What the Poultry Fancy has Done. 
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some kind. Whatever these are, they will appear arbitrary ; and, save in one or two points as men- 
tioned directly , we may as well have the present as any others. Fowls can compete in no other way 
from the very nature of the case. On the other hand, it is distinctly the business of the people who 
breed fowls as food-producers to care for the points named by the great surgeon. Nothing the 
fancieis ha\e done, has evei pi evented them from doing it, or even from breeding up whole races 
to the greatest perfection from that point of view. But— this is the point of the whole— these people 
have not done it. Save in one case somewhat parallel to that of France— that of the Surrey feeders, 
who from a steady but limited demand did perfect the Dorking fowl— they have utterly neglected 
poultry, and, as a body, do still. It is the “ fanciers ” who have preserved and perfected our best- 
laying breeds, importing many at large expense, and importing and acclimatising many foreign 
table breeds as well ; and all experience shows that only people who have such enthusiasm as 
the fanciers, will perform such a duty. It is, further, the “ fanciers ” who have throughout forced 
poultry more and more upon public attention ; and so far as farmers themselves have been in- 
duced to take more interest in such stock, and to grow it more largely, it is the “ fanciers ” 
who have done the work, and who have provided the breeds which, as the last chapter shows, 
have so often put a new face upon the farmer’s balance-sheet. 
Again' — and to put the matter in a still stronger light — there is no doubt that the French 
shows of dead poultry really have done something to promote breeding and feeding in France. 
They are, however, there kept up by the feeders and market breeders, whose proper business it is ; 
in England these have been perfectly stagnant in such matters. This being so, however, the 
despised “ fanciers,” anxious to promote these useful objects, have for years past established at their 
shows classes both for live table fowls and dead ones, often offering liberal prizes ; but as a rule the 
attempt, speaking broadly, has been a failure, so far as any general support has been concerned. The 
feeders have not exhibited in the classes meant to tempt them, and such entries as were made, were 
chiefly from “fanciers,” who thus tried their best to at least start such really useful competitions, 
but are naturally unable to turn out such specimens as professional fatters and dressers can produce. 
Even the judging of these classes was at first placed in the hands of poulterers, from anxiety to 
have it free from all “ fancy ” element ; and the result was the award of piizes to just such laige, 
coarse specimens as move Sir Ilenry Thompson s wrath ! On the other hand, when the classes 
have been judged, as they latterly often have been, by such individuals as Mi. Tegetmeier, who has 
had the training and experience of a fancier, the prizes really have gone, on the whole, to the best 
table fowls. There are, it is true, of late more signs of hope about these classes , but if evei they 
do come to be widely supported, that result will be due to the much-abused “ fanciers,” who have 
been working at it for years amid sore discouragement, and utterly without aid or support from the 
class on whose behalf they are foolishly attacked every few years, by people who know nothing 
about the work they have really done. 
In fine, the “fancy points” simply are the acknowledged marks of the races of poultiy ; 
breeding for standards in accordance with them has preserved those races to us ; and the 
enthusiasm of the fancier has been the sole means of their improvement and dissemination amongst 
There is onesimole illustration of this in the Dorking breed, of which one variety-the Cuckoo 
has never been taken up by fanciers generally, but simply left to the « useful ” breeders. Accord- 
to Sir Henry Thompson, such a variety should be now the “best” of all the colours. . On the 
contrary, it is about the worst, in all essential points; remains small, and often weedy and ,s almost 
on the verve of extinction ; while the « fancier's » Dorking, spite of all the abuse lav, shed on ,t by a 
few old people to whom-naturally-t* tastes quite so good as in their young days, when appetite 
was keen is pronounced by Madame Ailleroit to be “pcr-Jcc-twn ! The question has also another 
us. 
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