204 
FORKING FOWLS. 
DORKING FOWLS. 
Since spring opened, we have received so many 
letters of inquiry about Dorking fowls, that we have 
concluded to give what follows as a general answer 
to them. 
At our special request, Captain Morgan, of the 
London packet ship Victoria, made an importation of 
a dozen of these superb fowls last October, for distri¬ 
bution among some of our friends. Only five, a cock 
and four hens, survived out of the twelve. These 
were large and fine, and evidently highly and care¬ 
fully bred. Being so few on arrival, Capt. Morgan 
very kindly sent the whole lot to Mr. L. F. Allen, of 
Black Rock, to cross with the produce of those w*e 
brought home from England in 1841. 
As Dorking fowls are likely to be in vogue now, 
we think it advisable to caution all those who wish 
to possess good ones, to be very careful what they 
buy. Choice birds are extremely difficult to be had, 
as we found to our cost when in England, and it 
was only by special favor we procured some at last. 
Capt. Morgan has been upward of two years endea¬ 
voring to obtain this importation, and finally suc¬ 
ceeded only through a worthy clergyman, Mr. 
Courtney, of the town of Dorking, a passenger with 
him on a recent voyage home from the United States. 
He accompanied them by a note, apologising for the 
high price he had to pay, and further saying: “The 
chicken breeders of Dorking have adopted a sort of 
■principle, that they will send away no birds alive, 
except capons, as they desire to retain them as much 
as possible amongst themselves, in which, by capon- 
izing, they carry on quite a profitable trade, and they 
can only be had by particular favor. They have 
very much improved them of late years. The old 
white sort is altogether hred out, and the speckled 
and grey varieties are now all the rage. They are 
also larger and better formed than they formerly 
were, and altogether are perhaps the best barn door 
fowls in existence, at least these people so esteem 
ithem.” 
To the above we will add, that there are plenty of 
Dorkings for sale in the London market, of an infe¬ 
rior and cross breed, some of which have been re¬ 
cently imported to supply the American demand. 
Every Jive-toed chicken is also picked up now in 
ithis vicinity and sold for a Dorking, though it may 
! be the most common dunghill that walks. Perhaps 
one out of seven to ten of the pure breed have only 
four toes, so that to show five toes is by no means 
an evidence of purity of blood. We hope this ob¬ 
servation will be remembered to prevent imposition. 
It is difficult to describe the Dorking fowl, or, in¬ 
deed, any animal, so exact as to prevent imposition, 
although a good one will be recognized at once by 
those familiar with the breed. The prominent points 
are a fine head with brilliant eyes, and single or dou¬ 
ble combs, in both sexes; a graceful neck, rather 
short than long; wide, deep, projecting breast; great 
length of body, which is round rather than flat or 
• square; and fine short legs, when we consider their 
large size. The port is usually majestic, and a 
pleasing, quiet air of good breeding pervades their 
general appearance. The colors are various, from a 
yellowish white to a jet black. Those, however, 
speckled with dark and yellow brown and white, or 
streaked with silver grey, are most esteemed. Cocks 
with dark speckled breasts and reddish burnished 
wings are most to our taste, though the silver grey 
are frequently preferred by others. They are thickly 
feathered, hardy, good layers, steady setters, and the 
best of nurses. They are very gentle birds, fond of 
being petted, and though far from cowardly, are not 
at all pugnacious. Their meat is excellent, being 
lean and tender. They are preferred in England to 
all other breeds for capons. Well fatted, they usu¬ 
ally weigh from 7 to 10 lbs., and often go as high 
as 12 lbs., or more. We speak of capons only as 
attaining these great weights. 
There is one peculiarity with the true Dorking 
chicken which we have not observed in other breeds, 
namely: at about six weeks to three months old, 
they fully develope the shape and style of the 
grown bird, being then remarkably heavy and com¬ 
pact in the body, and are thus early fit for the table ; 
and with good feed they get very fat like a young 
China pig. They then, for the next month or two, 
stretch out in length of leg and body generally, and 
do not get into compact shape again till nearly 
grown, when they develope their deep, full breasts, 
and long, broad, round bodies, in that superior degree, 
for which they are deemed so valuable by all gour¬ 
mands who are so partial to their flesh. 
Just as we had written the above, we received the 
following letter from Capt. Morgan : 
St. Katherine's Dock, London, April 14,1845. 
My Dear Sir, —Your letter requesting me to get 
some more Dorking fowls I have received, and as¬ 
sure you that it is not so easy as you may imagine ; 
for you will recollect how difficult this is, unless 
they are spoken for some time in advance, and bred 
expressly for you, and they ought to be one year old 
to make the voyage. I shall write to Mr. Courtney 
again, who lives near Dorking, and procured those 
last fall for me, as he is a gentleman who takes great 
pleasure in the breed. He told me, and I have also 
ascertained the same facts myself from other quarters, 
that there is none to be obtained here unless of a 
mongrel breed. The real Dorking fowls that you 
see in London will not breed, you must therefore 
wait until 1 gel them for you. They will cost about 
$4 each, without freight and looking after, which 
would be at least as much more for a small lot, but 
this I will do for you with pleasure for old acquaint¬ 
ance sake. Yours truly, 
E. E. Morgan. 
Soon after the reception of this letter, Capt. Mor¬ 
gan arrived here in his own ship, bringing a noble 
cock and five superb pullets of the Dorking breed. 
The pullets laid nearly the whole voyage, a thing 
unexampled, he says, by any other breed of fowls 
crossing the Atlantic with him. The pullets weigh 
to 7 lbs., the cock, 8f lbs. When full-grown, 
the latter will probably weigh 10 lbs. in ordinary 
condition. 
This may be thought rather a long story about a 
few chickens; but when we consider that the value 
of poultry in this country is about $15,000,000, and 
that most of it is of a poor kind, and miserably pre¬ 
pared for the table, the subject becomes one of con¬ 
siderable consequence to the farmer. Superannuated 
old men, and women, and children, can always take 
care of the poultry yard; and several of our corres¬ 
pondents in the Boy’s Department have shown that 
with a good breed and proper care it is profitable 
raising it. 
