THE ASIATICS. 



duced into England by a present of a pen of the birds to 

 Queen Victoria by Mr. Burnham. In his amusing and un- 

 scrupulous book, "History of the Hen Fever," Mr. Burn- 

 ham says: 



"An ambitious sea captain arrived in New York from 

 Shanghai, bringing with him about one hundred China fowls 

 of all colors, grades and proportions. Oust of this lot I se- 

 lected a few grey birds that were very large and conse- 

 quently very fine. I bred these with other grey stock I had 

 at once and soon had a fine lot of birds to dispose of, to 

 which I gave what I have always deemed their only true 

 and appropriate title (as they came from Shanghai), to-wit, 

 Grey Shanghais." 



It will be noted that these China fowls were of "all 

 colors, grades and proportions," and it will be readily un- 

 derstood that selection and careful breeding along any one 

 line of color, grade or proportion would ultimately develop 

 a distinct type, which would breed true and become a vari- 



that time than the popular Black Langshans of to-day. The 

 same opinion obtained here in America, and the writer dis- 

 tinctly remembers hearing the earlier Black Langsbars con- 

 temptuously sjx>ken of as "Inferior Cochins." It is probable 

 that the Langshans are descended from the same great par- 

 ent stock of China fowls as are our Brahmas and Cochins, 

 and they owe it to the skill of enthusiastic breeders vhat 

 they are now a distinct variety. 



In economic quality Asiatic varieties have been chiefly 

 ranked as table fowls, or meat producers; they have, how- 

 ever, been well known as magnificent layers. When farm 

 raised and with the free and easy manner of farm breeding 

 and handling, they fall off materially in show qualities and 

 develop great laying ability. 



Mr. Wright speaks of Brahmas which lay above 200 

 eggs each in a year, and Mr. Silberstein had a Light Brahma 

 pullet that by trap nest record laid 232 eggs within a year 

 of laying maturity. We at one time bred what we called an 



"Her Majesty's Cochins; Imported in 1843." Reproduced from Tegetmeier's Poultry Book. 



ety. Mr. Burnham elsewhere says that the Dark Brahmas 

 were produced by crossing Grey Chittagongs with Cochins, 

 the Cochins probably being the "other grey stock" of which 

 he speaks, and which were probably earlier importations of 

 China fowls. The illustrations of Cochins and Light Brah- 

 mas, which we have reproduced from Tegetmeier's poultry 

 book, give us a good idea of what those early Cochins and 

 Brahmas were, and a comparison of the birds of (about) 

 1S50 with those of to-day is full of encouragement and indi- 

 cates what development can be attained by selection and 

 careful breeding. 



The Langshans are a much more recent importation, 

 they having first been introduced into England in 1872 and 

 purported to come from the Langshan district in China, 

 and Mr. Wright says of them: 



"It seems more than probable that birds very similar to 

 Langshans have been imported as Black Cochins in the 

 early days of those fowls." And an illustration which he 

 gives of the early Langshans lends probability to this sup- 

 position, as they much more resemble the Black Cochins of 



"Early Laying" strain of Light Brahmas, which were most 

 prolific layers and pullets of which reached laying maturity 

 at between five and six months old; an intimate friend had 

 what he called "Practical" Buff Cochins, which were early 

 and most prolific layers, and we know a farmer in western 

 New York who breeds what he calls "Farmers' Black Lang- 

 shans" that are likewise great layers. In all of these cases 

 the birds develop with a fineness of bone that makes them 

 at maturity from one to two pounds under weight, and this 

 characteristic of great laying Asiatics would indicate that 

 ■;he show stock has been bred to rather excessive size, and 

 that breeding them to a finer framed type would increase 

 their economic merits. It would seem that the same deteri- 

 oration in economic merit has been evident in England, as 

 Mr. Wright speaks of' the Brahmas as follows: 



"There are various causes for the decline in laying 

 powers, which is certainly general. Of course the one general 

 cause of breeding merely for feather has some effect, as in 

 all other cases; but that alone is soon recovered from in 

 "utility" stock, such as gets about the country. In addition 



