PROFITABLE EGG FARMING. 
It is, therefore, a strange fact that the fowl is 
not mentioned in the Old Testament, nor 
figured on the ancient Egyptian monuments. 
It is not referred to by Homer or Hesiod, (about 
900 B. C.); but is mentioned by Theognis 
and Aristophanes, between 400 and 500 B. C. 
It is figured on some of the Babylonian cylinders 
between the sixth and seventh centuries B. C., 
of which Mr. Layard sent me an impression, and 
on the Harpy Tomb in Lycia, about 600 B. C., 
so that the fowl apparently reached Europe in a 
domesticated condition somewhere about the 
sixth century B. C. It had travelled still far¬ 
ther westward by the time of the Christian era, 
for it was found in Britain by Julius Caesar. In 
India it must have been domesticated when the 
Institutes of Manu were written, that is, accord¬ 
ing to Sir W. Jones, 1200 B. C., but,, according 
to the later authority of Mr. H. Wilson, only 
800 B. C., for the domestic fowl is forbidden, 
whilst the wild is permitted to be eaten. If, as 
before remarked, we may trust the old Chinese 
Encyclopedia, the fowl must have been domes¬ 
ticated several centuries earlier, as it is said to 
have been introduced from the West into China 
1400 B. C. 
“Sufficient materials do not exist for 
tracing the history of the separate breeds. About 
the commencement of the Christian era, Colum¬ 
ella mentions a five-toed fighting breed, and 
some provincial breeds; but we know nothing 
about them. He also alludes to dwarf fowls; 
but these cannot have been the same with our 
Bantams, which, as Mr. Crawfurd has shown, 
were imported from Japan, into Bantam in 
Java. A dwarf fowl, probably the true Bantam, 
is referred to in an old Japanese Encyclopedia, 
as I am informed by Mr. Birch. In the Chinese 
Encyclopedia, published in 1596, but com¬ 
piled from various sources, some of high an¬ 
tiquity, seven breeds are mentioned, including 
what we should now call Jumpers or Creepers, 
and likewise fowls with black feathers, bones 
and flesh. In 1600, Aldrovandi describes seven 
or eight breeds of fowls, and this is the most 
ancient record from which the age of European 
breeds can be inferred. ’ ’ 
Mr. Darwin tells us that “ Sufficient materials 
do not exist for tracing the history of the sepa¬ 
rate breeds” of fowls, and it is equally true 
that sufficient materials do not exist for tracing 
the growth (or evolution) of the domestic fowls 
of today as a whole, but from what materials 
we have and by what we can surmise from the 
practically analogous history and traditions of 
the human race, we can piece together a prob¬ 
able history. We in America have received 
the so-called “Mediterranean,”(the non-sitting), 
varieties from the countries bordering upon the 
Mediterranean sea, the so-called “Asiatics” 
from China and Bantams from Japan. It is 
interesting to recall the numberless invasions of 
the tribes and peoples of eastern (Asiatic) origin 
into the countries bordering upon the Mediter¬ 
ranean sea, and to remember that while those 
invading peoples frequently conquered the 
countries they invaded, they were in turn ab¬ 
sorbed into the peoples of the countries which 
they had conquered, the conquerors and the 
conquered being ultimately merged into one 
family; a most familiar example of such merg¬ 
ing of races, that of the English people, is re¬ 
cognized by the late Laureate in the well-known 
lines of his welcome to the princess who has 
now become the queen of England: 
“Saxon and Norman and Dane are we, 
All of us Danes in our welcome to thee, 
Alexandra .” 
It is easy to imagine the movements of in¬ 
numerable tribes and peoples who thus became 
inhabitants of the countries bordering upon the 
Mediterranean sea,and to picture them as taking 
their flocks and herds with them on their mi¬ 
grations, and probably in this manner the 
domesticated descendants of Callus bankiva 
were introduced into Europe. That the process 
of domestication and entire change of habit in 
the species was a long one there can be no 
question; it would certainly require many 
thousands of generations to effect so complete 
a revolution in habits and instincts as we see 
in the non-incubating varieties. The old pro¬ 
verb tells us that “ Self preservation is the first 
law of nature,” and we can easily believe that 
next to self-preservation the perpetuation of the 
species is the strongest instinct. It is true that 
with domestic fowls the propagating of their 
kind is a dual act, comprising, first, the laying 
of the eggs, and, second, the incubating of them; 
and in the Mediterranean varieties we have the 
incubating instinct practically become dormant 
through long-continued disuse. It must have 
required a long, long period of time to have 
effected so momentous a revolution in so potent 
an instinct. We have, in Egypt, the familiar 
instance of the incubating of eggs being done 
artificially, but no other example has come to 
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