THE ASIATICS. 



79 



faila in true productive merit; so true is this, that when a 

 breed holds such a position it is prima facie evidence of 

 merit and utility. 



Oddities have never stood popular long with the so-called 

 fancy breeders. They are seldom sought for by the practi- 

 cal poultry keeper and as the prejudice against the color of 

 skin and fat in this breed gives way see them gain favor 

 daily with the poulterer; New England being the only sec- 

 tion so strongly prejudiced in favor of golden colored car- 

 cass when dressed. This is the only objection which pre- 

 vents the breed being a universal favorite, even in New 

 England. 



The early and prominent breeders of Langshans adhere 

 to the original type. Their early acceptance protected them 

 from breeders' hobbies and individual claims for strains. 

 There were only claims of excellence for families or the get 

 of particularly meritorious sires. Charcoal, Paragon, Bar- 

 cem C, Prince Cyclops, Thunder, Cyclone are among those 

 of American reputation during 

 all these years. To-day do we 

 see the best types, and they are 

 the types admired in 1883. 



The breeder no longer ignores 

 egg production in a breed; none 

 but the very best, in an exhibi- 

 tion sense, now sell at the price 

 of beauty. In a breed beauty is 

 quality to be sure, and the very 

 few having this exhibition excel- 

 lence sell at extravagant prices, 

 but the rank and file are the bone 

 and sinew of poultry culture and 

 herein comes the question of egg 

 production; these produce the 

 dividends that make all stock 

 profitable. None can deny that 

 the Langshan is one of the best 

 and most prolific layers among 

 the Asiatics. 



To produce a layer we have to 

 produce a brother to her and 

 herein comes the question of 

 poultry meat. The poultry ques- 

 tion in any breed is an item to 

 be looked after, for as a rule we 

 look for the money to be received 

 from marketing of the males up 

 to six months of age, to pay for 

 the raising of the entire flock. This they will do, leaving the 

 females as they commence to lay free of the cost of feeding, 

 when they commence the dividends in poultry culture, which 

 we may safely reckon in October as a dollar and twenty-five 

 cents and the value of the hen as in the market added. In 

 this breed the males will pay better in proportion as capons, 

 as in appearance when dressed they resemble a small turkey 

 more than does any other breed, therefore sell better as 

 canons. 



Our novice and beginner demands a pen picture of all 

 the breeds. How essential then that all such, in the absence 

 of specific standards, be truthful descriptions of nature's 

 excellence, and that all illustrations be found within the 

 lines of nature. The artist has no right to go beyond nature, 

 even if by so doing he gives the same impression. Measure- 

 ment should have weight as well. See our illustrations. 



Thus should our pen pictures and illustrations become 

 true and instructive standards for the novice, and rules of 

 action in adjudicating prizes in our exhibitions. We do not 

 think, should we be followed, that the specimens will score 

 any the less by the A. P. A. law, but nope they will when 



meeting our demands, be far more appreciated by, and bring 

 a better price in the thoroughbred market. In our present 

 standard the language is too meager and the dividing of the 

 subject of color and shape not appreciated by the novice or 

 beginner. We have outgrown the belief that standards are 

 for the sole use of the judges in our exhibitions; they are 

 and should be the text book for the beginner in poultry cul- 

 ture. It is for such we are endeavoring to write this essay. 



We are therefore opposed to that heresy which demands 

 that standards shall be formed and illustrations made other- 

 wise than true likenesses of nature's best. We hear the ex- 

 pressions used often, "We want the standard better than we 

 have seen, for the breeder to breed up to"; what nonsense. 

 The Almighty as a rule gives us in the best efforts of nature 

 the best merit and productive power; what folly to distort 

 this handiwork of the Creator. 



When we describe each section according to the best 

 nature has produced, doing this in all sections, we have per- 



A Pair of Black I^angshans, Illustrating the Shape of Different Sections Advocated by I. K. Felch. 



fection as a whole. It is true nature produces individual 

 sections perfect, but perfection as a whole is impossible, 

 for it is written, "None are perfect, not one." 



The chance to produce a specimen to score one hundred 

 points is' just one in a million, eight hundred and twenty- 

 eight thousand, eight hundred. Then why augment this 

 difficulty by making standards foreign to nature in the 

 breeds. 



Now to our task of presenting a pen picture that may 

 well be adopted as a standard for Black Langshans: 



THE LANGSHAN MALE. 



Their weight and condition: To our mind a cock should 

 not weigh less than ten pounds, cockerel eight and one-half 

 pounds, hen eight pounds, and pullets six and one-half. 

 Any less weight is to give undue advantage to small under- 

 size specimens, when judging by scale of points. The cut- 

 ting of two points to the pound for any deficit thereof is a 

 just rule to follow. The present American Standard de- 

 mands only ten, eight, seven and six pounds weight, but is 

 it not folly to list an Asiatic female at less than in some 



