National Agricultural Library

Poultry Fancier

We have no patience with the people who prejudicially maintain that 'a chicken is a chicken' or in other words take the stand that one "chicken' is as good as another. The ordinary mongrel fowl is in the same class with the razor backed hog, the scrub cow and the plug horse. They constitute the scum of the race. They will sometimes thrive under most adverse conditions, but so do weeds and other obnoxious things. They are good for no purpose but what Standard bred fowls would be infinitely better. There are people who ask what there is to admire in a chicken. These same people would treat with mingled pity and contempt the person who would ask them what there was to admire about a beautiful rose or other flower and yet the flower is to many people, much farther down the scale of beauty and value. A Standard bred fowl is not only beautiful to look upon but it is a living thing that ap- preciates proper care and responds to intelligent effort in fashioning it after our ideals. It is an interesting companion as much so as any dumb creature can be and to the true fancier there is a fascination in studying individual specimens and solving the problems of breeding, that is not equalled by the pleasure derived from an association with inanimate objects of any character. Maximum egg production and market poultry are secondary considerations from the view point of the fancier but the utility poultryman who is so prone to condemn the fancy must humiliatingiy admit that Standard bred or fancy fowls are the best layers, the best table fowls and are the foundation of every market poultry plant that accomplishes results worth mentioning.