THE CAMPINES 



introduced throughout this country, I decided that in 

 simply exhibiting these birds I was not doing half my 

 duty to this type of birds. Knowing that their eggs 

 were far superior to any heavy laying breeds, I decided 

 to exhibit the eggs laid by this original type of English 

 Campines, as well as exhibiting the birds. 



After making such exhibits of eggs the fanciers and 

 breeders began to take great interest in the Campines. 

 The poultry papers paid great compliments to the ex- 

 hibits of eggs laid by this breed. After this it was not 

 long before there was a great demand for Campines. 

 American breeders then started to import birds from 

 abroad, not only from England, but also from Belgium. 



If the American breeders who imported the Bel- 

 gian type of birds had found this type to be the 

 best fitted for America, I feel that some breeder^ of 

 this Belgian type would have made a request of the 

 American Campine Club that the Belgian Standard be 

 adopted by the American Campine Club. 



\\'hen the permanent organization of the American 

 Campine Club was formed at Madison Square Garden, 

 New York, December 21, 1911, every person present re- 

 alized that the English Standard best fitted the re- 

 quirements of this countrj", and for this reason the club 

 decided to use the English Standard as a guide this 

 year, and that the executive board draw up a new 

 Standard to be presented at the next meeting of the 

 club, to be held at the coming Madison Sqviare Garden 

 S'low. \\'hen the vote was taken to decide if the club 

 use the English Standard as a guide this year, there 

 was not one vote in opposition to doing so. 



Long before the meeting when it was decided to use 

 the English Standard this year, some breeders who had 

 imported Belgian birds had already procured males of 

 the English type which they were crossing with the 

 Belgian females, as they saw that this would be the 

 first step towards improving such Belgian birds. 



A few years ago in fairness to the Belgian type of 

 birds, 1 imported thirty Belgian birds for comparison. 

 Of course before importing these Belgian birds I really 

 knew what the Belgian birds were, not so much from 

 what I had seen years previous, but from some birds 

 I would raise at times when the English type would 

 revert to the original Belgian bird. 



As I expected my English type of birds were far 

 superior to these Belgian birds, and for this reason 1 

 have discarded my Belgian type birds, except a few I 

 have reserved to show visitors to my yards the vast 

 difference between the two types. 



I also found that the Belgian females as a whole 

 were not equal in egg qualities to the original Eng- 

 lish type, to say nothing of the poor markings of the 

 Belgian birds as compared with the English type. After 

 the above test one can understand why I have advised 

 to kill all males that reverted to the Belgian type. 



From what I have said in this article I do not wish 

 m.y readers to feel that it is my opinion that the Eng- 



lish type of Campines cannot be improved to make 

 them still very much better for this country. 



While I know there are improvements to be made 

 over the English type of Campines better to fit them 

 for conditions in America, I do not wish to be under- 

 stood to mean that the English have not the best type 

 of Campine for their country, for I feel breeders of 

 Great Britain are aware of the type that best fills their 

 requirements. Further I wish to say that I do not wish 

 to be understood to believe that the Belgian people 

 have not the best type of birds for Belgium. As these 

 birds ha\e been bred for centuries in Belgium, I feel 

 that the .small Belgian Campine of the plains of La 

 Campine must be the type best fitted for that section 

 of Belgium, and I also feel that the larger type or 

 Braekel which are found on the more fertile plains of 

 Belgium must be best fitted for their particular section. 



I do not think it would be just to the Belgian peo- 

 ple to expect them to adopt a type that is better fitted 

 for some other country than it is for Belgium. I will 

 also say that the Belgian people should not expect 

 people of any other country to adopt the Belgian type 

 of Campines after some other type has been proven 

 to be much better fitted for that particular country, 

 even if Belgium has types of its own that are best fitted 

 for the conditions of the particular sections of Bel- 

 gium in which they are found. 



In addition to saying that I believe that England 

 and Belgium each have the best type of Campines for 

 their particular countries, I wish to give to the breed- 

 ers of Belgium my thanks and the credit due them for 

 preserving this breed for centuries and offering it to 

 the world to be improved in such ways as will best ful- 

 fill the requirements of the country adopting this breed. 



To the breeders of England belongs the credit of 

 improving the Belgian birds to meet the requirements 

 of their country. By taking the large Braekel and the 

 small active Campine as they found them in Belgium 

 and by careful selection and breeding and possibly by 

 the infusion of other blood, they produced the original 

 English type of Campine. 



As England originally had a type of Campines that 

 was better fitted for America than the Belgian type, 

 the demand for birds from England has been very 

 heavy not only for large numbers of breeders, but also 

 for fine marked birds. In their efforts to meet this de- 

 mand the English must be very careful and send to this 

 country only such birds as have all the good qualities 

 that were contained in the original type of English 

 Campines. They must be careful and not sacrifice the 

 egg qualities as contained in their original type of 

 birds, even if they do not meet the demand for large 

 numbers of breeding, or if they do not send as hand- 

 somely marked birds as some exhibitors desire. 



What breeders of America want are birds that can- 

 not be surpassed by any as egg producers. After this 

 they want a strain that can be easily bred and look as 

 handsome as possible, provided they do not sacrifice 

 the egg qualities for fine markings. 



