THE ASIATICS. 



73 



taining the Cochin shape. In early days these fowls were 

 tall and leggy, and close feathered, both in the males and 

 females. By shape they would hardly have been recognized 

 as belonging to the Cochin family as described by the pres- 

 ent American Standard. In the early days they were known 

 as almost non-sitters. 



Four years later, at the National Poultry Show at Chi- 

 cago, the Blacks on exhibition was one of the strong classes. 

 During this short space of time they had made considerable 

 improvement in shape, but the color had somewhat depre- 

 ciated. 



In 1879 we owned our first Black Cochins. They were 

 somewhat undersized and coarse in their general make up, 

 though they filled the requirements of this variety at that 

 time. I took up the breeding of Black Cochins with the 

 fixed determination to secure if possible birds of larger size, 

 of Cochin shape, with more profuse feathering, and at the 

 same time retaining their economic qualities as to jgg pro- 

 duction and early maturity. How well I have followed this 

 determination is best shown by the fact that I have contin- 

 uously and without interruption bred this variety twenty- 

 two years and produced fowls that have received the high- 

 est recognition at the local and national exhibitions of our 

 country. 



Starting with the Williams strain, for two years we in- 

 bred the fowls, selecting the fullest feathered for the pur- 

 pose, using sire on daughter and granddaughter. This 

 resulted in an increased size and an improvement in sfcape. 

 Later we purchased what was then known as the Stone 

 stock. The male line was not satisfactory. We selected 

 two pullets that were extra heavily feathered on legs and 

 toes and mated them with 'the old cock. From this mating 

 the results were very satisfactory. The cockerels combined 

 the good qualities of the sire, increasing the leg feathering 

 and fluffiness so desirable in the Cochins. The best cockerel 

 was bred to his dam, and from this mating a line of sires 

 was established that has remained unbroken to the present 

 day. 



It seemed to be a natural tendency of the Blacks to be 

 more closely feathered than the other Cochins. To obviate 

 this, I concluded to try the cold weather theory of fluffing. 

 I had a brood hen come off in August with six youngsters. 

 These chickens were given the closest attention, sheltered 

 from the inclement weather and kept growing from the 

 shell to maturity. In November they were black balls of 

 fluffy down. From this lot four were selected for exhibitior- 

 purposes. That they were excellent Cochins is evidenced 

 by the fact that they won sweepstakes prizes at two of the 

 largest shows in the west, i. e., Chicago and Indianapolis. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH IMPORTED STOCK. 

 A number of importations of Blacks have been made 

 since 1885. This blood must be used very sparingly to avoid 



A Typical Black Cochin Cock. Bred by C. H. Rhodes. 



a stiff, harsh hock. On several occasions I have experimented 

 somewhat with the English variety of Black Cochins, but 

 have achieved my greatest success in confining the matings 

 to the stock of my own production. 



The increasing volume of my correspondence and the 

 statement received from many fanciers, show conclusively 

 that the Black Cochins are growing in popularity each 

 year. From the present handsome and symmetrical Black 

 Cochin, one would hardly recognize any resemblance to the 

 tall and leggy variety of birds of twenty years ago. The 

 development of this fowl to its present state of perfection 

 illustrates* what may be accomplished by careful matings 

 and persistent effort to perfect a given variety of fowls. In 

 the history of Black Cochins, there never has been a time 

 when the variety has been given any great boom in the 

 fanciers' world. They have grown steadily in public favor 

 without the boom and reaction which is the fate of so many 

 other varieties. With their intrinsic merits and from their 

 past history, one has a right to believe they will continue to 

 grow in popularity as their excellence becomes better 

 known. C. H. RHODES. 



