THE CAMPINES 



21 



need to forage far, and for countless 

 generations have been well nour- 

 ished. Consequently the Braekel is 

 the larger and more docile race. 



The Belgian Campine is a grace- 

 ful bird, similar to the Hamburg 

 and it has a low carried tail. The 

 tail of the Braekel is more perpendi- 

 cular and the bird is square across 

 the shoulders, broader backed and 

 fuller bodied. In color and feather 

 markings it is identical with the 

 Belgian Campine. 



When one considers the Braekel's 

 greater size and heavier egg, it is 

 interesting to learn why the Cam- 

 pine was taken up first by English 

 breeders. Fortune favored the lat- 

 ter. It was more within the range 

 of observation, being bred near to 

 Antwerp. Edward Brown, of London, 

 whose letters to the poultry press 

 led to the introduction of Campines 

 into England, states that although he 

 made several trips to Belgium prior 

 to 1897, he did not see a Braekel until that year. 



It was tlirough the good efforts of M. R. Jacobus 

 that America was saved from the burden of that 

 hyphenated name, Campine-Braekel. When the tentative 

 American Campine Club was formed in Buffalo, N. Y., 

 in May, 1911, Madame Annie F. Van Schelle, of Bel- 

 gium, was present, and she urged a descriptive name 

 rather than a brief, commercial one. However, with 

 both varieties' acknowledged in our land, the early 

 hatched and large pullets would in some instances be 

 termed Braekels and the late hatched and runts as Cam- 

 pines. 



Braekel-Hamburg Crossing 



The generous size of the Braekels tempted breeders 

 to cross them with Silver Penciled Hamburgs. From 

 the standpoint of the Campine breeder it may be said 



MARKET HAMPERS FOR LIVE CHICKENS, BELGIUM, 



ON THE ROAD TO MARKET, BELGIUM 



that the Hamburg is a small fowl, a layer of compara- 

 tively small eggs and a fowl inclined to colds, and that 

 the crossing is undesirable for the sake of utility. From 

 the standpoint of the Hamburg breeder, it may be said 

 {hat the securing of distinct penciling in the Campine 

 through Hamburg crossing, is taking an unfair advant- 

 age of the fanciers of penciled Hamburgs, who have 

 labored so earnestly for so many years for the perfec- 

 tion of the plumage of their race. They may add that 

 the Campine coming as a common fruit a few years 

 ago, has had grafted upon it the beauty of feather that 

 has come from years of selective breeding, and that it 

 now blossoms competitiveh' with the Hamburg. The 

 fact remains that the present generation is long in cash 

 and short on time, and it was not content to spend 

 three quarters of a century breeding up the Campines 

 when so short a route was open. 



We expected to see in Belgium 

 both Single and Rose Comb Cam- 

 pines, but there are no rose combed 

 birds throughout the district on the 

 farms of the peasants. However, P.. 

 C. Hamburgs and the Belgian S. C. 

 Campines undoubtedly sprang from 

 a common source. The plains of La 

 Campine do not stop at the Dutch 

 frontier, but the same sandy soil 

 continues well up into Holland, the 

 native country of the Hamburgs. 



The apparent influences of the 

 Hamburg crossing are deprecated by 

 Campinists. At the 1911 meeting of 

 the English Campine Club, the Rev. 

 Sturgis spoke in behalf of the pure 

 bred Braekel-Campine, and resolu- 

 tions Were passed to fix a standard 

 weight of Syi pounds for cocks and 

 4 pounds for hens. 



Campinists seek to keep their 

 fowls distinct from the Hamburgs. 

 One of the- serious defects of a Cam- 

 pine is a red eye which is standard 



