ECONOMIC QUALITIES OF GAME FOWLS. 95 



some of the leiuling shows, and in Caniiihi me quite exlciisive Iv liept as farm fowls. They are 

 commonly reputeil iiulifl'erent layers and rather deliuiile. I licpt a small flouli s^eeured from a 

 Canadian breeder for several years, and in this limited experience with one (•tocls found them 

 hardy and good layers. As table poultry the Dorking has long ranked as of finest quality, and 

 fully deserves its reputation. 



Houdans are the only French breed well known in this country. They are as good layers as 

 Leghorns, and first class in table quality, but not as rugged as is desirable for fowls for general 

 use. Like the Polish, they have heavy crests which to many are objectionable. The color of 

 their >kin (white) and tlieir dark legs are also against them as market fowls. 



In Game fowls we have three distinct types — the Pit Game, the E.>:hibition Game, and the 

 Indian Game,. The Pit Game fowl is practically the Game fowl as it has been lired for 

 teiituries in England, with perhaps a little more differentiation in colors. The Exhil)ition 

 Game is a long legged, long necked, exas-'gerated Pit Game, which has no place outside the 

 exhibition room and the yards of the fancier. Pit Games are really valuable economic fowlsas 

 far as productiveness and quality go, though not to be classed for general purposes with the 

 breeds of the American class. Perbajis their greatest fault from economic standpoints is their 

 "gameness," — their pugnacity, and quarrelsomeness. These are qualities destructive to com- 

 fortable and profitable work with poultry, and the Game as a farm or practical fowl, soon dis- 

 appears from sections where the economic value of a fowl l)ecomes the first consideration with 

 poultry keepers. 



The Indian Game is a larger and meatier type of fowl than eitlier of the others, and, as 

 l)red in England and America, is less pugnacious. I think it should be regarded as a useful 

 t\pe temporarily sumevvhat neglected because of the disappointments which followed its intro- 

 duction to the American publii;, with widely exaggerated reports of its laying and table 

 qualities. 



Of course it is out of the question to discuss in a single lesson exhaustively the qualities and 

 aclapial)ilities of all these breeds and their several varieties. As I said near the beginning of 

 the le>son, the poultry keeper should limit consideration of varieties to the few popular general 

 purpose breeds unless there arc special reasons for not doing so. The most general illustrations 

 of exceptions to this rule may be found where one is going into some special branch of poultry 

 cultur.e,as the production of while eggs for the New York city trade, or the production of 

 large roasting chickens for the Boston market. Even in these exceptions, the principle of the 

 rule I have given applies, and the poultryman should follow custom, and take the breed, or one 

 ot the breeds most popular among those in the line in which he is engaging. 



