METHODS OF POULTRY KEEPING 71 



and every known breed a place in one or another of these classes. 

 Only the more familiar breeds need be mentioned. 



The meat type. The best examples of this type are the Brahmas, 

 Cochins, and Langshans, comprising the Asiatic class of the 

 fanciers. 



The egg type is most commonly represented by the Leghorns, 

 though Minorcas, Andalusians, and Anconas are well-known mem- 

 bers of the class. These breeds, with the Spanish, constitute the 

 Mediterranean class of the fancier. The so-called Dutch and Polish 

 classes are of substantially the same type. 



The general-purpose type is an intermediate between the meat 

 and egg types. The Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, and Rhode 

 Island Reds, known to fanciers as the American class, are the 

 principal breeds of this class in this country. The English Orping- 

 ton is of the same general type and economically belongs to the 

 same class as the three American breeds mentioned. 



Class properties. The designations of the different classes indi- 

 cate in a general way their class characters, but taken too literally 

 these terms may be misleading. Such terms as "meat type" and 

 '" &gg type " do not mean that the bird is adapted to one purpose to the 

 exclusion of the other. They merely describe dominant tendency. 



The Brahma, the most popular representative of the meat type, 

 grows to a large size, furnishing abundance of meat, and remains 

 soft-meated until well matured, furnishing the somewhat rare combi- 

 nation of tender flesh in a large carcass. The tendency at maturity 

 is to put on fat rather than to produce eggs, though in skillful hands 

 Brahmas are good egg producers. The Leghorn, the most popular 

 representative of the egg type, is a small, active fowl, maturing 

 quickly, the males especially becoming hard-meated at a very early 

 age, making the breed of little value for table purposes. But the 

 active temperament of the Leghorn tends to keep it, for a longer 

 period than is usual, in the physical condition favorable to reproduc- 

 tion under unfavorable conditions, and consequently, though the 

 possibilities of egg production may be as great with the Brahma 

 as with the Leghorn, good laying is more general among fowls of 

 the Leghorn type than among those of the Brahma type. 



In each of these types a superficial character limits the adapt- 

 ability and use of the class. The profuse feathering of Asiatic 



