April 14,1881. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
305 
desirable type of Dorking. I have always liked to look upon the 
Dorking as holding a position among poultry similar to that of 
the Shorthorn among cattle. In many respects their points are 
analogous—viz., early maturity, large size, great natural inclina¬ 
tion to put on flesh &c., and, what I consider of most vital im¬ 
portance, a strong tendency when crossed with inferior stock to 
transmit much of their own excellence to their progeny. Regard¬ 
ing the Dorking fowl from this point of view, I fail to agree with 
those who write as if it should be judged solely as a table fowl 
by the delicacy of its meat. This is certainly an important point, 
but at most it is only one point out of several w'hich go to make 
up a perfect Dorking. Everyone knows that if judged by quality 
of meat alone the Shorthorn would take a comparatively low 
place among cattle, being far surpassed in this respect not only 
by West Highland, Black-polled, and other pure breeds, but also 
by many crosses, and to decry our Dorkings because other fowls 
can be found excelling them in this one point seems to me to be 
much the same thing as to condemn the Shorthorn in toto because 
it does not produce the finest grained meat in the Christmas 
markets. If, as I believe, Mr. Tegetmeier is relying on a Dorking 
cross (such as won in the table poultry class at the last Crystal 
Palace Show) to produce a superior table fowl such as Mr. Weir 
refers to, this only strengthens my case. As to size, Mr. Weir’s 
argument as to great size, being of itself a drawback from a table 
point of view, will, I think, hardly bear investigation. A Turkey 
is universally admitted to be a most excellent bird for the table, 
and yet I venture to say that no one would think of offering a 
lady the whole of the liver wing of a good large Turkey on 
account of its size. Several ladies may dine satisfactorily, how¬ 
ever, off one side of the breast, and this also applies to a good 
Dorking. 
Although a Scotch fancier I cordially deprecate any value being 
attached to a red ear in Coloured Dorkings, and in my own ex¬ 
perience I have almost always found that the best birds had at all 
events a tinge of white. If required Dorkings could of course in 
time be bred to red ears, but even if no cross was used to effect 
this object it would entail, temporarily at least, the sacrifice of 
many more important points. Of this fancy for red ears to which 
Mr. Smyth refers, together with a strong tendency to make the 
Coloured Dorking a bird of feather, and that too of the darkest 
possible feather, we are now beginning, in Scotland at least, to 
feel the effects. At present, under some judges in the north, a 
light-coloured bird appears to have hardly any chance, unless all 
the dark ones are very much inferior. At some shows indeed, 
whether designedly or not I do not know, the term “ Dark Dorking ” 
has taken the place of that of “ Coloured Dorking other than Silver 
Grey ” in the prize lists. 
No doubt it is far more pleasing to the eye to have one’s flock 
of Dorkings all of the same shade of colour, still I think this point 
might more advantageously be left to the taste of the individual 
breeder. There are many shades between the extremes of light 
and dark ; and if the only restriction for an exhibition Coloured 
Dorking was to a sound rich colour and handsome appearance, 
this would include all that is really necessary, and by leaving each 
breeder very much to his own discretion would save many a grand 
Dorking fowl from being drafted—its inevitable fate if an arbitrary 
colour standard should be generally adopted. 
Sooty feet are another important point, and I can’t help think¬ 
ing indicate, in some cases at least although not always, a cross 
more or less remote. Yet here again I would be in favour of 
some discretion being left to a judge. In pullets more especially 
I have noticed many good birds to have dark feet as chickens 
which in the second year became perfectly white. In such cases 
it would be rather hard absolutely to disqualify a pullet which in 
another year might w T in a cup at the same show as a hen with 
white feet. Old hens might fairly be more severely dealt with, 
and also cocks of all ages. I have never bred a cockerel with 
sooty legs or feet, but feel pretty sure that from hens being as a 
rule more liable to it, the fact of a cockerel having dark feet 
would prove the fault to be so inveterately established in the 
strain that it would warrant a judge passing over an exhibit, 
even if only for the sake of checking the spread of the defect.— 
J. T. Cathcart. 
1 CAN confirm what Mr. Cresswell says of Dorkings being an 
excellent substitute for young Turkeys. Three years ago, in the 
month of June, a poulterer with whom I had been long acquainted 
came and asked me as a special favour to let him have any very 
early Dorking chickens I could spare, quality being no object so 
long as they were big. I happened to have three or four faulty 
birds weighing about 5 lbs. each, which I had killed and sent to 
him. I was much surprised at the very liberal price he paid me 
for them. Some time afterwards I discovered that the poulterer 
had received an order to supply some Turkey poults for a military 
ball supper, and, not being able to obtain any young Turkeys, my 
Dorking chickens had taken their place. I can answer for it 
that no one ever discovered the difference. I have always under¬ 
stood that in the present day the great object is to produce the 
animal or fowl that comes soonest to maturity, and in this 
respect I consider the Shorthorn and the modern Dorking excel. 
—M. F. Smyth. 
PRACTICAL SCIENTIFIC BREEDING. 
(Continued from page 284.) 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 
"VVe have next to consider the question of the age of the breed¬ 
ing stock in reference to mating them. Very young birds should 
not be bred from, and it is best to mate cockerels and pullets 
with older birds. As the season advances and the birds of the 
previous year have become fully matured this is of less import¬ 
ance, but for early hatching the mating of a cockerel with pullets 
should be avoided. The progeny are almost always more delicate 
than those bred from yards where at least one parent bird is 
fully matured. It may be objected that there is a difficulty in 
getting hens to lay early in the season, and that there is a still 
greater difficulty in getting fertile eggs from pullets mated with 
an old cock. To this we reply that as a rule both difficulties can 
be got over. If care be taken to induce an early moult in the 
hens they will probably be ready to lay just as early as the 
pullets. If the cocks be separated from the hens during moulting 
time, and only put with the pullets a short time before the eggs 
are wanted, there will generally be a fair number of fertile eggs. 
Another method which we have adopted with success, and which 
we have not seen suggested elsewhere, is to select from amongst 
the later cockerels those that are most promising and keep them 
running together apart from hens or pullets until their first adult 
moult; these birds are then used to mate with the pullets selected 
for early hatching. 
The method of hastening the moult of the hens is as follows :—■ 
If the hen be of a sitting variety she is just as the moulting 
season approaches encouraged to hatch, and given a few eggs to 
sit upon. She is either allowed to hatch and rear a few chicks or to 
lie four or five weeks on the nest. When she leaves the chickens 
or comes off the nest, as the case may be, she is placed in an extra 
warm house or pen and given a little hempseed with her other food ; 
this generally produces the desired effect. With hens of the non¬ 
sitting varieties, and with cocks, the latter part only of the treat¬ 
ment can be adopted, and it is not always successful, but a 
sufficient number of birds to supply eggs for early hatching can 
generally be moulted through by these means. 
Although it is best to mate birds in their first year with older 
ones there is no objection to mating birds two, and in some breeds 
even three, years old with each other; these often produce the 
finest chickens. When a valuable bird begins to get old, however, 
it is generally necessary in order to insure the eggs being fertile 
that the mate or mates selected should be young. 
When birds are found to “hit well together,” or in other words 
to produce valuable offspring, it is as a rule best to allow them to 
remain together as long as considerations of age will permit. 
We have seen a theory advanced in respect to the breeding of 
larger stock, that it is only by this permanent mating that the 
best results can be obtained. There is no doubt that traces of 
previous alliances often appear in a most inexplicable manner, 
and it is hard to say with certainty that any length of time will 
quite obliterate the effects of an alliance. What is known as 
“ the influence of previous sires ” has been much discussed from 
time to time, and arguments have been adduced in support of a 
theory that the ovum may be partly fertilised by one alliance and 
the fertilisation completed by another. We once had a case in 
our yards which did much to convert us to this doctrine. A 
Silver-Grey Dorking cock paid a visit to a yard of Dark Brahmas ; 
he was at once discovered and ejected, and steps were taken to 
render any further trespassing impossible. All the eggs from the 
Brahma hens were being set. From those of one of them weie 
produced one regular cross-bred Brahma-Dorking chicken, and a 
series of five or six others showing gradually less of the Dorking 
and more of the Brahma, until at last one—a pullet—was of good 
Brahma shape and colour and well pencilled, and only showed 
the Dorking taint by having five toes on each foot. 
Some of the French fanciers recommend a method of breeding 
which indicates a concurrence in the theory that the influence of 
more than one male parent may affect the offspring. They adopt 
the plan of running two cocks on alternate days with the same 
hens. These cocks are chosen with a view of mutually counter¬ 
acting each other's defects and thus producing chickens with the 
