98 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
pullets to be kept — those showing the nearest approach to the Dorking shape ; and if 
these are matched up with a heavy cock, they will produce chickens that will he 
three-fourths Dorking, and show very little trace of the Brahma origin, at least as 
far as their character as table fowl is concerned. This cross with one of the 
hardiest of all races gives great increase of stamina to the Dorldng fowl, and, where 
pure Dorkings are far too tender to be reared with advantage, may be depended on for 
affording a good supply of large-sized full-fleshed short-legged table fowl. At the 
same time, the colour of the two breeds harmonizes very well, and the critical eye 
of the owner and his friends is not annoyed by a particoloured collection of 
poultry, each bird looking unlike all the others. 
The only additional cross calling for any special notice, is that between the 
Dorking and the ordinary mongrels that constitute what are usually .termed Barn- 
door fowls. These may be vastly improved, and rendered much more valuable as 
market poultry, by the introduction of a good Dorking cock into the farm-yard ; in 
the follmving year (all the young cross-bred cocks having been fatted for the 
market), the most serviceable pullets of compact shape, and short on the legs, 
should alone be retained for stock, the old Dorking cock being exchanged for a 
fresh bird not related to the first. By following this plan for a third year, the 
chickens produced will be seven-eighths Dorkings ; and thus, at a very small 
expense and trouble, a farm-yard full of comparatively worthless unsaleable stock 
may be converted into really valuable marketable birds. 
The diseases to which Dorkings are peculiarly subject, as might be expected from 
the presence of the additional toe, are — the chronic inflammation of the foot known 
as bumble-foot, which is most readily prevented by broad low perches, and the 
absence of rough stones from the run ; and a tendency to lay soft eggs, arising 
from unnatural food or excitement. The treatment of both will be duly described 
in the chapter on the diseases of fowls. 
