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CHAPTER XXVIII. 
AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY. 
In the days when the controversy as to the origin of Brahmas was still “ hot and strong,” a noted 
English amateur penned the fervent wish, “ If Brother Jonathan made these fowls, I wish he would 
make us something else.” We have in an earlier chapter shown reasons for believing that B. J. 
did not make the Brahma fowl; but “something else” he has made undoubtedly, there being 
several very distinct American varieties well worthy the attention of English poultry-keepers. 
These we have now to attempt to describe. 
There our difficulty commences, for the names of American “breeds” are legion. Land is 
plentiful and corn is cheap, and accordingly the American runs and breeds his fowls on a 
magnificent scale which is enough to make an English fancier’s heart burst with envy, 
and himself to abandon the “rotten old country” in disgust. Where the one rears his few 
dozens of chickens the other rears his hundreds ; and these chickens are mostly brought up 
with a noble contempt for fences and other unjustifiable restrictions upon the liberty of the 
subject, which befits even the feathered denizens of such a vast, free, and enlightened country 
The consequence of such a state of things, before the extension of the “fancy” caused attention 
to be paid to scientific breeding, was innumerable crosses, and not a few of these seem at 
one time or other to have settled into more or less fixed types. Thus the curious investigator into 
American poultry-keeping meets with fowls rejoicing under such names as Danvers Whites, Bucks 
County Fowls, Jersey Blues, the Ostrich Fowl, the “Big Breed” (whatever this last was we have 
been utterly unable to discover), and other names of like nature. Most of these have now died 
out, and some no doubt were mere first crosses, which could not possibly be preserved ; though 
others, such as the Jersey Blue, which was at one time much esteemed, evidently possessed certain 
well-marked and permanent characters. But as time went on, some few breeds have not only 
preserved their points and reputation, but even perceptibly gained ground ; and there are at least 
four American varieties known and bred at the present day which are valuable acquisitions to the 
poultry-yard. Two of these at all events — the Plymouth Rock and Wyandotte — were admittedly 
made by crossing ; and the fact gives another occasion for expression of the regret that so little 
has been done in this direction by the skilled breeders of Britain, seeing that without any special 
care such results have been obtained in both the Eastern and Western Continents. 
The importations that have taken place, even of the most marked and fixed American varieties, 
have by no means bred so true to feather and points as English fanciers are accustomed to expect. 
The cause of this, we believe, is to be found in the large resources to which we have just alluded. 
Where a man breeds hundreds of chickens, he has in the first place to set eggs from many hens, 
which cannot be selected of equal quality to a very few. Out of such a large supply, however, it 
is very hard if he cannot select a few good pens ; and hence there is not the necessity for that 
extreme care in breeding which is forced upon an English amateur, who can perhaps only afford 
room for a score of chickens in all, and to make his heavy expenses pay must produce out of that 
