30 



THE CAM PINES 



sharp edged black and white bars, standing on a pair 

 of fine slate blue legs. Furthermore a fine Campine 

 head is a great fancy point, their blood red comb, be- 

 ing in such sharp contrast with the bluish white earlobe. 

 The dark eye gives the bird a more or less character- 

 istic face. 



For two season, 19114912 and 1912-1913, I had the 

 good fortune to see the Campines at most of the big 

 eastern shows in America, like the two New York 

 Shows, Boston and Philadelphia. It was here that al- 

 most every star in the Campine world, home-bred or 

 imported, made its debut. It was really a pleasure to 

 See the big progress Campines had made both in qual- 

 ity and in the number of good birds. More especially 

 I remember a Golden Campine cock, which had a won- 

 derful penciled tail and saddle; the quantity of feather 

 he carried was a most important point, too, because 

 the ever decreasing length of the sickle feathers in 

 hen-colored Campine males is a very important ques- 

 tion which the breeders must keep well in mind and 

 try to stop if not better. 



It will surely be most interesting to watch the 

 progress of the Campines in America. I fancy they 

 will breed down their combs, which are rather beefy at 

 this time, especially in cock birds, and take hold of the 

 earlobes and wattles and try to make them better, but 

 if anything, Americans will not stand for the high tails 

 which some Campines are carrying around with them 

 nowadays, and I believe I am right when I say, that 

 the rather young cockerel which won the blue ribbon 

 in the Silver cockerel class at Madison Square Garden, 

 New York, Show, Dec, 1912, made quite a hit with the 

 Campine people and he looked an easy winner long be- 

 fore the judge of the class had written down a single 

 note. This bird which carried his tail in a pheasant- 

 like way, with his long slender body, surely indicated 

 the type of Campine that will find favor in the eyes of 

 the American fancier. However, it may be said right 

 here, that it is not the shape Campines have in their 

 country, neither is it the shape they are striving for 

 over here. However, Americans are so used to the 

 wonderful outlines of their Leghorns that they have no 

 use for shortbacked, hightailed fowls, for the simple 



reason that they have been trying to get away from such 

 a type in their Leghorns for more than two decades. 



Personally I believe the Americans will produce a 

 better shaped Campine than we will get over here, be- 

 cause their eyes are well trained when it comes to look. 

 for shape and symmetry. 



This is one of the first things one must notice when 

 coming to America. Every breeder and even the be- 

 ginner is compelled to study shape, as he will have to 

 enter birds as close as possible to the shape given In 

 the Standard. 



Right now Americans are much better judges of 

 shape and outline than the Europeans, because over 

 here they pay too much attention to color, with the ex- 

 ception probably of the Game fanciers. 



By the time the 1915 edition of the American Stand- 

 ard of Perfection will be out, authorities and breeders 

 will have settled the' questions of color and shape, for 

 instance they will have indicated the happy medium be- 

 tween a good breast and good neck; a couple of fine 

 pictures will illustrate the standard and the breeders 

 will know better than they ever did over here what is 

 wanted both for shape and color. I do not know of any 

 poultry association in the world which has such a good 

 and strong influence upon the fancy as the A. P. A. 

 May Campines benefit by it and may they long enjoy 

 the popularity they have attained and take the place 

 among the ranks of chickens, which they deserve by 

 their beautiful appearance. 



Note — As for the date of the first introduction of 

 the modern type in English shows, Mr. Van Gink adds 

 this interesting note: 



"As far back as 1903 hen-colored Campines were 

 known in England, because the Feathered World at that 

 time published a color plate on which also a pair of hen- 

 colored Campines appeared, while in June, 1908, the 

 Poultry World, also of England, published a color plate 

 of a very typical Silver Campine cockerel, showing to 

 perfection the very narrow, clean-edged white penciling 

 which is so much in demand right now. This male, 

 which was perfectly hen-colored and showed even then 

 the partly hen-feathered type, which was already pre- 

 vailing among fine colored males at that time." 



Exporting E^gs From the Braekel Country 



The Old Jacoblu Monks Made it a Point to See That the Peasants Had Productive Fowls— Today in One o 

 the Markets of This District 30,000 Eggs are Marketed Every Tuesday— A Visit to the Great 

 Egg Market of Audenarde — A Description of the Braekel Egg, Its Founda- 

 tion and Soundness — The Advantage of the Large Egg 



By F. I,. 



^^"■"N THE early days of Belgium when the peasant 

 J||_ gave one-tenth of all his produce to the Abbeys, 

 the Jacobin Monks were the 'Ameliorators' and it 

 was much to their advantage to see the peasant farmers 

 in their district had the best and most productive races 

 of fowls. These Jacobins were in communication with 

 the Romans and looked well to it that the farmers con- 

 tributing to their coffers had hens that could help to 

 fill them." 



The above explanation was given me when we were 

 in cempany with the late Louis Vander Snickt one early 

 autumn morning in 1905 on our way from Brussels to 



Audenarde. As we passed out through Brabant, many 

 active hens were out in the early dawn ranging over 

 newly plowed fields. Farther out we came to Alost 

 ("Land of hops") where the hens are all Braekels — many 

 piles of hop poles could be seen. 



As we passed through Sottegem, our traveling com- 

 panion remarked, "Here the people are all good fools — 

 they are very witty, they are poetic and make good 

 actors." You will be interested to know every Tuesday 

 they sell in the public market 30,000 eggs of 62 grammes * 

 each. These come from the "Braekels" that live at the 

 little farms dotting all over the meadowlands. The 



* Sixty-two gramme eggs would weigh about 26 oz. to the dozen. 



