, 

 positive evidence to the readers of poultry journals that the 

 article would not have been published by them. 



I look upon it as the most uncalled-for, untruthful, and 

 venomous attack upon the strongest, most prosperous, and 

 dignified body of men ever assembled together for anv 

 honorable purpose ; also upon the organization, composed, 

 as it is, of the masses of fanciers — prominent, solid, and 

 active men of the United States and Canada. 



The writer of the article shows himself to be a weak- 

 minded individual, influenced hy another, whose mind is 

 not only weak, but whose principles would debar him from 

 the society of such as are connected with the American 

 Poultry Association. 



The whole article is a distortion of the truth, interspersed 

 with — well, to give them no milder terms — lies, and it would 

 affect the high moral character and dignity of the Associa- 



tion to take any notice of it whatever, other than to treat it 

 with silent contempt. Yours truly, 



W. H. Churchman. 

 Claymont, Delaware, February 28th, 1874. 



For the benefit of those who do not take the agricultural 

 papers, we republish the letter of Mr. Babcock in full, which 

 called out the above answer from Mr. Churchman, President 

 of the American Poultry Association : 



THE NEW POULTRY STANDARD. 



It must be apparent to all readers of the Ohio Farmer, 

 who are interested in the breeding of fancy poultry, for 

 either pleasure or profit, that a great outrage has been per- 

 petrated upon them in the revision of the " Standard " by 

 the so-called American Poultry Association, which met in 

 Buffalo, January 14th, and Boston, February 5th. I do not 

 make this charge on my own responsibility alone, but am 

 sustained in so doing my many of the leading poultry- 

 breeders of America, whose comments upon this outrage I 

 shall take the liberty to quote further on. This Association 

 has nothing whatever in its organization, method of meeting 

 or results, that is worthy of the title American. 



The first American Standard, issued in May, 1871, and 

 which has done such noble service in the poultry interest 

 everywhere, was adopted in ojien meeting with free member- 

 ship to every man, woman, and child owning or interested 

 in poultry, the opinions of all receiving due weight and 

 attention; and thus if every one was not heard it was their 

 own fault. 



On the other hand, the standard of 1874 has been adopted 

 by a select few, with closed doors, an admission fee of three 

 dollars being charged, and if unpaid the fancier was excluded. 

 This standard aims to represent the particular points bred to 

 by "that crowd," and all persons not liking it can solace 

 themselves as best they may with the old one, which is now 

 declared worthless. Will the rank and file of American 

 fanciers swallow this pill so nicely prepared for them remains 

 to be seen, but it is safe to assume that they will not. In 

 this connection I received a letter, a few days since, frnm an 

 American authority on poultry matters who declined to sub- 

 mit to any such tax, or to act in such " air-tight star-chamber 

 get-up," and was of course put out. 



That many good men and careful breeders attended this 

 meeting, there is no doubt, but many of them will ere long 

 realize that there is a "wheel within a wheel," and unless 

 this whole patched-up standard is revoked at once, the poultry 

 interest will be run in a "ring" which would do credit to 

 Tweed & Co. Let the nrass of our fanciers hold a mass 

 meeting at once, and adopt a standard which shall merit the 

 broad and meaning title of American. In closing I will 

 annex a short extract from the American Rural Home for 

 January 31st, and which but faintly expresses the indigna- 

 tion that is brewing, and will ere long break around the ears 

 of the aristocrats of the "American" Poultry Association: 



"We believe in freedom of speech, freedom of thought, 

 freedom of action, and a free interchange of views on this 

 subject of fixing an American standard. No close corpora- 

 tion or secret deliberation on a matter that affects all classes 

 of breeders will be allowable by American fanciers. Because 

 one man breeds a certain class of fowls to his own notion, it 

 is no reason why other breeders should be obliged or com- 

 pelled to follow out his ideas just because he got them adopted 

 by a minority of breeders while in secret session. There is 

 nothing right about such proceedings, it is anti-republican 

 and anti-democratic in principle, and will not be acknowl- 

 edged by the majority of breeders in this countr}*. If there 

 is any tinkering of our present standard needed (which we 

 admit there is), let it be done with open doors, and in public. 

 In this manner the present standard was adopted, all breeders 

 being invited to participate in the proceedings, and discuss 

 the several points of fowls as they were presented." 



