278 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



November, ia]3 



<^ Poultry N^otes 



Single and Dual-Purpose 

 Breeds. 



— A Comparison. — 



One is a little amused at the ten- 

 dency which exists to dismiss with 

 very small consideration the claims 

 tJie General Purpose Club m; k;. fur 

 the breeds they favor. As a ma»:cr of 

 fact, they could put up a very good 

 case for the Orpington, Wyandotte, 

 etc., not only as a general ^ purpose 

 bird but as a straight-out layer The 

 Australian Leghorn record is isSq, 

 the Black Orpington is 1,534. I" 'pro- 

 portion to number of entries for the 

 Record Stakes the latter is the belter 

 performance. It may be objected that 

 j ou don't judge a breed by the excep- 

 tion, but the average, which may to 

 some extent be correct. How do the 

 various breeds stand on ihis b.isis? 



— The Place of the Leghorn. — 



We do not suggest that there is any 

 breed likely to displace the White 

 Leghorn from the commercial man's 

 point of view. It has too long a lead 

 and too many good qualities ever to 

 fear serious rivalry under present con-^ 

 ditions, or any which are likely to ob- 

 tain for many years to come, but it is 

 of some interest to trace back to the 

 "how and why'' they established their 

 lead of the breeds, and what it really 

 amounts to on averages from the or- 

 dinary poultry man's point of view. 

 There was a time when all Jjreeds 

 were practically equal — we will go 

 further and say that they still are 

 equal in inherent capacity, and they 

 all had, or have, we believe, equal 

 possibilities. Certainly the difTerence 



between the two classes. Dual and 

 Single Purpose breeds, as layers only 

 was so small as to be ncgligablc. 



— Old-Times. — 

 In the early days of competitions 

 the \\'yandottes probably had the 

 pull. Warren's Silvers were talked 

 of all over Australia, and W. A. Smith 

 put in a word for the breed at Ma- 

 gill. They were probably one of the 

 exceptions to what we had just writ- 

 ten about all breeds having equal pos- 

 sibilities, for they were, we believe, 

 doomed from the start by their color. 

 It is hard enough to breed a Silver- 

 laced Wyandotte. It is hard enough 

 to breed a layer. When you have to 

 look at both points at the same time 

 and in the same bird you are apt to 

 get cross-eyed or quit the game — 

 most people did the latter. Had War- 

 ren's Silvers happened to have been 

 White Wyandottes it is not impos- 

 sible, not even improbable, that it and 

 not the White Leghorn would have 

 been the national fowl of Australia — 

 but they weren't. 



— Some Figures. — 

 In looking up figures to back our 

 contention that all breeds were equal 

 or had equal possibilities, the first 

 volume we took down happens to 

 contain the final figures of the 

 Hawkesbury, Rockdale, and Gatton 

 competitions for 1906, with Dookie 

 and Roseworthy nearly completed. 

 Taking the completed returns, we find 

 that taking the first ten pens in each, 

 the breeds include — 9 White Leg- 

 horns, 8 Black Orpingtons, 3 Silver 

 Wyandottes, 2 Minorcas, 2 Golden 

 Wyandottes, and i pen of Imperials. 

 Tliat is, 16 light breeds to 14 repre- 



Koonoowarra Poultry Farm - Enfield. 



6 minutes' walk from electric tram. 'Phone 273. 



Breeder, Exhibitor, and Importer of Highest Class 

 BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS. WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 



WHITE ORPIJ^'GTONS RHODE ISLAND REDS. 



WHITE LEGHORNS, 

 PEKIN DUCKS. WHITE RUNNER DUCKS. 



(.Never beaten in Show Pen). (Wonderful Layers of White Shell Eggs). 

 Stock have won numerous prizes at Adelaide Leadi ng Shows. 

 Eggs and Stock for Sale in Season. 



For further particulars write — 



P. O. l%f ANUEL, Proprietor. 



sentatives of the general purpose 

 class. Dookie gave three to each in 

 the first six pens, and Roseworthy 

 five to each class in the first ten. To- 

 tals, 24 single purpose to 22 dual pur- 

 pose—a pretty even go. If you took 

 the same number of pens to-day in 

 the same or equivalent competitions, 

 the record .would read 46 pens — 46 

 White Leghorns — the rest looking 

 on. 



— A Great Win. — 

 It's a great win surely. What has 

 done it? The birds themselves, their 

 innate capacity and color, or the men 

 behind them, their ability and perse- 

 verance. Probably it was both, with 

 a little luck to help. Personally we 

 arc inclined to think the men behind 

 had the major part, and that good 

 luck had a considerable share in the 

 beginning. Tilings certainly came 

 their way for the Whites, and the re- 

 cords even then give a hint of how 

 things were to go. Wyckoff, with 

 an advertised egg average of 190 eggs 

 from a 600 head flock, and Van Dres- 

 ser with a 203 average from a 900- 

 head flock, had already sent over 

 birds to a number of breeders. The 

 Black Orpington men had no Wyck- 

 off or Van Dresser behind them, for 

 English breeders were advertising 

 shape of comb and quality of sheen. 

 The Silver Wyandotte men had no 

 one to give them a hand, for Ameri- 

 can breeders were discussing lacing 

 and shape. No Australian breeder 

 happened to want White or Barred 

 Rocks, in which America could prob- 

 ably have produced a Wyckoff or a 

 Van Dresser. 



— The Break in South Australia. — 

 In South Australia "Sunnyhursf 

 Leghorns had put up a big break on 

 the next pen, also Leghorns, in the 

 previous test and were selling like 

 hot cakes. The Subiaco 1494 pen, 

 which, if we remember rightly, led 

 the way into the fifteen hundreds, and 

 filled Jhe West with Leghorns was in 

 tlic making. "Ontario" was well on 

 the way to the first of his two Rose- 

 worthy wins, and his New Zealand 

 success, which went a long way to do 

 the same office for the Dominion, and 

 Mr. Padman, at Dookie and Rosewor- 

 thy, had started his series of triumphs 

 all over Australia, which stand quite 

 alone in poultry history, and are cer- 

 tainly the principal factor in the 

 standing of the Leghorn to-day. 



— Luck! — 

 It is idle to speculate what would 

 ha\e happened if Mr. Williams had 



