THE “FANCY” 
dred or more varieties has its own special points of 
beauty and merit. Not only are these fowls beau- 
tiful in form and color, but they are valued at 
what seem like ridiculously long prices to one who 
has never paid attention to the matter. At Amer- 
ica’s great shows, where the best of each variety 
is placed on exhibition, one hundred to one thou- 
sand dollars frequently are asked for the first-prize 
birds in the popular classes. One hundred to three 
hundred dollars each have repeatedly been paid 
for choice specimens, especially for male birds. 
These high prices mean something. Men are 
not going to pay such large amounts for five to 
ten pounds of chicken meat, bone and feathers, 
unless there is a good reason for it. The extremely 
high prices are not, however, founded so much\ 
upon the utility or practical value of the birds as 
upon their ‘‘ fancy” excellence, that is, beauty of 
form and feather. But while this is true, it is also 
true that no other class of poultrymen has done so 
much for commercial poultry as has the fancier. 
He has greatly improved and developed not only 
the fancy side of the business, but also the practical 
side as well. The Plymouth Rocks and Wyan- 
dottes, the most popular market varieties, are 
strictly the production of the fancier, and all other 
practical breeds and varieties, as well as the orna- 
mental breeds, have been greatly benefited by his 
work. 
183 
