F ANCIBES’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHAN G E. 
517 
contended about by fanciers in this country ; and shall add 
a word in reference to a friend’s experience, farther, with the 
modern pedigree proposition. 
.Fifteen to twenty years ago, or thereabouts, the Black 
Spanish fowl was esteemed not only “the gentleman’s 
choice,” but with such old breeders as John Giles, of Provi- 
dence, R. I., Henry L. Devereaux, of Boston, James Wilder, 
of New York, Dr. Eben Wight, of Dedham, Clinton Clark, 
of Brooklyn, and others, this stylish bird was considered the 
ne plus ultra of the high-toned fancy. The blacker the 
fowl, the shinier the plumage, and the whiter the face and 
cheeks, the finer and better the specimen, of course. 
From season to season this latter feature (the fleshy white 
face) was elongated and increased upon the exhibition sam- 
ples, until at the New York Shows in 1854, ’55, Black Span- 
ish cocks were entered at Barnum’s Museum with combs the 
size of a porter-house steak — that were all cheek, from crown 
to jowl, and from ear-lobe to far down below a line with the 
huge depending wattles — giving the heads of what' were 
considered the “ best birds ” the appearance that their crania 
had been immersed in confectioners’ frost-dough, or as if 
their polls, from the comb-base a third way down upon the 
neck, had been splashed in pasty plaster of Paris. 
This was then all the rage, however, and the “ Black 
Spanish ” breeder who could not “ put a head on ” his show- 
birds of this outre character, had no more chance to win in 
the exhibition-room than one ordinarily would have to be 
struck by lightning in midwinter! So all hands “went 
for ” the distorted white cheek on the Black Spanish birds ; 
and in a few years the tinkerers run this hobby so far into 
the ground as to almost utterly destroy the usefulness of this 
beautiful variety for any other ordinary purpose. The 
strains we had in New York State, in Rhode Island, in 
Connecticut, in Massachusetts, all deteriorated — in other 
qualities — and every consideration of utility was sacrificed 
or ignored in the single aim to produce cheek upon the 
Black Spanish fowl for years. As a result, this stock was 
spoiled, and amateurs soon began to “cuss the breed,” and 
turn their ambitious attentions to fowl-raising in other di- 
rections. 
Enormous prices were paid for these ample white-faced 
birds, for a time, nevertheless, and I saw, only within two 
years past, that one of these monstrosities, which carried off 
the prize at an Eastern show, was sold for two thousand 
dollars, to a railway conductor in Canada (whose name I 
am happy to say I have forgotten), and who thought, so 
ran the account of this sale, he had got indeed un bon marche 
(a grand bargain), in this purchase. But, after all, $2000 
for a cock chicken wasn’t much for a railway conductor to 
pay for a real “live hobby!” This was his crotchet. I 
hope he has had a “ good time ” with it. 
I see in the poultry journals of New York and Connecti- 
cut, numerous articles latterly about certain Leghorn fowls 
(I would mention the owner’s address, but the editor of this 
journal forbids me, in these columns, to advertise any one’s 
stock), the breeders of which tell us the most extraordinary 
tales of the marvellous character of this peculiar variety. 
I don’t know much of this fowl, never having bred them. 
Like the Black Spanish, however, I am satisfied they are 
good ones, and no doubt lay a great many eggs, on the 
average. 
The ones I have in my mind are advertised to “ begin to 
lay at three and a half to four months old they “ lay regu- 
larly all the time, summer and winter, except when moult- 
ing a few days,” and as nearly as I can make out, from the 
glowing descriptions published, all the several different 
owners “have the only white ear-lobe stock in the world;” 
which is certainly very remarkable ! But, as I said before, 
I don’t know much about this extraordinary breed ; and, up 
to date, I think I don’t care to. They lay too many eggs 
for me — this dreadfully advertised kind. Still, a friend of 
mine in Williamsburg, Long Island, tells me he has a clutch 
of them, that he intended to “ pedigree ” the other day, 
thusly : 1 met him on Third Avenue. 
“ Peter,” he said, knowingly, “ it’s no use; I know your 
hand in the papers like a book. I read your articles in 
Wade’s Fanciers' Journal about the pedigree fowls ’tother 
day. I was a goin’ in on that lay, sure. That is,” he con- 
tinued, slowly, “I was a goin’ for it, but there’s a little 
difficulty in the way.” 
“ What’s the trouble, Smith?” 
“ Well, it’s just here. Fact is, Peter, you tell it just ’bout 
as it is— I know. But then it’s a big thing, this fowl pedi- 
gree business is.” 
“ Is it?” I asked. 
“Yes — for the first-comers, I mean. In my case, now, 
I’ve got fifteen o’ the Leghorns, and they do lay like sixty. 
I get a lot o’ eggs from ’em — six times as many as we can 
eat. So I set a heap of ’em, and the hens keep a lay in’, 
right along, first rate, and I keep a setting ’em. I named 
all the hens, and was a goin’ for the pedigree part, when the 
chicks begun to hatch. Now how many chickens do you 
’spose I’ve got this year out o’ my fifteen old hens, so fur?” 
“ A hundred, perhaps.” 
“A hunder’d, pr’aps? Four hundred and thirty-one — 
p’raps 1” 
“ You’ve done well, Smith !” 
“ Yis, sir — have I.” 
“ Well, what next ?” 
“ Well, Peter, I reckin, on the whole, I shan’t go into 
the pedigreein’ just now,” he continued, reflectively. 
“ Why not, Smith ?” 
“ I’ve been a tliinkin’ it over, since I seen your article 
about it, and I’m posed. Who the deuce is to manage the 
record o’ that lot o’ chickens ? They breed like fleas! I 
can’t keep the run of ’em no how. I’d have to hire four 
double-entry book-keepers to keep up with ’em. No ! It’s 
played out, Peter.” 
“ Then you don’t go in ?” 
“No! No chicken pedigrees for me. I don’t see it. I 
did at first, but I pass now 1” 
And so my young friend Smith, I think, is cured of this 
“crotchet,” and will save his dimes. 
“ Next /” 
New York, .Tilly 20tli, 1874. 
EGG PRODUCERS. 
A largk number of people living in cities and villages de- 
sire to keep a few fowls for the purpose of supplying fresh 
eggs for the table, who have neither the convenience nor 
the inclination to rear chickens. This class demands a breed 
of fowls which is at once vigorous and healthy, moderately 
good-looking, and abundant layers of eggs. The inquiries 
which we receive for a description of some fowl possessing 
these qualities are numerous, and indicate a very general de- 
sire, embracing a large number of farmers and others who 
have every convenience for raising chickens, but who con- 
sider the production of eggs alone more profitable, and hence 
