THE ASIATICS. 



91 



thinking of the Langshan Standard and recall the most 

 typical and productive Langshan you have seen or pos- 

 sessed. The best were not the greatest in size, not those 

 stilty, close hocked, coarse boned roosters with heads for- 

 ward and tails drooping, but the deep bodied, spirited birds 

 whose length was in the keel bone rather than in the back. 



Among the worst and most common drawbacks to the 

 Langshans seen at our shows of late has been coarseness of 

 feather, bone and head furnishings. The Langshan wanting 

 in fineness lacks in the qualities that set the race distinc- 

 tively apart from other Asiatics. 



The cordy-limbed, smooth-plumaged, fine-headed Lang- 

 shan has often prompted commendatory remarks from ex- 

 pert stock breeders visiting the poultry shows. The long years 

 of successive breeding stand out in the tense, nervy carriage 

 and proud bearing. Coarse heads, loose feacher and heavy 

 bones and clumsy action do not belong to the profitable nor 

 the showy type of Langshan. They are the outgrowth of 

 mongrel blood or continuous careless breeding. 



The Langshan is peculiar in its show type — carries a 

 very large, expanded tail, profusely furnished with 

 flowing sickles, side hangers and covert feathers. In the 

 Langshans the plumage in this section is sought in abund- 

 ance in contrast to the short plumage sought for in the 

 Cochins and Brahmas. 



The erect carriage of this abundant plumage adds to the 

 appearance of depth and height, especially in the rear of 

 the bird. 



The show Langshan then requires deep breast and full 

 development of it to appear well balanced. This possession 

 of "balance" is not too common in our show rooms. Our 

 American fanciers, it is gratifying to observe, have never 

 striven to select or breed stiltiness in their Langshans, _ 

 plainly recognizing the impractical qualities that became 

 common with that ungainly extreme. A few, long legged 

 specimens have occasionally appeared, but their narrow 

 bodies and close hock joints have warned away any tendency 

 toward that type. 



During the early 90's the Black Langshan was among 

 the best advertised races, was much written, talked about and 

 shown — its classes in numbers compared well with the most 

 popular in the leading exhibitions. It is evidently not be- 

 cause the Langshan has a reputation of producing less fine 

 flesh or abundance of large eggs than the more extensively 

 advertised breeds. One of which owes its best qualities to 

 its parent, the Langshan. 



In an Australian egg laying contest we lately read that 

 the Langshans were one of six pens that had produced 202 

 to 241 eggs during the first three months (April, May and 

 June), there being six hens in each pen. 



It is plainly a lack of push and printer's ink that causes 

 the Langshans to lag instead of leap along the highway cf 

 popular favor. The "Orpington" (a white skin fowl) comes 

 along with its mixture of Langshan, Rock and Minor: a 



blood— cackles no louder nor oftener than the "Lordly 

 Langshan" and his wives, in the barnyard, but hangs his 

 shingle high in the leading publications and keeps it there. 

 Pride of ancestry, perhaps, prevents the Langshan from put- 

 ting himself so prominently before the people— while Amer- 

 ican dollars and poul'.ry stalls are calling for "better poultry 

 and more of it." 



Victor^ — 



«& byM.5»1HI»^"iCtl\ 



A High-scoring, Prize-winning Black Langshan Cock. 

 Lemen, Sketched by Sewell in 1894. 



Owned by A. A. 



All the prejudice against dark leg fowls can be overcome 

 by good exhibits of well eonditioned Langshans at the 

 dressed poultry displays of our leading shows. It is only 

 because the people leave it to the poultrymen to tell them — 

 and nobody shows them the difference — that they believe 

 all this "white skin" talk. I remember when some Black 

 Russians were shown at the dressed poultry display at Madi- 

 son Square Garden they had a host of admirers, when they 

 never would have been thought of as a table fowl with their 

 feathers on. F. L. SEWELL. 



^^ 



