FOR EXHIBITION AND MARKET 



what color is desired. The National Standard says it 

 shall be uniform Dark Steel Gray. That does not say 

 Black Steel Gray, as a great many of our fanciers seem 

 to think. To the fanciers who have seen steel gray 

 Dutch, it is very easy to explain vvrhat steel gray color 

 is, and how quickly the judges throw out the steel 

 gray Dutch with black heads and feet! If you take 

 a piece of polished steel and break it in two you have 

 the natural steel color. The standard simply means 

 that you take the steel color and place the gray color 

 on it ; that gives steel gray ; then you darken the steel 

 color a trifle and it is Dark Steel Gray. The hard 

 task is to produce it uniformly. When the color be- 

 comes too dark it crops out in black heads, feet, ears, 

 and a strip along the back. It should be an easy 

 matter to tell when the Steel Gray is too dark. There 

 is ,one whole shade between dark steel gray and black ; 

 it runs. Steel Gray, Dark Steel Gray and very dark 

 steel Gray, and then comes a sort of Black Gray which 

 has lost the steel effect entirely. In starting at the 

 skin, a sort of slate blue color appears, then the beauti- 

 ful, ticked dark steel gray. The rich ticking gives the 

 dark steel gray effect. This color should be uniform 

 on the ears, head, chest, front feet, body and flanks. 

 The belly color should be as white as possible. The 

 term slate color would possibly be more satisfactory 

 to the majority of Flemish breeders. When a person 

 has succeeded in breeding the perfect colored Flemish, 

 they usually recognize it at once, and there never has 

 been a show in this country that has enough of the 

 standard colored specimens to cause any trouble in 

 choosing the best color. 



