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THE

AMATEUR'S MANUAL;

OHy

SPECIFIC MATING

OF

THOROUGH-BRED FOWLS.

BY

I. K. FELOEC,

JN^ATICK, MASS.

BOSTOIST:
B0ST0:N^ PHOTO-ELECTROTYPE CO.

1877.

L 0 (c , <>

r33

Copyrighted
By I. K. FELOH,

1877.

PREFACE.

In ofieriDg this, my first work upon the mating of
thorough-bred fowls, I can but feci, while I offer no
new mode for the consideration of those experienced
in the business, that its teachings may help the ama-
teur to avoid many of the disappointments and dif-
ficulties that beset every one who works out the
problem of breeding with no help but experience.

Most of the T\Titers upon the subject herein pre-
sented have treated it in general terms, which con-
veyed very few practical ideas to the mind of the
inexperienced breeder. The great need of the inex-
perienced is something of a specific nature ; and this
has led mo to present, in this little work, rules that
can be applied in a specific manner. These rules, I
believe, can bo applied to all the breeds, as well as
to those herein mentioned.

Honestly made and truthfully recorded experi-
ments are of far more value and arc better understood
by the amateur, than any theory, however forcibly
presented. In these times of rapid improvement

i557

4 Preface,

and high prices for thorough-bred stock, ho needs
all the help the older breeders can give, to shield him
from the many mistakes in breediog. In this spirit
I offer this, which is, in a large degree, my own ex-
perience, hoping that the exceptions to the rules for
mating which I offer may prove no greater in num-
ber than has been found in other advisory works of
this character.

Should this work be appreciated to thafc degree
which will warrant the taking up of all the other
varieties in a like manner, in connection with other
subjects of interest in poultry-breeding, I shall do
so. Hoping that my efforts so far may be of some
value to the fraternity, I am, very respectfully,

I. K. Felch.

THE AMATEUR'S MANUAL:

OR,

SPECIFIC MATING

OF

THOROUGH-BRED FOWLS.

PAKT FIRST.

The word "thorough-bred," Webster defines : Bred
from the best blood ; completely bred ; accomplished.

With the above before us, we are led to assert
that we have pure blood, and absolutely thorough-
bred fowls — other waiters to the contrary notwith-
standmg.

No one denies that we have thorough-bred cattle,
which, by judicious coupling, have been bred to a
uniform type that is recognized at a glance.

We have, for instance, the short-horn cattle, in
color any shade found in red and white ; the Devon,
which in its purity is confined to dark red ; the
Jei^ey, in its varied shades found in fawn, white, and

5

6 Specific Mating of

black; and the Ayrshire, in any and all shades of
color. Now have we not in the Light Brahma, Dark
Brahma, Cochin, Hamburg, Houdan, Game, Spanish,
and Dorking, fowls as deserving the title of thorough-
bred, as any of the cattle we have named ?

Have they not been "Bred from the best blood" —
completely bred — and does any one deny that the
breeding has been accomplished ?

In the cattle there is quite a diversity in color, but
the fowls we have named will, even in color, produce
their progeny in one uniform type, the family like-
ness more completely defined than is seen in the
cattle, yet the same writers asserting we have no
thorough-bred fowls, maintain that we have thorough-
bred cattle.

It is our purpose, in this treatise, to chronicle
some part of our experience, describing, as far as we
can, a perfect sire and dam, and presenting our views
of mating for breeding fowls, claiming them to be
thorou2:h-bred.

Practical knowledge becomes, in one sense, science,
and should be disseminated, and no theory that docs
not stand the test of experiment be valued or promul-
gated.

The Eev. W. H. H. Murray truly says, " Wc strike

Thorough-bred Fowls. 7

the bottom facts that underlie all breeding, Avhen we
read this sentence ; ' Every seed should bring forth
after its kind.'"

" Find the highest type to perform the paternal act,
and we can repeat the typical creation. Find two
parents that represent the original idea in any organ-
ism, and we can repeat the original idea."

These and kindred expressions fire the thoughtful
breeder to his very centre, and he searches to find
out what constitutes a perfect sire, and what are the
requisites of a perfect dam, that from the pair ho
may produce his ideal of perfection, combining health,
beauty, and utility in the offspring.

The sire should have a sound constitution, perfect
color, and symmetry '(that form of structure produced
by the harmonious blending of perfectly formed
parts, as described by the standard). He should bo
mild and courteous to his dames, showing no lack of
procreative vigor ; courageous, even pugnacious, in
the defence of his harem.

It is not only necessary that he posess all these
individual qualities, but he should have a record, or
pedigree, that shows all his breeding qualities to be
the result of ancestral blood and perfect breeding.
Thus we have a really perfect sire. Such males,

8 Specific Mating of

coming from a line of like sires, invariably stamp
their progeny in the likeness of their own person-
ality. Experience teaches that the sire, in his line,
has greater influence in determining the color and
form of structure than the dams.

The fact that chickens generally favor the grand-
sire, makes it all important that the male line should
not be broken, and that the sire, should be typical in
symmetry and color.

Before speaking of the color qualification, and its
influence in mating, we will submit the following,
proved by several experiments, that our deductions
may be better understood.

It is asserted by pigeon fanciers, that if a pigeon,
white in plumage, beak, and toe-nails (it matters not
from what colored ancestors it may have been bred) ,
will, if it breed at all, breed true to white. An
Albino Spanish fowl, if pure white in plumage, beak,
and legs, will ever after breed true to white.

We produced in 1862, a pair of white sports from
Golden Spangled Hamburgs. The male had bluish-
white toes ; the progeny came one third Golden
Spangled in color, while a cockerel from the pair,
in all respects white, bred to his dam and to his sis-
ters, produced all white chicks.

Thorough-bred Fowls. 9 '

Generally all sports, so called, are white in color,
or we think a better expression is, that they are void
of color.

By causes which cannot be explained, the func-
tion of color fails to furnish its quota to the chicken's
organism, therefore the chickens must be considered
a new type, and lost to the breed, for they cannot be
expected to transmit a color which they never in-
herited.

Wc admire a pure white back and undercolor in a
Light Brahma pullet, with a clearly defined stripe
in the hackle. But if successive matings of sire and
dam, both being white in undercolor, are indulged in,
the result will be faded, and eventually white birds.
A plumage like that of the Light Brahma, made up
of white and black, cannot be exempt from the shad-
ings of the one color into the other with which it is
associated ; and in this breed, the standard wisely
acknowledges both white and bluish undercolor, and
gives no preference to either shade in adjudicating
for premiums.

This position is a just one, and judges should not
deviate from it, for without this dark undercolor in
the sire we cannot sustain the breed.

It matters not what our likes or dislikes are, or

10 Specific Mating of

may be, nor how we may breed for our own amuse-
ment ; yet, in all public expressions, we should bo
careful to present each breed in its true light, and all
truthfully-recorded experiments become of much value
in counteracting whatever false ideas may appear in
print from time to time.

Experience teaches us that the whole tendency of
breeding is to breed lighter in color. We have only
to call to mind the Light Brahmas of the past, to see
how all of the strains have grown lighter in color.
We all know that the original birds were dark in
undercolor, and that light specimens, then, were the
exception. We know, also, that a flock colonized
and left to themselves, grow lighter in color, and
finally become nearly or quite white.

In view of these facts, we say : all males of faded
light color in plumage should be Idlled for poultry.
In no case should they be used as breeders, for they
arc never good producers of males, and, although they
may for a season beget good females, these in their
turn will revert in their breeding to their faulty sires.

Why try to utilize these males, and expect them to
perform a work that is impossible. They cannot be
expected to produce color when they utterly iaiX in
that quality.

Thorongh'hred Fowls. 11

Yet, in the face of all this experience, we see
breeders using, year after year, white-necked Light
Brahma, faded light-colored Plymouth-Eock, Light
Buff Cochin, splashed-breasted, bronze-thighed Par-
tridge Cochin sires, expecting, by the aid of counter-
acting influences in the dams, to reach perfection in
color.

Should all the breeders of Plymouth Eocks, now in
the infancy of the breed, step out boldly, using none
but perfect-colored sires, or those darker in color,
they would perfect the color of their breed, which
they will never do by mating extremes, as is now the
universal rule.

Why do these breeders forget these facts, "That
every seed should bring forth after its kind ; " that
the sire, in his line, has the greatest influence in de-
termining the color of the offspring, and that there is
a loss in color by breeding ?

Waste is written on every thing. We are com-
pelled to establish a sinking fund in all operations in
life ; life itself working on that plan.

In all penciled or barred plumage, we find the
ground-color to be the lighter in shade ; and, as
breeding-strength fails (as it may by severe in-and-
in breeding, producing debility or a weakened con-

12 Sjpecijic Mating of

stitution) wo find the progeny reverting to this lighter
or ground-color. Tiiosc of white losing their brill-
iancy of color, black becoming mixed with white ;
Light Brahmas growing pale, and even white, in the
neck, tail and wings, and finally pure white ; Bufi"
Cochins to pale bufi', white in flights and tail ; Part-
ridge Cochins to clay-colored breasts, not penciled,
and males bulF-mottled in breast; the Golden-
Spangled Cock, to reddish-brown breasts, with white
appearing along the lower line of the body ; there-
fore, good color not only requires the best mating of
blood, but is also dependent upon the health of the
parent-birds while breeding.

Nine-tenths of all the blunders, in mating for
breeding, occur in

COLOR,

and a corresponding number of all the breeders, in
mating their stock, fail to consider that color is the
especial work of the sire.

To be sure, good care and generous feed, help
most materially ; for feathers, like grass, grow most
luxuriantly under favorable circumstances. Poor
feed, poor plumage. It starves alike with the body.
This can well be remembered by those who expect

Thorough-bred Fowls. 13

they have done their whole duty, when they buy
nice stock and expect it to produce premium chickens.

The color of the hackle of a sire is to be con-
sidered, especially as it is to influence and control the
hackles of his sons, for the hackle is purely male
plumage, and the beauty of his sex. While the
color of his neck, before putting on this garb, will
determine his brecdin£:-streno^th in the color of his
pullets. A male that grows up black in neck, to be
replaced or covered by a white hackle, having a
yellow beak, void of a black stripe, will, as a rule,
beget pullets dark and many quite black and
smutty in the neck, and male chicks white in the
hackle, like himself; while a male with dark beak,
ver}' dark neck and back, as he becomes a cockerel,
having a royal rich black striped hackle, will gen-
erally beget both sexes too dark, if anything like
standard females are mated to him. But such males
are very valuable in restoring the progeny of hens
that are light in color of neck, wings and tails ; thus
utilizing hens that must otherwise go to the block.

The reader may ask why recommend the mating of
very dark sires to light females, and condemn mat-
Lngs made "vice versa."

14 Specific Mating of

In answer, we will say : —

1. — The tendency is always to breed lighter in
color, and the sire fails in this respect.

2. — The sire, in his line, has the greatest control
of the color of the offspring.

3. — Chickens favor more strongly the grandsire.

4. — A white-necked sire will beget smutty-necked
females, which, in turn, revert to their pale sire, and
if a like sire be mated to the rule of all white under-
color, the same having been the breeding of the fe-
males, they will produce progeny all pale and faulty
in color.

Experience teaches that cockerels with dark fine
hackles, bluish undercolor, and black wing-flights and
tail, are the progeny of perfect or dark-plumaged sires.
So universally true is this, that it may be accepted as
a rule.

Our strongest argument in favor of the dark sire
and rejection of the pale one is, that experience says
it is best, and that is our law.

The male of all breeds whose plumage is made up
of black and white, or is parti-colored, owing to their
profusion of hackle and tail, compared with the
females of their breed, appear much lighter in color ;

Thorough-bred Foiols. 15

consequently they are darker in breeding functions
than they appear ; and the first point an experienced
breeder considers, in Penciled and Spangled Ham-
burgs and Plymouth Rocks, is the breast, bars of the
wings, and color of beak, before considering the gen-
eral surface color, knowing that if dark or light in
these points, that such will be the breeding and in-
fluence on the progeny.

Many find fault with the standard, saying, that to
mate specimens by it is to make a failure in breed-
ing.

The fault is not so much in the standard as in our
failure to consider the difierence in the plumage of
I3ie sexes, when we apply the standard.

Size in the sire is of little importance, if he be fully
up to the medium weight of his race. An over-
grown sire is useless as a breeder. The one just
above the average, vigorous and healthy, will beget
one hundred chicks weighing more pounds than will
the overgrown male of the same brood.

Size and weight should be considered in the light
of the general average. The best sire is the one that
shows the least difierence in the weight of the indi-
viduals of his progeny.

16 Sjpecijic Mating of

In the small breeds we may with safety choose our
sires above the average weight, for it is a singular
fact, that in the largest specimens of the Asiatics and
the smallest specimens of the smaller breeds will bo
found the most faulty birds.

Thorough-bred Fowls. 17

THE DAM.

CoxsTiTUTiON, prolific-laying, size, and color, are im-
portant, and are to be preferred in the order named.
In addition to this, a good record of blood and egg-
productive merit, in her ancestry, are to be con-
sidered in selecting dams for any breed.

A sound constitution and perfect health while breed-
ing, has much to do with producing prolific-laying
stock ; also with the lustre and brilliancy of self-
colors.

The dam produces the material for the chicken-
structure ; the sire the life of that structure.

The Q^^ is to the chicken what the endosperm is to
plant life — a store-house containing the requisites to
produce a perfect chicken-structure. The life-germ
that is to absorb all this, being thereby built up
into independent life, is imparted by the sire.

Unlike the animal kingdom, the hen performs her
work as independently and completely without the
male, as by copulation with him.

The egg-passage, running from the Qgg sac to the
rent, is a receptacle, a work house, in which the se-

18 Specific Mating of

cretions of both dam and sire are made up into pack
ages called eggs. In this work-room impregnatioi
takes place. The ova, when grown to a certain size
burst their sacks and are expelled into this oviduct
there to receive the spermatozoa of the male, and in
their passage through become encased in the albu-
men, the lining and shell in turn, and expelled at the
vent, perfect eggs.

There are in this passage, while a hen is in a healthy
laying condition, from four to six eggs in their dif-
ferent stages of development ; the last two nearest
the vent being beyond the influence of the male, if
the hen has not been previously exposed.

All the secretions deposited in the egg-passage,
must find an escape at the vent, for nothing goes
back from it into the dam's organism by absorption,
as is asserted by some writers.

We have seen cases where, by means of a cartilagi-
nous circle about the vent, fowls have been prevented
from laying their eggs, and in such cases the eggs in
the egg-passage will form one over the other, till
death is caused by inward pressure ; and we have be-
fore now taken from the carcass a mass as large as a
six-pound cannon-shot, cooked solid by fever heat.
We have taken from the egg-passage of a turkey,

Thorough-bred Fowls, 19

five eggs, completely formed and shelled, completely
cooked by inflamation.

The following experiments seem to prove that the
spermatozoa will live doing its work of impregnation,
in this egg-passage, only about ten days, and we may
say that the dam is pregnant for that length of time.

We placed a hen that had hatched and reared a
brood of chicks, without exposure, with a cock for
three hours, then isolated her in a coop by herself.
The first two eggs she laid in the next forty eight
hours, were not fertile ; eight of the nine laid in the
ten days thereafter were fertile. Those laid after
that time were not fertile.

We placed a hen by herself that had been exposed
while rearing her brood, and seven out of the eight
eggs laid during the ten days afterwards were fertile,
but all eo:o:s laid after that time were not.

Co

We took a hen that had just finished her litter,
wanting to incubate, and exposed her to the male for
three days, then cooped her by herself. None of her
eggs were fertile. In this case we take it for granted
the incubating fever had not abated so as to admit of
an eflTective copulation.

These experiments, which we can vouch for, seem
to indicate that if females are cooped ten days before

20 Specific Mating of

saving the eggs, that it will protect the breeder in the
purity of the blood of the chickens ; but, as some
believe that the whole litter of eggs are effected, it is
the better plan, in changing hens from one male to
another, to do it at the close of a litte'r of Q^^^ : but
we are satisfied that after the ^r^|i egg, after the
change is made, the chicks would in nineteen cases
in twenty bo the progeny of the associate sire.

We believe the longer the spermatozoa remains in
the egg-passage, without being appropriated, the
more sluggish it becomes, and that the fresh semen,
being more active in its animalcule life, secures the
impregnation of the eggs. This is speculation, but,
nevertheless, in accordance with our experience.

If examined by the microscope, there will be found
no ori^anic difference in the ircrm found in the yolk
of the Q^^^ and that of the freshlj'-ejccted sperma-
tozoa, both resembling a polywog, and thei*e is no
chance, as the author of "Secrets in Fowl-Breeding"
asserts, for the dam to be contaminated by a chance-
copulation with a male not of her breed.

There can be no grounds for belief, that a dam cop-
ulatins: with a sire of a different breed has lost her
purity of blood, and that we can never afterwai'ds
breed thorou2:h-bred stock from her. "We do not

Thorough-bred Fowls, 21

wonder, if he believes this, that ho asserts, in the
commencement of his ^vork, that wo have no abso-
kitely thorough-bred fowls.

There can be no contamination of the blood or
breeding of the dam from this cause, unless it can be
proved that there is a union of arterial circulation
between the fetus or chick and the dam. This is be-
yond proof, for there is no circulation in the qq^ till
incubation takes place, and this is carried on inde-
pendent of the dam, and may be a thousand miles
away. Again, we have cases on record where an Q^g
laid thirty-three hours after copulation hatched. It
is clearly shown that the two eggs nearest to the
vent are generally past impregnation ; but, in this
case, the second one was reached, and, owing to the
time it takes to develop an ^^^^ the vital germ must
have been taken into the q^^ at once, which pre-
cludes altogether the idea that the dam becomes in-
jured in her blood by absorption through the act
of copuhition out of her breed.

Wo are surprised to see men foreshadowing this
belief in their advertisements, for surely breeders of
experience cannot believe it, and must look upon it
as advancing a false theory, which docs the amateur
no good.

22 Specific Mating of

Size in the dam is all-important if great weight in
the progeny is tiie disideratum ; for, as we have
shown, the dam furnishes the structure, and must
thereby control the size to a much greater extent
than the sire.

Secure dams of good average size. If they are to
be used to vitalize some other strain, it is necessary
that they be coarse in structure, and large in bone,
for these qualities become toned down by in-breeding.
They should also be dark in plumage to counteract
the loss of color in breeding. In support of the
above, we will say that we mated two large hens to a
cockerel weighing less than nine pounds, and which,
as a cock, did not reach twelve pounds till three
years old, and then onlv when exceedino'lv fat. Not
one of his progeny, at eight months old, weighed less
than nine pounds, and many of them twelve and one
half pounds. Again, we mated a cock often and one
half pounds to ten^pound hens, and the result was, at
ten months old the entire male progeny was larger
than the sire, many of the cockerels weighing twelve
and one half pounds before twelve months old. Yet,
for ail this, we would caution breeders not to go to
extremes in this direction.

Thorough-bred Fowls. 23

The larger the bone and structure, the longer it
will take to mature the specimen.

The smaller the bone and offal, in comparison to
weight, the quicker will they mature. As a rule such
chickens are the most profitable as poultry, giving
better returns for food consumed. They lay earlier
in life, and such are always the most prolific layers
through life.

These early-maturing, compact close feathered
birds, generally win the early exhibitions ; while
those of larger bone and more fluffy plumage, requir-
ins" more time to mature them, are more successful
in the show-pen in the winter months.

Both these types the breeder of Asiatics are com-
pelled to breed, for both have their admirers. The
poulterer and those of a practical turn of mind pre-
ferring the former, and many of the fanciers the
latter.

Our own idea, and we believe the true position, is
to take the happy medium, and advance in size no
faster than we can secure with it the full merit of
^gg-production and symmetry.

24 Sj^ecific Mating of

BREAST AJVD BODY.

These are of more importance, especially iii the
form of structure, for practical use, and in the exhi-
bition-pen, than many at first conceive.

A specimen, perfect in these respects, has an in-
creased chance to win over one failins: in these
points, for a failure of two points in form of breast
and body, will affect the symmetry of the specimen
three points more, making in the aggregate five
points ; while to fail even four points in the hackle
(and such a specimen is seldom exhibited, since it
has no associate influence) , is no worse for the speci-
men than two points as described above — a hint
breeders may well heed in selecting their breeding-
stock or specimens for exhibition.

How few specimens we see that fill literally the
requirements of the standard, "breast full, broad,
round, carried well forward, body broad and deep,
which, to secure this shape in breast, must be
rounded at the side, giving the round side-sweep
which is admired wherever seen.

TJiorough-bred Fowls. 25

All who saw the Light Brahma Cock Leo, 2 7 76,
exhibited at Lowell by Damon & Marshall, or the
Dark Brahma Cockerel exhibited at Boston by Mr.
Waterhouse, in the winter of 1876-77 will appre-
ciate this merit.

This formation gives better form and carriage of
wings, finer symmetry and more grace of carriage;
yet we see many birds used by breeders failing in
all this, and their place usurped by others whose only
excellence is a good neck-hackle. — A tvord to the
wise is sufficient.

26 Specific Mating of

MATIJYG OF THE SEXES.

^N relation to color in the breeds, we consider
^rst the Light Brahmas, for it is with this breed we
have worked out most of our experience, and it
comes easier for us to employ it in illustration ;
but in all other breeds, so far as thev have been as
well established in blood, and bred upon the same
plan or rule, we find the same results.

We can give no rule to be applied to all breeds
unless all breeders have established the rule of breed-
ing one line of sires, preserving it unbroken, and
breeding all new blood introduced back to sires of
the strain, basing all on the law of in-breeding. We
expect some may mate by our advice as they under-
stand it, and fail ; but it will not be the fault of the
rule, but the fault of the previous breeding of the
stock.

Before going further we will explain what we term
"The Apron." It is the feathers that grow from the
shoulder joints along the arm of the wing and cover
the back entirely at the neck, spreading laterally

Thorough-hred Fowls, 27

towards the tail, helping to form the flatness of the
back between the shoulders, and are covered by the
hackle of the bird when standinof erect. In Lifif'it
Brahmas it is either black, black and white, or white ;
and either must be tolerated in the breed. The winff
and neck are made up of black and white, and wxxS
apron is the connecting link of these two sectiuuS ;
and where a pure white apron is found, generall}/ the
specimen fails in color of wing or is short in the
hackle-feathers ; yet for all this, some judges will cut
a color other than white in this locality ; still we pre-
fer to consider it in the same spirit as we do :he
undercolor of the back, unless the apron has more
than one half black feathers, then cut as a dexoot.
With this explanation we would mate as follows . - •

2H Specific Mating of

LIGHT BRAHMAS,

MATING JNo. 1. — Cockerel in form and color as de-
scribed by the Standard, weighing from ten and
one half to eleven and one quarter pounds, with
stripe in hackle-feathers, the black commencing
well up and running in a narrow clear black
stripe to the point, dark beak, apron and under-
color and deep bay eyes.

Hens weighing from nine to ten pounds ; in
form and color as described by the Standard,
and white in apron and undercolor, with bay
eyes.

This I think none will deny is -mating by the Stand-
ard, and we call it the " ne plus ultra " of all Light
Brahmas for the male line of one's strain.

Mating No. 2. — Cocks with wide black stripe in
hackle and light stripes discernible in saddle
near the tail, white in apron and undercolor,
medium dark beak, and bay eyes, in other re-

Thorough-bred Fowls. :^9

spects as described by Standard, weighing from
eleven and one half to twelve and one half
pounds.

Pullets in form and color as described by the
Standard, being dark in the apron and bluish at
shoulder, shading to white towards the tan iii
the undercolor, selecting them well up m size.
Such a mating will produce females that should
please all. This and the mating No. 1 we term
perfect in all respects.

Mating No. 3. — Mate males with hackles that have
a good fair black stripe, but edge of feathers
free from any smoky tinge, white undercolor and
apron, wing flights about one half black, lesser
coverlets of tail white, coverlets wliite laced.

To females that have neck nearly black or
what is called smutty, the white edge of feather
smoky edged or entirely wanting, with black
apron and undercolor. Of course in all these
matings for color, the form of structure is taken
for granted to be as near the Standard as we
can find it ; the males to be of standard weight
and the females well up to or beyond tne weight
laid down for perfection.

30 Specific Mating of

Mating No. 4. —Males as described in Nos. 1 & 2.
To females that are somewhat lighter in color
than described in the Standard, also to females
that run a trifle darker than the Standard, of
course regulating so that the apron and under-
color shall be the reverse in the sexes.

M4TING No. 5. — Males very dark in hackle, even
smoky edged, beak very dark in stripe, apron
and undercolor very dark, even showing in web
of feather, wings as dark as possible, tail black,
and eyes a deep bay. (The bay eye is the
strongest sighted and the strongest breeder.)

Females with extremely light necks, wings,
apron, undercolor, and tail, and light or pearl
eyes — in fact in and of themselves worthless,
only as they possess good blood, being unfortu-
nate in individual appearance — what the writer
terms scrubs.

This mating utilizes many birds that would other-
wise go to the block. Such mating of these ex-
tremes in color many times produce fine chickens.
A breeder carried away by in-and-in breeding, over-

Thorough-bred Fowls, 31

steps the bounds of reason, and this gre^^t want of
color is the result. His birds being well bred, the
restoration of color is easily accomplished. Some
may say we should not give countenance to such mat-
ing. To such we would say. Would you send to the
butcher a white princess short-horn heifer, or would
you breed her to a red bull and make her valuable?
Her pedigree, which shows her blood to be very fine,
is the guaranty that if judiciously mated she will
produce good results, and for this last mating we Avill
say that with the exception of five to seven per cent,
of the chicks, they will most likely be of as good an
averasre as matins^ No. 3.

All the male progeny of this mating No. 5 that does
not come well up to the Standard should be killed for
poultry ; for it is a questionable policy to use the
males as stock-birds (and especially if they are to fill
the place as one of your line of sires) that comes
from this extreme mating. All faded, white-hackled
males should be killed.

Let these rules of mating Light Brahmas, also the
rule of breeding in line of sires, be rigidly observed,
takino^ into the breedino^-stock no more than one
fourth of blood other than the strain, and it will mat-

.^2 Specific Mating of

ter not whether it be Felch, Autocrat, or English, the
result cannot fail to be good with the necessary dif-
ference in the relationships of the diflferent matings
described.

2horough-bred Fowls. 33

DARK BRAHMAS,

To make a rule and have it apply to all breeds, it is
necessary that the circumstances be the same in each
case, and when we offer a rule for mating Dark
Brahmas upon principles derived from experiments
wrought out with the light variety, we expect the
same results, if the same rule of breeding, viz : ad-
hering to a line of male ancestry, has been observed.
We say male line, for it is that line which has the
greatest influence, as we have shown.

There is no breed that has proved so disastrous in
the hands of amateurs as the Dark Brahma, and with
which we have to be so cautious when we introduce
new blood. The peculiar color and penciling of the
plumage is such that a radical change of blood always
deranges it, and therefore the necessity of a slow
process of feeding the blood. While a three-fourths
bred Light Brahma would be nearly perfect, the dark
variety would not carry more than an eighth of blood
out of the family, and retain the family characteristics
of penciling and shade.

34 Specific Mating of

This makes it a necessity to first establish family
strains of blood, aud then adhere closely to an un-
broken line of sires, breeding back to that line of
sires wlienever new blood is introduced. Tliere is no
breed that demonstrates this necessity more clearly.
For a striking example of it, we have only to call to
mind tlie Kin^: of 1877, the cockerel "As^amem-
non " bred by Chas. A. Sweet, of Buffalo, N. Y.,
that won 1st and special at the International Exhibi-
tion held at Buffalo, N. Y., in February, 1877. This
bird came from an unbroken line of sires for four
generations from an imported bird, and from a fe-
male line bred back strongly to the same line of
sires.

When the breeders of this variety will recognize
this necessity, and each of the different importations
be preserved as near as possible in the family purity
of blood, then will they be more valuable to the trade,
as we will show in speaking of the strains of Light
Brahmas. Then, also, can we apply the following
rules with almost as certain results as can be obtained
with other breeds.

Were we to make a speciality of the breed, we
would select the best cockerel we could find, and a
large-boned pullet with coarsely penciled plumage,

Thorough-bred Fowls.

35

each from different families of blood, and breed
them and their progeny for four years, as follows :

G8

Coekl

O^

,p

G9

^

~— — — ^— —

^^

c^

^'\->-^,

.^

G13

V

^^"^-.02^

^^x'

>^

GIG

C^

;x)

\

Group 1

/

. 5-/^^

Vc
c\

G14:

G6(:.)C

/^

^^^^G4^

I

GU
G12

^3

Dam 1

HI

cr

G16

Mating the first year to produce group 1 ; the sec-
ond year a pullet from group 1 to cockerel No. 1 ;
a cockerel the exact type of his sire to hen No. 1 ;
a cockerel like the sire to the pullet approaching the
nearest to perfection, breeding them in and in ; pro-
ducing in their turn groups 2, 3, and 4, and the
third year mating as indicated by the lines, produc-
ing groups Nos, 5, G, and 7. In all the young stock
using no males that were not the type of the sire, nor
pullets other than the desired type in penciling of
feathers and form of structure. In this way produc-
ing three families alike in type and different in blood,

36 Specific Mating of

yet made of the same cross. This trouble will put
any breeder on a firm footing, and ever afterwards if
he uses none but females in the introduction of new
blood, and receives group 7 in the light of new
blood, disposing of the cockerels, putting in the new
hen 8, breeding as indicated by the lines, disposing
of all cockerels as scrubs or poultry that have not
more than fifty per cent, of the blood of the strain,
be will need have no fear that his birds will not breed
well and his customers be pleased.

We can recommend the following matings with a
feeling of certainty as to grand results

Mating No. 1. — Hens that are standard, which were
nearly perfect, steel-grey pullets in their first
year mated to a cockerel, metallic -black in
breast and thighs, medium dark beak, hackle
and saddle, broad in the black stripe and de-
cided in shade. This mating should be made in
producing the male line.

Mating No. 2. — Hens that were fine as pullets but
have become bronze-hued as fowls mated to
a cockerel with a black breast, evenly dotted
with minute white spots, black thighs, hackle

Thorough-hred Fowls, 37

and saddle well striped, and a medium dark
beak.

Mating No. 3. — To pullets that are as near the
standard as possible, having closely -penciled
throats, mate a cock black in breast and thighs,
which as a cockerel had a breast spotted, as de-
scribed in No. 2. This will produce the best
females.

Mating No. 4. — To pullets good in other respects
but light in color of breast, mate cocks black in
breast and thighs, with broad black stripe in
hackle and saddle, with very dark beak ; said
cock havins: been black-breasted when a chick.

'O

Mating No. 5. — To hens good in color which as
pullets were not penciled in breast, mate cock-
erels dark in all respects, even in beak, stripe of
hackle, breast, and thighs ; the white, even, so
charged as to be smoky-laced. This is in keep-
ing with mating No. 5, of Light Brahmas.

Nos. 1 and 3 are the "ne plus ultra" of all the
breeds.

38 Specific Mating of

In all these matings we should prefer long-bodied
hens, but not so long as to narrow at the saddle.
The cock should have sufficient length of back to pre-
serve the true Brahma type. The race is too fast
approaching the Cochin shape, an evil I hope the
breeders will strive to remedy, for in doing so they
will have less trouble in keeping up the breed to
standard weight. This point should be kept in mind
when introducing new blood, and large, coarse speci-
mens should be chosen, for they tone down wonder-
fully by in-breeding.

If a strain is disposed to breed extremely light in
color, then no cockerels with spotted breasts should
be used even in mating No. 2 ; but should they be
predisposed to the dark extreme, cocks with spotted
breasts should be used in mating No. 1, and cocks
slightly mottled in their breasts, in mating No. 3.

All really light -colored, stripeless- hackled and
saddled cockerels should be killed, for their use will,
as a rule, produce bad results. All pale, non-pen-
ciled-breasted pullets should be used as incubators
the first year, and all that do not ripen into good
color and have penciled breasts, as hens, should be
used as poultry. The others should be mated as in
matins^ No. 5.

Thorough-bred Fowls, 39

We cannot leave the breed without a word to such
breeders as Mr. Sweet and Mr. Mansfield, who we
learn have devoted much thought to their breeding,
and who are, in a measure, breeding upon the plan
herein laid down ; also, to Mr. Perrj, who has the
" Wright Brahmas," expressing a hope that they Avill
preserve their strains as pure in family blood as pos-
sible, and that in connection with the breeding of
their stock they will use a public record for the pres-
ervation of the history of their respective strains,
either the " World's Pediirree Book" or the " Ameri-
can Poultry Association's Register."

Buyers of this breed are seeing this necessity, and
we believe it will pay for the trouble. The history
of this breed has been much like that of the first ten
years of the Light Brahmas. The fact that the
majority of the breeders believe frequent crosses nec-
essary, and the complication of color has been the
means of causing many to abandon the breed. We
believe the breed can be made a popular one if the
rules herein laid down are folloAved.

40 Sj>ecifiG Mating of

PARTRIDGE COCHIJVS.

Mating No. 1. — Cockerel weighing ten to eleven
pounds, hackle and saddle rich bay, the black in
the same being metallic greenish-black and broad
in the stripe, metallic-black breast and thighs,
fluff showing ^a bronze tinge, indicative of rich
brown blood.

Hens as described in " The Standard." This
matino: is the best that can be made for the
male progeny.

Mating No. 2. — Cock weighing eleven to twelve
pounds, and of the same color as described for
cockerel in mating No. 1.

Pullets large in size, and in color reddish-
brown ground penciled with a deep brown, with
standard neck and tail. This mating will pro-
duce finer females than males.

Mating No. 3. — Males showing bronze-black tips

Thorough-bred Fowls. 41

to breast feathers, even slight mottUngs of bay
color, with thighs slightly bronzed, and a narrow
black stripe in the hackle and saddle.

Females in plumage brown, -penciled with
black. Such faulty hens, by this mating, help to
produce many good males.

Mating No. 4. — Males very dark in beak, hackle,
saddle,- breast and thighs, wings and tail. Fe-
males favoring the light extreme, beiug lightly
penciled in breast, with liackle in which the pen-
ciling of brown mottles the black stripe. This
mating, like the dark-sire mating No. 5, in the
Light Brahmas, often produces fine chicks.

All pale-hackled, spla shed-breasted and bronze-
thighed males should be killed, and in subsequent
matiuirs so mate that one of the sex shall come from
either mating No. 1 or No. 2. Females with clay or
non-penciled breasts, or those with leaden-grey and
black mixed in the plumage, should never be used as
breeders.

It is a sad sight to see so many specimens fail in
color. Many are better described as brown penciled
with black, and buff penciled with brown. The

42 iSjpecific Mating of

Standard color, "rich brown penciled with a darker
brown," should be better appreciated ; so popular has
the reddish buff penciled with dark brown become,
that the judge who literally follows the Standard finds
many to condemn his judgment.

This breed is as difficult to handle as the Dark
Brahmas, and equal care in introducing new blood
should be exercised.

The breed requires close breeding to maintain the
fine outlines of penciling, and we think if all the
statistics could be procured it w^ould be proved that
more prize-winners have come from the breeding in
line as we know to be the case in other breeds..
This is the case of the Partridge Cochin cockerel
winning the Bristol, Conn., exhibition in 1876, and
belonghig to R. B. Lewis of Watertown, Conn.
The cockerel came in a direct line and in the fourth
generation from the imported bird Emperor, 764,
through Ned Buntline 786, and a son of Ned
Buntline.

Tliorough-hred Fowls.

43

THE HOUDAJ^,

HOUDANS.

The Houdans in France and England rank very rnucK
as the Plymouth Rocks do in America, furnishmg ex-
cellent poultry in summer and early fall, and withal
being very good layers, filling the middle ground be-
tween the small and large fowls of the lands. The
first im)3ortations of these fowls proved very unsatis-
factory ; those coming from France being much

44 Specific Mating of

smaller than those imported from English breeders,
the stock having improved in size under their super-
vision. Since the introduction of Houdans into
America the breed has greatly improved, and we now
have yards in America where they are seen in per-
fection. Notable are tliose of Mr. H. A. Grant, of
Tarrytown, N. Y., and Mr. E. C. Aldrich, of Hyde
Park, Mass. In conversation with the latter gentle-
man we learned that his first male, a cockerel from
birds imported from France, weighed only five and
one half pounds ; but with only two introductions of
blood from English importations he has so improved
his fiock that some of his breeding males weigh eight
and three fourths pounds, — an improvement but few
breeds can show. They are also less subject to roup
than formerly, home-bred birds being equally as hardy
as other breeds except the Asiatics.

The breed, made up as it is of plumage in feather
white and black, makes them more subject to loss in
color by age, than most parti-colored breeds ; and a
pullet only one fourth white will generall}^ appear
quite evenly divided in the two colors as a hen ; while
a cockerel quite black oftentimes as a cock, appears
in the regulation uniform, and at three or four yeafs
old looks tolerably white on the lawn.

Thorough-bred Fowls. 45

Therefore, in mating, the breeder has to allow not
only for loss in color for breeding, but also for the
loss by age, and must commence with the young stock
much darker in one of the sexes than he desires ; and
in his purchases of new blood, ought to select dark
specimens.

The shape of the crest is of far more importance in
the cock than the size of it ; while in the hen, the
size of the crest should take the precedent. The
points most desired are : symmetry, form of the sec-
tions, and color in the males, and size, health, size of
crest, and fullness of beard in the females. With
this be sure to have health and egg-productive merit.
Therefore, we recommend mating for the best results
in the male progeny.

Mating No. 1. — Cockerels a little more than one
fourth white, small in comb, finely formed crest,
and full in beard ; in other respects Standard.

Hens of good average size that have ripened
into Standard color, from pullets that were quite
dark in plumage, large crests, full beard, and
small combs.

JMating No. 2. — Cock that has ripened into Standard
color from a cockerel, like No. 1.

46 Sjjecific Mat in j of

Pullets somewhat darker than Standard color,
in form of crest, legs, and toes, as described in
Standard. Such a pen will breed good birds of
both sexes.

Mating No. 3. — -Males evenly broken in white and
black plumage.

Females very dark in plumage. If this mating
be kept up there will soon be less light-plumage d
birds, and the plumage will be more uniform
than it would if light-colored sires were used.

Mating No. 4. — Male nearly black, with beak and
legs dark-colored.

Pullets showing three fifths or more white in
plumage. In this way all the stock can be util-
ized, except extremely light-colored cockerels
of the breed, which should be killed; for their
use will in a few years bleach out the flock to a
greater extent than is desirable.

We see no reason why this breed cannot be kept
up to Standard color ; and surely its practical worth
has been very much improved.

Thorough-bred Fowls. 47

What a few have done in size, the many ought to
be able to do ; but in making weight, do not lose
sight of the egg-productive merit, for that once im-
paired would be a severe blow to the breed.

48

B^ecific Mating of

PLYJJOUTII ROCKS.

PLYMOUTH ROCKS.

This brcccl, In its different families, is cross-bred in
foundation l>lood, v/itb top crosses of the Doniiniquo
to secure the color. To notice some of the modes
wliichliavo produced these beautiful birds, wo cite : —

1. — Elack Spanish on Y/liito Cochin, top crossed with
Dominique.

Thorough-bred Fowls. 4.D

2. — Black Spanish on Gray Dorkings, top crossed

AMth Dominique.

3. — Dominique on Buff-Cochin hens, reaching tho

result through the strong breeding-color quality
of the Dominique, by years of breeding.

4. — White Birmingham on the Black Java, top
cross's d with Dominique.

5. — White Birmingham on the Black Java, and tho
progeny bred together, the progeny coming white
and black, and Dominique. These Dominique-
colored birds, bred Avith the males produced by
mating No. 4, produced the best and surest
breeders for color of plumage and legs ; and
^were known by many as the Essex Strain, being
the same in foundation blood as seen in the so-
called Mark Pitman birds, of 1872-3.

Thus we see that they are the result of mating thor-
ough-breds so strong in color-pigment as to produce
new types, neither being strong enough to control the
color. Thus has the color of this breed been es-
tablished, and the fact that light and dark colors
have been mated to produce the breed, has caused
breeders of this variety to adopt the theory, that the

50 Specific Mating of

color must be maintained by mating the birds bv the
same rule.

It should be remembered that this breed is in its
infancy of organism ; and being in most cases not far
removed from the first crosses, there yet lingers a
struggle of the different bloods for supremacy ; and
we find many more cases of reverting to the original,
tlmn in older and better-established breeds ; yet the
same law, in the main, controlls it; and, although
both sexes in the progeny do not grow lighter alike,
yet the tendency is for the males to breed to the light
extreme, while a large percentage of the females are
good in color, and the balance favor the dark ex-
treme ; yet, when we consider the whole progeny
(although we are led to doubt the general rule when
we think of the few black pullets that sometimes ap-
pear) the preponderance of testimony goes to prove
that it, like all other breeds, grows lighter by breed-
ing.

We have enough of the breed well on the way to
perfection, and as we shall be troubled less with re-
version of the progeny to the first crosses the farther
we get from them, all can see the folly of trying to make
the breed, instead of buying those now perfected.

The universal rule of matinof lis^ht-colored males to

ThoTOugh-hred Fowls. 51

dark-colored females is clearly a mistake, for the
male in his line generally stamps the males in plu-
mage like himself — a type in this case which we do
not desire.

We mated in 1876 a more than medium-dark male
to nearly black-barred females, and the result was the
best colored flock of Plymouth Rock chickens we
ever saw. There was not a black pullet in the lot,
and the lightest shade in the males would be called
medium color, while a light-gray male used on these
same females produced but few desirable-colored fe-
males, and all but very few of the cockerels were the
counterpart of the sire. Surely in this breed it pays
to ^^ find the highest type to perform the patei-nal act "
if we expect to produce our ideal chickens.

These rules must not be condemned upon one ex-
ception. "A single swallow does not make a sum-
mer." A light cockerel for a single season may breed
splendid chicks, breeding back to a perfect sire, but
it is morally certain that his sons will revert with
double force to the evils found in him ; for, if in all
other breeds we find the rule that the chicks favor the
grand-parents, why should this prove an exception?
The breed, as it becomes more and more perfected,

52 iSpecijic Mating of

will be govei ncd more and more by the rule applj'ing

to other breeds.

Ill the light of our experience with this breed so
far, and finding it so in unison with our exporimonts
with tlie Lis^ht Bralunas, and the results of '77 beins^
like these of 7 (J, we recommend the matings of this
breed as follows : —

Mating No. 1. — Males with ])reast of the color de-
sired in the females, with yellow beak and legs,
with neck, back, and tail evenly barred the
light shade predominating, yet free from any
white feathers in flights or tail, mated to females
in plumage slightly darker than, yet accurately
described by the Standard. This should be the
mating to preserve the male line.

Mating No. 2. — A cociv like the one described in
Mating No. 1, mated to females slightly lighter
in color than described by the Standard, will be
found to produce such females as the popular
taste requires ; but the males will be hardly up
to color.

l\LvTiNG No. 3. — Males a light medium in color,
mated to the very darkest females. Males ex-

TJioroitgli-hred FoioJs. 53

cceclingly dark from this mating should not be
used in one's best pens, for the very extremes
should be avoided.

]\LiTixG Xo. 4. — Males much darker than the me-
dium, with very deep yellow beak and legs,
mated to light-colored females (those having
cither gray breasts and white or cloudy neck-
feathering), will be found to produce many very
fine chicks, and the mating stands upon the same
basis as matins^Xo. 5 in Liirht Brahmas. All the
faded, light-colored males should not be used in
breeding for fancy points. They cannot do the

breeder any good, unless wanted for poultry
purposes.

The color of the breast, eye, and beak are the" best
indications of color in breedinsr. A sire medium in
color of plumage, with -a deep-yellow beak, in which
is seen indications of a color-stripe, and with a deep
bay eye, will breed darker-colored chicks than Avill a
sire dark in plumage, light in beak, and having a
light-colored eye.

AVe believe the requirements of the Standard in
the color of the leg to be too arbitrary. There is no

54 Specific Mating of

rejison why this breed should not be as impartially
dealt with as the Dark Brahmas, and like them al-
lowed to be yellow or dusky yellow in the legs.
There is more dark-leg blood in the Plymouth Rock
than in the Dark Brahma. Again, the females seldom
if ever come yellow in leg when chicks, but as they
approach maturity, grow brighter in color and clearer
in shade.

This breed, if properly handled and kept in its
true position, occupying the middle ground between
the small and Asiatic breeds, will become better
appreciated, and any attempt to produce fowls equal
in size to the Asiatics will mar their usefulness. We
are glad to see that such breeders as V. C. Oilman of
Nashua, N. H., are taldng this stand, for we believe

they will be sustained in it. We shall breed our
birds upon that principle, striving to produce them in

just that size and type which will produce the most
merit, viz : the best poultry and the greatest produc-
tion of eggs.

Tliorough-hred Fowls. 65

BROWJV LEaSORJfS.

BROWN LEGHORNS.

Tub firct importation of Brown Leghorns into this
country was in 1853. This importation was bred
along the Mystic River, Conn., and they were then
called Kcd Leghorns. These fowls were short in leg,
red in e:ir-lobo, and very small in size. The modern
rxqiiisition of white ear-lobes, long legs, and ^et*
more than five points in the comb, the dark-brown
color, and greater weight, has been the result of the

5i) Sj)ecijic Mating of

following crosses known to the writer : Spanish sires
bred upon Black Red Game hens, and the progeny
bred to Brown Leghorn cocks, and this progeny in-
bred to sire ; again, Black-Eed Game sire upon Black
Spanish dams, and the progeny bred to Brown Leg-
horn cock, and inbred as before ; and Black Spanish
hens have been bred to Brown Leghorn cocks, and
the progeny inbred.

Thus we have birds of a type far different from
the original ones, and the Brown Leghorns of 1877
are as much different in color and type from those of
1853 as can well bo imagined ; and they well deserve
the ai:)j)cllation of an American-bred bird. Now
there is an excuse for these crosses. They were
found to be chance birds in their own country, but in
acclimating prove a valuable acquisition to this coun-
try's poultry stock. Finding the stock indifferently
bred in its native country, it was considered easier to
produce blood for new infusions from a foreign ele-
ment, which was of greater benefit than to rely on
new importations. Yv^cre we making a specialty of
the breed, wc would certainly make the following
crosses for future use, viz ; A Black Red Game cock
upon a mahogany-breasted Partridge Cochin hen,
l)reeding a pullet of this mating to a Black Spanish

Thorouah-hred Fowls. 57

cock ; and that progeny to a fine Brown Leghorn
cockerel, and breed his pullets back to hhii. The
breeder would in this way get the needed size, quiet
disposition, and the constitution of the Cochin ; and
also run clear of the white feathers produced by the
use of the Claybornc Game of recent crosses.

Breeders will appreciate this trouble, and such a
stock of birds will in three j'cars be much valued.
They are needed now, for the race is fast losing size
and stamina. Of course size and constitution can bo
given in a single cross, but such a cross would bo too
crude. The half-bred Spanish and Game pullet will
do this ; but it would injure one's reputation to put
such eggs on the market. Patience and perfect breed-
ing pays.

In these crosses, and in fact in all crosses, let the
point sought for be the get of the breed in which it
is the prominent feature. For instance, if you would
cross for a white car lobe, use the Spanish male on
the Leghorn female ; for the progeny cany back to
grand-sires, and Spanisli ci-ossos will show the white
ear even in the sixth generation. The r:sult that
breeders arc striving for can be more easily attained
in this way, than b}^ the use of the Spanish hen.
The Brown liCghorn race is faulty in thLs respect, for

58 Sj>ecijic Mating of

jast this reason ; and it is a very strong jiroof that
the original fowls were red in the lobe. We find it
much easier to get females with fine ears than males.
In mating the race as we find it at the present time,
we would recommend the following : —

LIating No. 1. — Sire, a cockerel with a rich bay
hackle striped with black, which as a chick was
also known to have had the neck feathers black
in stripe ; comb having but f^YQ points, and in
other respects standard.

The dam, pure salmon brown, but not that
deep shade sometimes seen ; the ground-color of
back and wing coverts pure brown, penciled
with a darker brown, and the feathers of saddle,
lapping on to the tail, having a sage tinge to the
brown color. Wings free from all red or brick
color ; the hackle free from all yellowish-brown
pcncilings ; comb that stands partially erect, roll-
ing at about one half its height, and in other re-
spects as near to the description of the Standard
as can be obtained.

This is the " ne plus ultra," and should be the
mating for the male line. The females from this
mating will be fine also.

TJtorougli-bred Fowls» 59

LIating No. 2. — Males as near Standard as possible,
except the comb should have five points, and the
neck-hackle may be a light bay with a tolerably
good stripe in it. A very narrow but black
stripe is to be preferred, though one broader but
not much darker than a brown, may be tolerated.
Females quite dark in the salmon shade of
breast, wings and back brown with penciling that
shades nearer black than brown ; also wings free
from any red shading. In other respects Stand-
ard. Such a mating will produce as fine females
as mating No. 1.

llilATiNG No. 3. — Males of a like character as de-
scribed in mating No. 2, yet a lighter shade can
be induli^ed in.

Pullets with exceedingly dark breasts, and
havinsr the red tiu2:e in the win^rs. This reddish

o o o

tinge is a serious fault, yet such birds produce
many fine chicks.

Mating No. 4. — Males dark-bay hackled, the stripe
being very distinctly defined, even at the base,
so wide as to form a black necklace around the
neck — in fact the dark extreme in color, and
Standard as to form.

GO Specific Mating of

Females, those "we term tlic light extreme,
T\'hose back and Avinsr covei'ts look like faded
brown cloth, and pale in breast color.

The progeny may be restored to color in this cross
and faulty females thereby utilized. The light straw-
hackled, mottle-breasted, and bronze-thighed males
should be killed, for to use them is an evil to bo
shunned, as described in other breeds. The first and
second matings are considered the perfect ones, and
the third and fourth those of expediency or necessity.
The breed is certaiidy one of the best for practical
purposes, and Avith the Plymouth Kock, seems to fill a
place in the economy of poultry that none of the other
varieties arc so well capable of doing.

We cannot leave the breed without a tribute to the
late J. II. Pierce of Worcester, for he was a gentle-
man and a genial friend, and the stock he left, was
in all probability the purest in real Leghorn blood of
any in the country. jNIr. Pierce acquired the new
features of white earlobes, and high station, with less
of foreign bh)od than any other breeder. lie was a
strong advocate of selection in breeding. We think
it will be found to be true that he never made a Span-
ish cross, and sold the birds for pure Leghorns in his

Thorough-bred Foiols, ()1

life. Ho leaves us a legacy of honesty in the trade
that many would do well to emulate. IMany re-
member the cock ^^ Chief "hrcd by him, which was
the best in five well contested and prominent exhibi-
tions ; and which is now over five years old, and still
holding the vigor of his youth. This bird, with the
entire Pierce stock, was purchased by Rev. II. A.
Shorey of Boston, and formed the foundation blood
of that gentleman's present breeding stock. INIay the
future record of this strain be no less successful than
its history has shown it to be in the past.

62 Sjiecific Mating of

BUFF COCHIJVS.

In Self-Colors the male should always be the darker
in shade.

Mating No. 1. — A cockerel of a deep reddish buff-
color, with chestnut tail and wings, Standard in
other respects, should be mated to hens that are
pure buff in color, medium in shade, and in form
of structure as described in the Standard.

Mating No. 2. — A cock of medium shade, the result
of a reddish-buff cockerel, but showing black in
wing and tail, mated to pullets that are good ex-
hibition color, will produce fine females, while
pullets very dark in shade mated to this same bird
will produce fine males.

LIating No. 3. — Males, dark in every respect even
having nearly black tails, to pale-whitish buff fe-
males. This is the only mating of extremes,
especially in Buffs, that should be made.

Thorough-bred Fowls. ('3

All pale-buff males should be sacrificed to the mar-
kct-mau, for they not only become mealy in the
Tvings and white in the tails with age, but their
progeny as a rule are faulty, and it is worse than folly
t® use them as breeders.

61

BjpecifiG Mating of

SOLID COLORS.

In tlio solid colors like white and black a <jood con-
stitution and health while breeding is iill-important,
no matter what the breed, for brilliancy of color and
purity of shade are dependent upon it.

Thorough-bred Fowls. Qtb

The rule to guide in mating is as follows :—
A metallic-black male mated to females of the same
hard smooth surface-color is the best for both males
and females, but such a cock mated to females dead-
black, lacking in brightness and metallic surface,
will breed fine pullets, but the male progeny is gen-
erally much poorer than the female. In black there
is little to do beyond these two distinctions of color.
The metallic hard-finished surface and the dull black,
if crossed, restores to the progeny the metallic-black
desired. Birds of this gross should be mated to
those of the metallic-black mating.

These facts wc glean from our friend James M.
Lambing whose cut wc present. Mr. Lambing keeps
up the blood of his Hamburgs by importing each year
the best blood ho can procure.

60 Specific Mating of

GEJV'ERAL REMARKS.

ON THE TREATMENT OF BREEDING-STOCK.

A FEW general remarks as to repairing diseased or
broken plumage, etc., may not come amiss.

If in white birds, or in the white in parti-colored
specimens, colored feathers appear, especially if black
feathers appear in white, they will oftentimes if pulled
be replaced by feathers true to the color of the
breed.

Young cockerels are often attacked by older birds,
and their plumage marred, in which case the feathers
so injured grow slim and longer than the others. We
have seen sickle feathers corrugated along the quill
and white in a black tail, removed, and afterwards re-
placed by a perfectly black pair. We should not
despair of an otherwise exhibition bird, till we had
removed these diseased and faulty feathers, and given
time for them to grow anew, for the majority of cases
prove their restoration true to color.

The only way we can keep our stock in presentable
plumage during the breeding-season is by watchful-
ness, and by removing all diseased and broken feath-

TJioroiigh-hred Foiols, 07

crs, which will bo replaced by new ones ; otherwise
the fowls must wear their broken plumage till the
moulting season, and look badly.

A Light Brahma having, say from two to twenty
black-tainted feathers in the back, if thej^ are pulled,
will often replace them with white ones. The pro-
cess can be repeated till all are secured true to color.

The best time to hatch the breedins^-stock we be-
licve to be from iMay 20th to June 10th. Such birds
come in the time of year when they do not suffer from
cold, and they grow rapidly and continually till ma-
ture. Cold weather comes on just in time to check
their laying ; and generally they will not have laid more
than ten or twelve eggs before we are ready to use
them ; and wc get them vigorous from the freshness
of young productive life. Again, the adult fowls
moult and rest, and generally have laid but few eggs
before their cirsfs are needed for incubation. From
such pullets, and these rested hens, we believe the
best eggs for incubation are procured. Early pullets
that commence laying in the fall, and lay through to
March, sustaining a strain of six months' laying, we
do not consider as good for the breeding-pen as the
pullets named above. We believe the time and the

G8 Specific Mating of

way which aiiproachos nearest nature's fitness of
thhigs, the best to produce our breedmg-stock.

The first forty eggs laid by a hen after moulting,
or the eleventh to the fiftieth a^g laid by a pullet, are
better, and the chicks from them prove larger and
finer, than those laid afterwards dunng the same breed-
in2C-season.

Cockerels arc the safest for winter breedinix. A
good plan is to use a cockerel till April 1st, and then
turn the harem over to a 3'ouiig male coming two
year, old, from which to raise 3'our breeding-stock,
thus producing them in the time of year nature in-
tended. Such birds generally have more symmetry
and merit than those unnaturally produced.

There can be no definite rule for number of females
to one male ; this the breeder's good sense must de-
termine. There must be enough so that copulation
will not be accompanied with coercion. This number
will be found to be. in Asiatics, from eight to fifteen ;
in Plymouth Eocks, ten to twenty ; Iloudans, from
ten to fifteen ; and in Leghorns the number can still
be increased. "Where less numbers are kept, the male
should not be allowed to run with the females con-
stantly.

Experience teaches that twenty is better than two.

Thoroujlt-hred Fowls. G9

Two years ngo wc had l>irds ponuccl in iiumbcrs rang-
ing from six to eighteen, and in every case the eggs
from the hirgcr inunber hutched the best. In one pen
they utterly failed, and when wc increased ihc num-
ber to fifleen birds nearly all the c^^'i hatched, and the
progeny v.-erc largely female.

The feed while the plumage is growing, both in
chicks and moulting fowls, has much to do with its
color. AVriters aflirm that the reason wild birds arc
so stcrcot^'ped in color is because of their freedom to
select just Avhat food they need. 'Wc do not think it
so much the kiiid as the supply of it, and protection
from the inini-ious effects of the sun, that controls the
color ; nor do we acknowledge that the wild partridge
is any more sterer)ty[)ed in color and form than our
Partridge Cochins. This question was raised at the
Connecticut Poultry E\hi])ition, when II. F. Fclch
and II. S. Ball retired to the market and plucked
feathers from different i>artridL!:es and bronirlit the
same to compare with the Cuchins then on exhibition
which showed them to ];e no nearer uniform in plu-
mage ; another fdct, the partridges had both smooth
and feathered leirs.

If a chick be starved it will not onlv be dwarfed in
stature but will fail in color. AVe have seen speckled

70 Specific Mating of

half-starved Light Brahmas when put on generous
diet slough their objectionable coats and grow plu-
mage true to their kind.

Young chicks should be fed on boiled egg, canary and
millet seed, wheat, cracked corn, whole corn and bran
mashed with corn meal. These fed in abundance,
and a careful protection from cold winds and rains,
will leave no excuse for bad plumage if the breed be
pure in blood. In milk there is everything a chicken
needs but fat. Baked indian-cake and warm milk will
make chickens grow faster and put exhibition birds
in better trim than any other two things wc can name.

The finest specimens are those that do not cease to
grow from the time they hatch till full maturity. A
chick that suffers a severe check in its growth while
young, seldom proves a prize-bird, and, when hatched
in winter, provision should be made for producing
green vegetable food in the way of green oats, to
carry them through till the grass comes in the spring.

The care of the flock does not consist entirely in
furnishing a plenty to cat, but watchful oversight,
seeing to it that they do not huddle in large numbers
in one place at night. Wc used to think that it was
injurious to allow them to roost before six months of
age, but we have altered our opinion and recommend

Thorough-bred Fowls, 71

it at the age of sixteen weeks. They should be induced
to occupy low perches two inches wide, for there will
not be one half the injury arising from this as from
the poisoning influences of their exhalations when
crowded into small coops.

If we take pains to cover the chicks whose weaning
corned in a cold season of the year, by throwing a
blanket over the coop to keep off* the cold night-air,
or to coop the broods in the afternoon when cold
east- winds are blowing, we many times secure the
season's success. By these little attentions at just the
right time we enhance our chances of winning at the
winter exhibitions.

We can assist nature to do her work perfectly.
We do not consider it a sin to straighten a hare-lip
or crossed eyes in our children, or, if the muscle of
the leg be contracted, to use the knife, that they may
walk without limping the remainder of their lives,
nor do we consider these things injurious to repro-
duction. And taking this care of our own offspring,
wherein is the sin, if by judicious means we secure
perfect development in our chicks ? In nine cases in
ten, chicks hatch with a perfect organism ; now, is
not any work legitimate that secures its perfect de-
velopment? Should a chick hatch web-footed, the

72 Sjpecific Mating of

web should be cut back to its proper structure, thus
liberating the toes to grow in their legitimate angles.
While the comb in Light Brahmas chicks will hatch
perfect, its peculiar shape makes it less likely to de-
velop properly than a single comb. In many cases
bad combs can be prevented by proper treatment.

The first thing that nature does in case of a wound
is to repair it. Therefore, if the middle division
is seen to be growing too rapidly, the serrations of
this division should be pricked with a sharp instru-
ment so as to make them bleed. This process will
check the growth of this division and allow the side
divisions to grow into proportion with it. If the
middle and one side seem to be growing faster than
the other side, the same process of treatment applied
to both will allow the weaker division to grow into
proportion with them. An old cock may give a chick
a severe peck in one side of the comb so as to turn it
to one side. A corresponding wound on the other
side will maintain it in its proper position. By this
means wo succeed in making the comb grow into
proper shape. Is it not better to do so than to let it
grow into an irregular, deformed mass, and then. turn
butcher and cut and slash the comb, making a bad
job of it, and receive the just censure of our fellow-

Thorough-bred Fowls, 73

breeders ? Three fourths of all the bad combs are
the result of external causes and unnatural feedinir to
produce very large birds.

The leg-feathering can be '^vonderfully assisted in
its growth, and many a crooked toe saved by pulling
all foul feathers. The skin of the foot and Icir is
tough, and the feathers oftentimes grow along under
it, from one fourth to one half an inch before pene-
trating the skin, thus causing the toe to turn in.
TVc have pulled these feathers four times before suc-
ceeding in making them grow properly.

The breeders and amateurs as a rule are too lazy
to attend to all this minutiae (and the writer is as
guilty as anyone he knows, yet a guide-board may
tell the way, if it docs not go itself).

74 Specific Mating of

THE STRAIJSrS OF LIGHT BRAHMAS,

We speak of fowls as being of such and such a per-
son's strain, but with no significance in the sense of
individuality. Fowls cannot be said to be of a strain
unless it can be shown by history or pedigree of blood
that they possess fifty per cent, or more of the blood
of the strain. A type that reproduces itself is simply
the result of an established strain.

It is proper to speak of Williams', Oilman's, Lam-
bing's, Buzzell's, Dibble's, or Bacon's stock ; but to
speak of strains of blood in this connection is all
wrong, for there does not exist, nor has there ever
been, but four strains of Brahma blood brought to
the country, and we have to number the birds Mr.
Burnham calls Grey Shanghais, to reach even that
number.

If A purchase a cock of B, and the second year pur-
chase one of C, to follow it upon his flock, the chicks
cannot be called A's strain ; nor can it be called A's
stock, only in the sense of ownership, for the blood
is one half C's, one fourth B's, and only one fourth

Thorough-bred Fowls. 75

the original blood of A's stock, C's stock being the
more proper name, since it has twice as much blood
of that strain as either of the others.

The word strain implies, in breeding, a strict ad-
herence to the blood of a particular family or im-
portation, admitting no more foreign blood than is
necessary to sustain the health and vigor of the race.

In this chapter it is our purpose to show what
strains have been received and to what extent they
have been retained, showing as far as possible what
the principal Light Brahmas of the country are made
up of ; for the time has come when information show-
ing that a recorded history of blood and breeding of
both sire and dam is needed.

One may have females of one strain and purchase
a male of another, and, by in-breeding, sedUrc both in
their purity, for there is a constant waste going on in
the blood, which must be replaced ; and we think it
can be demonstrated that more than one eighth of
foreign blood has to be introduced before the original
suffers any organic change, and that this one eighth
is consumed by the original in suppl3dng this waste
spoken of. To illustrate our position, we will mate
the strains as we would a pair of chicks of one strain,
and show that the same rule of in-breeding applies to

76 Specific Mating of

them as to the fowls of mq established strain. We
mate a Felch sire to an Autocrat hen ; the first sea-
sou the progeny is one half Autocrat and one half
Felch. In the second year we mate these pullets to
this same sire, No. 1 Felch, and produce chicks that
are three-fourths Felch and one-fourth Autocrat. We
also mate a cockerel of the first cross to the Autocrat
dam, and produce progeny three-fourths Autocrat.
The third year we mate the three-fourths Felch pul-
lets again to the original sire, and we produce seven-
eighths Felch birds, while again mating a three-
fourths Autocrat cockerel to the original dam, we
produce a progeny seven-eighths Autocrat. We have
now produced the two strains from a single pair, and
we claim them to be in their purity, for the blood
of each has been gradually reduced in each family
until entirely consumed. Beyond the point named
it will not do to go, as further in-breeding would re-
sult in sterility ; yet we can take birds from each of
these families of the third year's breeding and repeat
the same process "ad libitum."

We can vouch for this experiment up to this point
of seven eighths. It is on this principle that we have
the pure Duchess and pure Princess cattle ; and al-
though we may say a cow is one one-huudred-and-

ThorougJi-hred Fowls. 11

twenty-eighth Old Favorite, yet is purely the blood
of Old Favorite of Short^horn fame, we are consist-
ent, for this infusion of one eighth new blood but
supplies the waste in the original ; consequently noth-
ing is added, and the blood remains pure.

Among horse-men the rule generally followed is
to breed out, as they term it, once, and breed in
twice, by which process they reach oniy the three-
fourths rule, which is hardly enough to secure against
loss of type and color in poultry ; for we have de-
monstrated that one eighth is the amount actually
consumed, and if we do not breed in to that extent
our flock gradually changes in type and color. If
with a strain once established we make a cross, and
breed back to sires of the strain having out-crosses
ether than the ones we have described above, wo can
breed in so far as to produce chicks sixty-one sixty-
fourths of the blood of the original strain. Males of
such production are valuable, but the females are
generally poor layers and poor breeders, producing
small, tough-shelled eggs, which seldom hatch.

The matings that produce birds three fourths and
seven eighths the blood of the original strain (this
being the prolific stage of in-breeding) have the most
merit as egg-producers and show-birds. Pride in

78 Sjpeciflc Mating of

one's strain, and a desire to keep up the prepotency
in the male line should be the only inducement to
breed beyond the seven-eighths cross.

To do this work of breeding, and the more easily
to control it, a record or pedigree should be kept by
every breeder ; and all males and pens of females
used as breeders be named, if for no other reason than
to give them an individuality, and to fix them in
memory.

All breeders should keep a pedigree-book. The
time has come which compels us to do so for self-pro-
tection, for the prominent strains are becoming more
or less intermingled. The Standard by its influence
is converting the different strains into one common
type and color. Since there is no outward indication
of difference of blood, one can see how essential a
pedigree is, so that in mating we may be sure of a
cross when we purchase a sire or dam. One hardly
wishes to send one thousand miles for s]Decimens
to put into his flock, and find them identical in blood
with his own.

The cattle-breeder, in purchasing a bull to stand at
the head of his herd, looks up his pedigree, and by
that pedigree is enabled to select one that is bred in
line with his own stock ; yet with a cross of blood

Thorough-bred Foivis, 79

that will by its introduction improve bis berd and be
consumed by it, without changing in any way the in-
dividuality of the strain of blood he takes pride in
breeding.

This introduction of new blood is but the feeding
of the strain ; and it is of as vital importance to
know what we feed to the blood, as to know what we
feed in the manger, to support the life of the organ-
ism.

A truthful record or -pedigree would crush out the
existing jealousies, and restore harmony, for it com-
pels breeders to stand or fall upon their own merits,
and makes the blood and the specimen of a strain
worth as much in one man's hands as in another's, as
we now see demonstrated in Short-horn cattle.

None can fail to see what a benefit it would be, if a
printed record, or history of all the Light Brahmas
now bred in the States could be made as a basis, — a
foundation-blood, from which to obtain a pedigree, or
to use in mating ; and what an influence it would have
on the same, by bringing such strains and sub-strains
into notice, and as a result furnish a ready market.

The real strains being once established, and the
situation understood, the breeder would be relieved
of the annoyance of having inferior stock palmed off

80 SjpeciJiG Mating of

as his strain by irresponsible parties, and the blun-
ders in mating made by purchasers would be pre-
vented. The pedigree discloses the breeder ; and the
assertion that such are Felch, Autocrat, or Philadel-
phia birds, if proved by a pedigree, has a meaning,
and protects the honest breeder. We know many
are opposed to pedigree, for it prevents the selling
of superannuated hens as yearlings, and presents
to the amateur too sure a rule for breeding; for the
selfish say : Let the beginners do as we did, and
work out the problem for themselves by experience.

In looking over the winning birds for the past ten
years, it is surprising to see how universally it is true,
that they are the result of uniting two strains, and
breeding back to one of them. As we present the
history of the different strains and sub-strains, or
flocks composed of two or more strains, with statis-
tics as to their breeding, the rule will be apparent.

THE BURNHAM STEAIN.

This strain was as he affirms, and as we understand
the matter, the Grey Shanghai of 1849-50. From
this blood was produced the fowls presented to the
Queen. In 1866 the purest blood of this strain was

Thorouglt-bred Foiols. 81

found in the possession of Mr. Phillips, and was
known and handled by Mr. Williams and Mr. Comey,
as Phillips birds. Mr. Phillips, just before his death,
in conversation with Mr. Comey, asserted that his
flock was from the birds sent to the Queen by Geo.
P, Burnham, that he had bred them as closely as he
could, using but one or two top crosses, and breeding
back in a general way. He did not preserve the
strain by any fixed rule of in-breeding, yet he must
have preserved to a large degree the original blood, as
his birds, to a large extent, came with single combs..
They were dark in blood, preserving the Chittagong
characteristic of dark undercolor. The blood of
this Chinese strain has been used to a considerable
extent by breeders of other strains, as we will show
anon. Until 1856 or 1858, these birds were known
as Chittagongs, or single-combed Brahmas, as was
also the Rankin strain.

THE RANKIN STRAIN.

The original birds of this strain were from India.
This Mr. Rankin can clearly show. They were large
in frame, had low single combs, dark undercolor in
back, and large lemon-colored legs with a prominent

82 8jpeciflc Mating of

greenish-blue vein down the inside. The last feature
seems to have followed the crosses of this strain with
other strains, and seems to have been transmitted
more readily than any other. Up to 1866 this strain
or importation was kept pure. About that time the
different exhibitions ceasing to give prizes to single-
combed Brahmas, Mr. Kankin was compelled to use
top crosses of pea-combed sires from the Chamberlin
strain, and other sub or mixed strains, to secure the
engraftment of the pea-comb on his strain ; and as
breeding back so as to retain the pea-comb would be
too discouraging a process to accomplish his pur-
pose, it is more than probable that the race hardly
held its own as a strain, foi* it would be obliged to
retain full fifty per cent of the original blood to be
called a strain now.

These birds however have been largely used by
the breeders of other strains, for Mr. Eankin shipped
larire numbers of them to Connecticut and to and
about Philadelphia, which, with the Dr. Kerr birds,
have largely entered into, and, being subject to top
crosses of the Chamberlin strain, have become the
origin and foundation-blood of the Philadelphia
(Tees) strain.

Thorough-bred Fowls,

83

THE PHILADELPHIA STRAIN.

COCK WRIGHT.

Bred hy Joseph M. Wade ( PJdladelphiu Strain),

The Philadelphia strain was known as Kensington
or Tees stock about 1867 and 1868. While these
birds can hardly be called a distinct strain, yet as
such they have been used, in connection with those of
the Eankhi strain, by the breeders of the Autocrat
and Chamberlin strains, and the crosses have proved

84 Specific Mati)vj of

of the very best, and as auxiliaries deserve a notice
in tills connection.

This sub-strain (so to speak) which comprised the
Brahmas in and about Philadelphia in 186G, were the
winners in the Philadelphia and the New York exhi-
bitions 4n that year, and were called the " Tees "
birds. In conversation with Messrs. Henry, Tees,
Sharpless, and Herstine, we learned that the founda-
tion-blood was originally from India and the Dr.
Kerr birds which were from China. Whether they
made allusion to the birds sent to Philadelphia by
Mr. Rankin or to birds direct from Chittagong, we
cannot say, and it makes but little difference, for, as
they affirmed, they were single-combed, as a rule,
and large of frame, with pale-yellow legs.

From 1863 to 1868 these birds were converted into
pea-combed stock by top crosses of birds from Con-
necticut and New York, which were probably from
the Chamberlin strain, or birds of like orisfin. At
least, we know this to be true in the case of the bird
known as the fourth-prize cock of New York, in 1868,
at the rink, he beiug from a cockerel bred by Mr.
Pool of New York, and out of hens by Baron San-
born 302, bred by I. K. Felch,

I have spoken of the peculiar color and vein in the

Thorough-bred Fowls. 85

leg of the Rankin strain, and the power with which
the race transmitted it.

The fact that this feature, though in a milder de-
gree, was apparent in the crosses of the Philadelphia
birds with those of the Felch, also with the crosses
of the Autocrat strain, seems to indicate that the
Eankin or similar blood entered largely into the
foundation-blood of the Philadelphia birds of that
psriod, as the parties I have alluded to affirm.
Again, the birds brought from Philadelphia in 1868
and 1869 had the color of the Chamberlin leg, yet
they still retained the Rankin shape of bone, being
more round in its formation than that of the Cham-
berlin stock. It will be seen that all the birds pur-
chased of Mr. Williams from his so-called " Favorite
Stock" did not materially alter the blood, for they
were but the result of mingling the blood of the
Rankin, Burnham (the Phillips Stock), and the
Chamberlin strains, which is like the blood of the
Philadelphia strain, for Burnham's and the Dr. Kerr
birds, they affirm, were alike and from China.

The cock " Wright," whose cut we are able to fur-
nish through the kindness of Joseph M. Wade, edi-
tor of the Farmer's Journal, of Hartford, Connecticut,
who had him, we are assured was the best type of

8Q ^ Specific Mating of

the Philadelphia Brahmas of his day, 1872. These
birds, it will be seen, were quite short in the back as
compared to the Autocrat or Chamberlin strains.
The descendants of this bird are now found in their
greatest purity of blood, in the hands of McKeen
and Hulick, of Easton, Pennsylvania, they purchasing
of Mr. Wade eleven of Wright's sons and daughters,
upon which there has been but one top cross, that
being an Autocrat-bred bird, and the progeny bred
back to the progeny of Wright. We understand
McKeen and Hulick have procured some males of
the same blood as Wright, and will strive to repro-
duce these birds as near as is possible in the same
form as they were found in 1866 and 1868, when
such good results were obtained by the infusion of
the blood with that of the Autocrat, and Chamber-
lin or Felch strains.

One fact worthy of note here is, that the old hen
exhibited by Charles Tees in 1867, then eleven years
old, was as fine a Light Brahma hen in color and size
as has been shown since ; and her beautiful pea-comb
shows that there were pea-combs, and bluish under-
colored specimens bred in 1856. She weighed four-
teen pounds and four ounces, a larger weight for a
Brahma hen than has since been bred. Thirteen

Thorough-bred Foivls. 87

pounds and fifteen ounces, and fourteen pounds being
the best weight for a Felch bird, and fourteen pounds
and two ounces the lars^est Autocrat hen on record.
The writer fails to see that the Almighty has suffered
man to increase the size beyond that of the original.

There were several breeders of these Philadelphia
birds of 1868, and if they have kept a record of the
top crosses used since that time that have been of a
different strain, it will be of much interest to others ;
for, as breeders, we are compelled to breed to that
form and color defined in the Standard of Excellence,
and our strains constantly needing blood-food, it
makes it necessary that the blood of each strain be
different, and thereby does it become more valuable.

All the strains are dependent one upoii the other
for this blood-food, and not only is it a personal in-
terest to preserve these distinct types of blood, but
it becomes a general necessity, for a strain that is
isolated soon runs out ; the loss of color and vitality
soon works its own ruin.

The top cross of Beauty Duke upon the Philadel-
phia birds, as Mr. Wade and the writer understands
the matter, was simply adding a new top cross to the
amount of one fourth the blood of the Chamberlin
derived from the cross of the fourth-prize cock of

88 8jpeciJiG Mating of

New York, 1868, with Felch hens. But if, as it has
been claimed, he was the progeny of a son of Duke
of York and a Philadelphia hen, upon a Felch
and Philadelphia hen, then he carried into his Phila-
delphia harem one eighth the blood of Old Autocrat
and one eighth Chamberlin blood, as a top cross upon
the Philadelphia birds of 1868, and in Mr. McKeen's
hands, I learn, the progeny was bred back to Wright,
as in the case of the progeny from the males pur-
chased of Mr. Plaisted, spoken of above.

Thorough-bred Fowls.

89

THE AUTOCRAT STRAIN.

A LIGHT BRAHMA HEN
of the ** Autocrat " strain, winner of the national Exldbition at Chicago in 1876,

Tho history of this bird, Autocrat, is well known.

Mr. Estes purchased the bird in Fulton Market, New
York, the seller avowing that ho was imj^orted. The
subsequent history of this bird, his strong breeding

90 Specific Mating of

qualities, the fact that when the blood was crossed
with other strains it produced new types, this with
the Pearl eye so different from the prevailing bay eyo
in other Brahmas, to my mind, presents grounds for
believing the assertion that he was imported, although
there is no proof to that effect.

This bird was bred one season to females whose
foundation-blood was the Geo. P. Burnham birds,
being the progeny of the stock sent to the Queen by
that gentleman ; the birds being "Phillips Stock," so
called by Mr. Williams who sent them to Mr. Estes.
In 1866 Mr. Estes presented Autocrat to Mr. Wil-
liams, who bred him to the best birds he could pro-
cure from several sources.

The better to understand the advantasjes received
by the breeders of Light Brahmas through the advent
of " Old Autocrat," it is necessary to say, that before
the war Mr. Williams' stock of Light Brahmas con-
sisted of the Chamberliu blood, through purchases
of them at Yalley Falls, the Burnham blood, and the
blood of the Eankin importation. When Mr. Wil-
liams returned from the war, his old love clinging to
him, he commenced again, by purchasing the best
stock he could procure in his locality, the same being
descendants from stock he bred before going south ;

Thorough-bred Fowls. 91

also birds of Mr. Stroiit of Framingliam, that were
from a cock purchased in Abington, mated to a Felch
hen by a son of Baron Sanborn 302 ; also, hens of H.
G. White, which were pure Felch, by Baron Sanborn
302. Birds bred from these elements were the foun-
dation-blood in Mr. Williams' yards, and out of which
came his " Favorite Stock ; " and the same were in
his possession when Old Autocrat appeared on the
stage. Autocrat was mated to the best birds to be
found in all these elements, and the male produce
was Autocrat 3d, Eaton's Autocrat, Lord Berkeley,
and two other sons.

Old Autocrat died early in the season. Lord
Berkeley was a dark-plumaged bird, and as he bred
very dark he was sold to go West.

Autocrat 3d was a very large bird but did not
prove a good sire, many of his chicks coming single-
combed. The greenish-blue vein was prominent in
the leg, which strongly indicated a Rankin cross in
his dam. He was lost by sickness, and his place
filled by Eaton's Autocrat, who proved a good sire,
hut the plumage of his chicks was dark. In all these
Autocrat-crosses the dark undercolor prevailed.

One of the other sons was sent to Mr. Estes, of
North Carolina, where he was bred to birds of

92 Specific Mating of

the year previous, out of the Phillips birds by Old
Autocrat, producing the birds Colossus, Apollo, and
Triumph, all of which were purchased by Mr. Will-
iams. That the blood of Old Autocrat was radically
different from other established strains, is appa-
rent in the fact that whenever crosses were made
with it they proved good, showing increased size and
producing new types, which had equal strength in
breeding with other established strains.

The friends of the old bird express a regret that he
could not have lived, and his progeny bred back to
him, thinking that the results would have been aston-
ishing ; and they consider his death a misfortune.
Now we do not concur in this opinion, although
friendly to Old Autocrat, for his progeny bred too
dark. It may be said that this fault of the progeny
was derived from the Phillips hens. To this we can-
not assent, for to admit this is to accede the merit of
breeding to the Phillips stock, and to admit that Old
Autocrat was weak in breeding-qualities ; and as all
breeding tends to grow lighter, it is this very dark
breeding that has made his blood so valuable to
breeders of other strains. The whole rank of breed-
ing within two years will hail the advent of another
such bird with joy. To prove that this dark blood

Thorough-bred Fowls, 93

and breeding is the work of Old Autocrat, we will
say that all the crosses of the old bird with the Felch
stock resulted in dark-plumage birds. The progeny
of Autocrat 3d, whose breeding indicated so strongly
the Rankin descent, bred even darker than the others ;
the cross of Son of Colossus with the Felch hen
Penelope was also dark. A son of Duke of York
out of a T:es hen, even-mated to Felch hen, bred
dark ; yet the Rankin blood bred to Felch did not
breed dark, nor did the Tees hen bred to Natick, the
Felch cock, prove dark. We could cite other cases of
like breeding, all of which goes to prove Old Auto-
crat to have been dark in blood ; and in my judgment,
had he lived to have been bred to his own progeny,
they would have been so very dark that he and his
descendants would have been abandoned. As it is,
he and his blood have proved a blessing, and, where
breeders of other strains have had the patience to
wait and breed back, have been very much appre-
ciated. The fact that the hens he was bred to in Mr.
Williams* hands were of a mixed strain of blood,
made his progeny of far more value ; for it gave the
power of breeding more readily to his influence, and
they being thus made up, gave the preponderance of
blood to Old Autocrat, which with this great strength

94 Specific Mating of

of breeding which wo have shown, entitles the blood,
to the name of a *^ strain." One thing is certain, his
blood has been the only competitor the Chamberlin-
Felch strain has ever had, and surely the Felch and
the Autocrat birds have done more to make the inter-
est in Light Brahmas what it is in America, than all
other causes combined.

So thoroughly has Mr. Williams become identified
with this strain, that to a great extent it is quoted as
"Williams stocli. But there are others in a like man-
ner quoted, which makes it fair to state that Mr.
Johnson of Newburyport, Mass., Mr. Comey of
Quincy, Mass., Mr. Plaisted of Hartford, Conn., Mr.
Buzzell of Clinton, Mass., as well as ]\Ir. Williams,
its principal, are breeding the Autocrat strain, fed by
the blood of the Felch and the Philadelphia strains,
and that of other sub-strains, to maintain its vitality.

The author of " Secrets in Fowl Breeding " speaks
of Mr. Plaisted as breeding the Chamberlin strain ;
but this is not correct, if we are to credit the pedi-
grees in the " Poultry- World's Pedigree Book." By
consulting that, we see that it is as strongly bred to
Autocrat as can well be done, for that gentleman,
when he renewed his old love in breeding Brahmas,
purchased of Emory Carpenter his entire stock, which

2horough-bred Fowls. 95

comprised one brother of Colossus, and Carpenter's
stock, being Autocrat with Tees and Felch crosses,
the latter through the Felch hen purchased of Mr.
Buzzell.

At this time, or soon after, Mr. Plaisted also pur-
chased of Mr. Williams two other brothers of Colossus,
making three sires begotten by the son of Old Auto-
crat, spoken of as sent by Mr. Williams to Mr.
Estes, and out of pullets by Old Autocrat out of the
Phillips hens first sent to Mr. Estes by Mr. Williams.
He also purchased of Mr. Williams a pen of six hens
and one cock, known as his Favorite strain (see in
history of Autocrat) , and a pen of six hens and ono
cock, one-half Autocrat and one-half Favorite blood,
buying, as he termed it, families for breeding pens,
which, as may be seen, makes the weight of blood in
the Plaisted stock Autocrat, if we are to accept the
pedigrees as printed, and the above facts.

DUKE or YORK

Mr. Comey's Duke of Yorlv was a grandson of Old
Autocrat in a double sense, for both his sire and dam
were the progeny of Old Autocrat out of the Phillips
hens 5 bred by Mr . Estes . The Phillips hens , as we have

96 ISj^eciflG Mating of

described above, were in foundation-blood the same as
the stock sent to the Queen by Mr. Burnham. The
Duke of York was a vigorous bird, and lived to be
bred to his own progeny, and also to the Philadelphia
hens purchased of Chas. Tees by Mr. Comey ; and to
this mating we believe should be given the credit of
bringing out in its best form the breeding qualities of
the Duke, for sons by the Duke out of his daughter,
mated with the pullets by him out of the Philadelphia
hens, proved excellent birds ; but the first cross with
the Philadelphia hen developed poor combs, as did
the Philadelphia stock with the Felch.

It may be asked by the friends of Philadelphia
stock, where the progeny of Colossus got their faulty
combs ? We will say, just where the Tees stock got
it, — from the Ranldn. The blood was there, and large
birds could not be forced without its development.

Mr. Comey made crosses of the Rankin strain,
which, as he informs us, he abandoned, as it with the
York blood developed nothing desirable but size.
Since 1869 Mr. Comey has confined himself prin-
cipally to difierent Autocrat crosses, as can be
seen in the Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Springfield,
etc., descendants of Colossus, Apollo, and Triumph.
He has adhered more closely to in-breeding than

Thorough-bred Fowls. 97

most other friends of the strain. The Light Brahmas
known as the

BUZZELL STOCK

had in foundation-blood the Chamberlin strain, more
generally known as the Felch strain up to 1869, when
Mr. Buzzell commenced to use top crosses of Phila-
delphia, also Philadelphia and Autocrat sires in the
way of son of Duke of York, Colossus, and others ;
he also introduced, in 1869, females from the Felch
strain by Honest Abe 307. Mr. Buzzell has not con-
fined himself to any one line, and his stock must
be spoken of in general terms as Autocrat, Philadel-
phia, and Felch blood, the first-named probably pre-
dominating.

In closing our remarks upon the blood of Autocrat,
we will say that, so far as they allude to Mr. Williams,
they were submitted to him, and after examination
by that gentleman we received the following : —

Mr. Felcu : —

I have your manuscript, and have carefully read it. I
cannot see that you have made any mistakes, or said anything that
is not true ; neither could I add anything that would make the
history more complete. Wishing you success, I am,

Yours truly,

P. WILLIAMS.

98 Specific Mating of

the chambeelin strain, now so widely known as
the"felch strain."

{See group of Brahmas opposite page 74.)

This strain is well known as coming from the birds
that were found by Mr. Knox in the India ship in
New York City in 1847. The first to breed these
birds were Mr. Chamberlin and Mr. Cornish of Con-
necticut, and Mr. Smith and Mr. Childs of Ehode
Island, the last-named individual winning the Al-
bany and Barnum exhibitions of New York. The
strain was in but very few hands up to 1852, at which
time at Boston, it created the sensation which gave to
the breed an identity and a name. For several years
it went by the name of Brahmas or Short-legged
Chittagongs, the breeders clinging to the then good
reputation of the Chittagong. But from 1857 to
1865 we see the Chittagong conceding the palm to
the Brahma, by returning the compliment and being
exhibited as single-combed Brahmas ; and finally, in
1865 wo find them discarded altogether as a race —
the edict that all Brahmas should have a pea-comb
sending them into oblivion.

This Chamberlin strain from its advent has bred, as
a rule, pea-combs and orange-yellow legs. The early

Thorough-bred Fowls, ^ 99

specimens being cream j-white, and the prevailing
undercolor bluish-white, it has been a struggle to
keep this bluish undercolor, for all strains grow
lighter, and at the present writing, with all the care
to retain it, one half the specimens will come white
in undercolor. To secure fine neck-hackles and
dark tails and wings, this bluish-white undercolor is
absolutely necessary ; and in introducing new blood
into a strain one can see how important it is that a
dark specimen be chosen.

From the original birds bred by Mr. Chamberlin
came the cock Imperial 300 (the male that has been
facetiously mentioned as the bird Mr. Felch bought
for a dollar or two, out of a hen-cart), the founder of
the well-known Felch strain of Light Brahmas.

The female to which Imperial 300 was mated, came
from eggs purchased of Mr. Childs (alluded to above) ,
and were from Virgil Cornish, being in blood the
same, and the name of Chamberlin strain would be
far more appropriate as indicative of its origin ; but
as the breeding-world have seen fit, in their generosity,
to know the strain by the name of the writer of this
work, he can only accept the situation.

The writer is well aware that but for his love for
the breed during the lull in the chicken fancy, from

100 Specific Mating of

1855 to 1864, when nearly all the fanciers allowed
their fowls to run out, so to speak, and accidental
good luck in the way of an Qgg laid by Old Princess
out of which Honest Abe 307 was hatched, he too would
have lost his interest, and with it would have been
lost the pedigree and proof of blood that has pre-
served the identity of the strain.

The writer would prefer that the strain should be
known by the name of its original founder rather
than to have it as it is ; for he is now made respon-
sible for the breeding of the strain, it matters not
who mates them, nor how far they are removed from
his breeding ; for then he could stand or fall on his
own merits as a breeder, and his reputation would
only be affected by the specimens bred by him and
sold by himself. In speaking of the management of
the strain, we will do so in the first person, submitting
the following : —

Since the purchase of Imperial 300 and the Qg^
out of which I produced the hen Lady Childs, I have
kept a true record of blood and breeding of all the
families of the strain which I have bred. This dis-
closes all the introductions of new blood, and from
what source it has come. These introductions of new
blood have been made on the principle that all animal

Thorough-bred Fowls. 101

life is suffering a continual waste, and is in as constant
need of blood-food in a reproductive sense, as it is of
daily food to supply the waste in the individual, and
experience teaches that no strain can be sustained
without this supply.

The blood used to vitalize the strain in my hands
has been : First the blood of the old Nanturier hen, as
seen in the use of Dutchess, in 1858, being used as
stock in my pedigree fowls in the hen Princess 362,
which was one-eisrhth Nanturier blood.

o

The next cross was Lady Mills 364, she being
three-fourths Chamberlin and one-fourth Burnham
blood, her one-fourth foreign blood being derived
from the then so-called Chittagong or Gray Shanghai,
from the Burnham Qeeen strain. Since 1865 all
new blood has been drawn from the Autocrat strain,
as seen in the following birds (see my pedigrees,
in the World's Pedigree Book) : —

Autocrat Belle, 392; Eaton Belle, 407; Lady
Ipswich, 1022 ; and Maud Williams, 4146 ; and the
cocks Experiment, 337 ; and Ned Williams, 4145, a
brother to Duke of Springfield.

The crosses from the Philadelphia birds being Chi-
cago Belle, 382 ; Mrs. Strout, 404 ; and the cockerel
fourth-prize cock of New York, 1868.

102 Specific Mating of

By the tracing of these pedigrees it will be seen
just how much blood other than the Chamberlin (the
original blood) is now represented in the Felch birds,
or strain now bred by me. I will speak of some of
the characteristics developed by these crosses.

While it was asserted, at the 1852 exhibition, at
Boston, that this was a breed that would never run
out, and although there has never been a breed so
severely in-bred, yet all this introduction of blood
was necessary to preserve the original type and color ;
for if continually in-bred a loss of constitution, a
change of type, and a reversion to white in color
would have followed, while the third in-breeding of
new blood to a strain will invariably result in fine
specimens.

In the early crosses of Autocrat blood with the
Felch, the progeny was invariably too dark in plu-
mage ; and although oftentimes developing new types,
the first in-breeding would restore three fourths of
the progeny, while a portion of the males would
revert to light color, as in the case of Moses 327.
The third in-breeding to the strain was necessary to
a full restoration to the Felch type and color. (For
my reason for that, see notes in history of Old Au-
tocrat.)

TliorougJi-hred Fowls, 103

The cross of Experiment 347 (Autocrat) with Co-
lumbia 386 (Felch), produced chicks of the same
character, which took two in-breedings to restore.

The cross of Son of Colossus (Autocrat) to Hene-
lope 1019 (Felch) presented the same feature ; but the
third in-breeding to the strain produced birds scal-
ing 92 to 94 points, and many won first prizes. I
think that had Old Autocrat lived to have been bred
to his own progeny, his blood, so highly prized by
breeders of other strains as new blood, would have
been discarded. As it is, I presume Mr. Williams
and myself have oftentimes been censured, or at
least the stock has been, for this very virtue, —
stren2:th of breediui]:, — bv those strivin^: to cross the
strains, and many a good bird abandoned, which, had
it been bred back to either strain would have devel-
oped fine stock.

The early crosses of the Philadelphia birds with the
Felch invariably produced lopped combs, and many
that maintained their upright position had the middle
division much too high. This and the development
of the greenish-blue vein on the leg show clearly the
India cross in the blood of the Philadelphia birds.

The color was easily controlled, and although there
was seemingly no difference in the size, yet the pro-

104 Specific Mating of

geny were much larger in the first cross, and were
longer in arriving at maturity. Chicago Belle 382
weighed twelve pounds at twelve months old. This
cross as developed in Prince 321 by Honest Abe 307,
proved a very desirable one as can be proved by H. S.
Ball, T. L. Sturtevant, and Mark Pitman, all of
whom used him in breeding. Again Tees Duke (Phil-
adelphia blood) bred to Lady Fay (Felch) by a son of
Honest Abe 307, produced the sire and dam of the
two hens known as the Sturtevant hens, each weigh-
ing thirteen and one fourth pounds, which were never
exhibited without winning a prize. Their sire and
dam were not large, as Mr. Strout, of Framingham,
Mass., their breeder, can testify.

The fourth-prize cock of New York for 1868 was
one half Philadelphia, one fourth Felch, and one
fourth the blood of fowls bred by Mr. Pool of New
York. This cock bred to Felch pullets, daughters
of Honest Abe 307, produced Lady Rice 405, out
of which, by a son of Honest Abe 307 (Optimus 315) ,
was bred Cceur de Lion 326, one of the best Light
Brahma cocks ever bred in America, and the sire of
many prize-chicks, among which was Poqonnuck 999,
Ben Lidi 2777, Coeur de Leon 6th, Leo 2776,
and others, selling from 25 to $100 each, pro-

Thorough-bred Fowls. 105

ducing $1425 worth of chicks iu a single season.
All these crosses of Philadelphia blood were controlled
in color, which leads me to consider the top crosses of
the Philadelphia birds to be Chamberlin blood, or
that of a kindred nature. I speak of these crosses
to show how dependent the breeder of one strain is
upon those breeding another, and that whenever new
blood is taken into any strain of well-bred birds,
when it is reduced by in-breeding to that quantity
which will soon be consumed by the strain, that the
best results are reached. This constant feeding of
the blood is necessary, and without it no strain can
long sur^dve. By one systematic rule we can keep
repeating results year after year.

Science tells us that we are changing constantly ;
the waste in our blood is renewed by new blood, yet
the blood in breeding type is the same. So is it with
strains. The new blood by in-breeding becomes the
weaker and the prey of the original blood that con-
sumes it, constantly invigorating the original and not
changing it in the least in type and color.

The stock known as the " Sturtevant birds " were
in the main Felch blood, and after the first year's
breeding remained three fourths Honest Abe blood
and one fourth that of the fourth-prize cock of New

106 Sjpecific Mating of

York in 1868 ; the former being Felch, the latter one-
half Philadelphia, one-fourth Felch, and one-fourth
Pool blood. Coeur de Leon 326 was bred by T, L.
Sturtevant, thirteen-sixteenths Felch blood, and as I
have said, was one of the best birds ever bred in Amer-
ica. Mr. Sturtevant did not appreciate him, alwaj"^
supposing his best birds came from a bird which h&
many times won the Boston exhibitions. That Mr,
Sturtevant was honest in his belief is apparent in th^
fact that he loaned Coeur de Leon to H. F. Felch for
the season of 1874, with the results previously de-
scribed.

The cross of the Philadelphia blood with the Felch,
as developed in the breeding through Prince 321 axid
Coeur de Leon 326 in the yard of Thos. L. Sturte-
vant, and later in the mating of Coeur de Leon 326
with Parepa 395 by Moses 327, by II. F. Felch in
1874, was no doubt the best coupling of two strains
ever made. Had Mr. Sturtevant's zeal for poultry
culture been as lasting as it was fervent at times, he
would have led the van. But his greater love for his
dog and gun, and the pressure of business, liavo led
him to abandon the breeding of poultry for the
present.

To review the subject of strains, wo come to this

Thorough-bred Fowls, 107

fact : that there are but very few strains and very few
marked specimens from which originality of type has
been established ; and when we indulge in top crosses
we destroy the strain, unless we resort to in-breeding
to secure the benefit of the cross, and to ensure the
tjTpe of the strain.

We find also that all the strains or sub-divisions of
strains were, in their origin, dark in undercolor, and
that with age they grow lighter, and if left to them-
selves they may lose their original type, change being
written on all ; and only by persistent efibrt can these
original types be retained. We should feel that as
long as we deliver up into other hands these strains
as good as wo receive them, we have been equal to
the task of breeding them, and should be considered
breeders ; and that if we can improve a breed, surely
we deserve praise. I am one of the few that say
there are no better specimens exhibited to-day than
were exhibited years ago. But I do believe the gen-
eral average is far better. The excellence of the few
is controlled by a fixed law, viz : The eternal fitness
of things, which says "Thus far canst thou go, O
man, and no farther." We are not endowed with the
infinite, and our matings are sometimes blunders.

If in this little work I shall have caused but one

108 Specific Mating of

to breed with care and thought as regards the correct
principles of breeding, instead of a hap-hazard sort
of way, settling all these questions by personal ex-
aminations, acting on the principle of working by no
rule that does not have the endorsement of sound
judgment, then I shall not regret the labor it has
cost.

FINIS,

APPEJV'DIX.

TO OUR PATRONS AND FRIENDS.

Now, as the last pages of this work go to press, so
generous has been the support of our friends, that we
are enabled to say that nearly the whole edition has
been ordered, and will be quite exhausted by the time
it can be distributed ; and we are led to thank those
who have lent their support.

First, to those who have advertised with us, thereby
assisting us in a substantial manner : being grateful
for their favors, we take pleasure in calling the at-
tention of our readers to them, knowing, as we do,
jthat they are honorable men ; and we can fully endorse
them, for they will deal fairly with their patrons.

To Messrs. P. Willliams, Joseph M. Wade, George

Butters, C. A. Keefer, and James M. Lambing, for

the cuts furnished us, which we deem the best of the

many now in use ; and if they are the portraits of

these gentlemen's breeding stock, no more need be

said in their praise.

109

110 Ajypendix.

To E. C. Comey and Joseph M. Wade, for infor-
mation which enabled the writer to present the sub-
ject-matter upon strains of Light Brahmas in its
present relations.

To the Poultry Journals, for generous courtesies
extended to us.

And last, but not least, to James F. Mooar, and
Edwin DeMeritte for personal favors received at their
hands.

To each and all of these, and to the generous pub-
lic and fraternity of Poultry Breeders, Avho have
come forward with their support, we return our
thanks, hoping that the present pleasant relations
may ever exist.

I. K. FELCH.

Natick, ;Mass.,
August, '77

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mo-plate edition (each number coaitaining a beautiful eight to ten color
plate of prize fowls,) strictly in advance. Send 13 cents for specimen copy
of plain edition, or 20 cents for specimen of Chromo edition.

(B^^No attention paid to postal cards asking for specimen numbers.

O- or. 'W-A.Iil). Editor a.iid Proprietor,

183 Clai'lc Street, Oliicago, 111.

^

BREEDEK OF

BROWN LEGHORN FOWLS.

I believe in specialties, and past experience teach-
es me, that one breed well handled pays best.

For merit of quick growth, hardy constitution,
early and persistent layers, number of eggs produced,
combined with beauty of plumage, none equal the

BROWN LEGHORN.

I have this year added to my own strain the well
known

which Mr. Felch so justly compliments. Among
which is the noted cock

OHIHI? ^

The winner of four first Premiums.

I am able to furnish chicks pure from each of
these strains and those combining the two ; and my
price will be according to the number of points they
scale and no cull, sold at any price.

This seasons breeding has been very successful,
and T can furnish stock for

that is equal to any in the country.

Address by letter for particulars and price. (Postal cards not noticed.)

H. A. SHOREY,

146 Jremont St., Golden Rule Office, Boston, Mass.

(^ W-'Tg)) IMF Wt IW

R 0 U P ML L S.

This old-established and Popular Remedy has
given such

UMIVE(kSAL SATISFACTIOJ^
that we have secured its exclusive proprietorship.

Agents Wanted.

We want a suitable Agent in every town in the
U. S., and Canada, to sell the

This medicine has been before the public over* five
years, and is well known to poultry keepers, and
sells readily. We offer a liberal discount to our
agents. The Roup is the most prevalent disease
among poultry, and a poultry dealer can sell many
packages in a year among his customers, with very
little trouble. Apply at once and secure an agency.

There are spurious Roup Pills in the market,
vendors of which are trying surreptitiously to profit
by the well-earned fame of the original German
Roup Pills.

Beware of Imitations.

Retail Price, 50 Cents per box of genuine Ger-
man Roup Pills, sent by mail to any address on re-
ceipt of price.

Address,
Editor and Proprietor of Poultry World.

Hartford, Oonn.

1^^ T.

B

#

Watertown, _ - - Conn.

BREEDER OF

PllTUBCI

Bred from Imported Stock, and from fine Speci-
mens from the Felch and Williams' Strain.

Plymouth Rocks,

from the well known Upham Stock.
I can furnish Eggs in their season and

FOWLS AND CHICKENS,

at Short Notice, and will satisfy all who will en-
trust their orders to me.

In ordering Stock be particular and describe fully
what you want, and in shiping directions, give your
Town, County and State in full.

I could give a List of Premiums Won, but prefer
to sell my stock on their merits.

B. B. LEWIS.

Wha W'

•mmiM[%W^

'#p1#«

IS THE

0LBE8T, LARGEST

MOST

AND THE

(Devoted Exclusively to Poultry.

TH-A-T THEPIE IS IIsT ESZISTEilNrCE.
PUBLISHED BY

Hartfoi'd Coniic

Subscriptions ^1,Q5 per year.

Advertisements. — One Month, 30 cents per
|ine ; Three Months, 25 cents ; Six Months, 20
cents ; Twelve Months, 15 cents.

A Series of Twelve Magnificent

111

Each Representing a Standard Breed of Fowls,
Sent for Seven-t^^-fiT^e* Oents Extra,

1877.

:#KHSW M mwEMeMn

f

BBEEDEES OF

Trotting and Road Horses,

AND

ALSO,

Tlioroiigli.-bred Poultry and Pigeons

ConsistiBg of the following varieties :

U^ht

mb^^i

X^PHILADELPHIA STRAIN )
COCHINS, LEGHORNS,

AND WHITE HOLLAND TURKEYS,

SOLID, SILVER TURBITS,

CARRIERS, OWLS,

AND ANTWERP PIGEONS.

Our Lt. Brahmas are bred directly from a Strain
of blood, wliicli finds its foundation in the blood of
the Cock

kVM^

h

i)

We have other yards the result of " Wright's"
progeny upon the Autocrat Strain, and it is an ac-
knowledged fact, that the best results follow cross-
es, of these Philadelphia Birds with other prom-
inent Strains.

Correspondence is solicited.

Address, EASTON, PENN.

1877.

I. m. »HtCHi

i

'Asien* MM

BREEDER OF

Jersey and Ayrshire Cattle,

Berkshire Pigs,

and Shepherd Dogs.

Pedigree

Light Bpmhmms

FELCH STRAIN.

Dark Brahmas, Cochins,
Plymouth Rocks,

White and Brown Leghorns,

Pekin Dncks,
Bronze Turkeys, and Pigeons.

Ji^^Each Breed Colonized on a different Parm
to prevent Crossing.

1877.

Mm C® AMMMW^

BREEDER OF

M®m€mm IF®^ls^

f

(EXCLUSIVELY.)

My present breeding Stock, has a wonderful in-
creased size as compared to the earl}^ importations,
and in merit, as egg producers and fine color and
SYMMETRY equal to any strain now bred in the States.

Among my several yards are the Sire

COL. BLAKE,

a Cock weighing eight and three-fourths lbs., (being
bythe "old cock" Capt. Ward) and Ten Females
weighing from six and one-half to seven and three-
fourths lbs., all models of symmetry and color, and
from which I offer young Stock for Sale that are of
superior merit as breeding Stock or for Exhibition.

#)

by my Strain, I would call your attention to the
different Poultry Societies Reports for the past five
years. -

Write for particulars and address me at

Hyde Park, Mass.

The American Poultry

mBe)0)€^TrmTTrriM

This organization is composed of representative
Fanciers throughout the

United States and Canada,

and as its sole object is to benefit Fanciers and the
Poultry interest, every Fancier in America should
support it by becoming a member.

" TBE iilil STiMD « EmLEtt"

is published by this Association and gives a full
description of every variety of Fowl recognized, and
should be in the possession of every person

Who Breeds a Fowl.

PRICE ONE DOLLAR. For Sale by the
Secretary, or any or any of the various Poultry
Papers Published in the United States or Canada.

For particulars in reg-erd to Membership, Consti-
tution and By-Laws, and list of Officers, or for the
Standard,

Address,

J. T. BICKNELL, Secretary,
C. A. SWEET, President. Buffalo, N. Y.

18T7.

HEADQUARTERS FOR

IB BOS!

BRED FROM THE BEST

Scotch ''Collie" Strains.

Also, ENGLISH LONG HAIRED SPECIMENS.
FURNISHED IF DESIRED.

Fifteen varieties of Fancy

consisting of CARRIERS POUTERS, JACKO-
BINS, FANTAILS, SPOTS, AFRICAN
AND ENGLISH OWLS, TURBITS,

TRUMPETERS, TUMBLERS, BARBS, ANT-
WERPS AND WHITE GERMAN DRUMS.

Also,

Address Box 132,

NATICK, MASS.

WMm Wmmmi'mwm^ &mmwmml

DEVOTED ENTIRELY TO

THE FANCIERS' INTERESTS,

Splendidly Illustrated ; Strictly the Fanciers'
Friend ; Fearless in the Right ; Full of Practical
Information for the Breeder and Amatuer.

Its Contributors are Experienced Breeders, Nat-
uralists and Scientists. It gives the best and earli-
est Show Reports. Is a com2)lete Hand-Book' of ref-
erence for Poultry and Pigeon Fanciers'. It treats
largely on Natural Science in its most familiar form.

Subscribers can begin with any Number.

Free by mail for $1.50 a year payable in advance.

SAMPLE COPIES 15 CENTS.

Josepli M, Wade, Hartford, Conn,

THE SOUTHERN POULTRY JOURNAL

A handsomely Illustrated Monthly, published at
Louisville, Ky., the first of each month.

(Devoted Exclusively to (Poultry.

Each number will be brim full of original and
valuable matter, and will be found a welcome friend
and practical guide to the Fancier, Breeder, Farmer
and Amateur.

assisted by some of the leading breeders and fanciers
in this country, Canada and England.

Subscription, .^1.00 per year, post paid.
It is the only Poultry paper published in the South. Agents Wanted.
SAMPLE COPIES 12 CENTS.
Address all letters to
Soxxtherxi I*oxilti'y .Jorirnal Comj^any.

P. O. Box 69, Louisville, Ky.

^a^ss H® lim^Mm^f

BREEDER OF

Pedigree Light Brahmas,

(IFelcli Strain,)

Black Hamburgs,
Leghorns,

Plymouth Rocks,

AND BLACK BREASTED

lEl CIME BIITIMSe

Fowls always for Sale.

Eggs and Chicks in Season.

Send me your address, and I will send you my
Circular. I have as good stock of the varieties
named as any man in America, and guarantee

Entire Satisfaction in all Cases. .

Address,

JAMES M. LAMBING,

Parker's X^andLing-, I*a.

1877.

®

I®

BKEEDER OF

PLYMOUTH ROCK

For

Eight

Years I

have

made

this

breed

specialty

an
was
ong
first

rec
nize
supe

mei

I issue no Circulars, but believe my close care in selecting the ]
Stock, has produced me

J^ S T li .^ I TV,

unsurpassed in beauty and uniformity of markings, symmetry and '
Laying qualities, — merits which have been recognized at many of

JI^^For particulars address me at

NASHUA,