The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-07-24
.HloH-PRlcED CHICKENS.

Plenty Of Cochins Sold for Fifty Dollars
Backbone Pair or Gray shanghais Bring
Five Hundred Dollars.
A pert young salesman stood beside
great coop of pigeons in poultry fam
cier's store yesterday, talking about the
merits of three handsome chickens in a
small coop before him to another youth,
while white-haired old farmer from
Jersey stood by and listened attentively.
these are genuine Cochins." said
the salesman, land they are an unusu-
sually fine lot. Cochins ordinarily sell
for S12 for the trio, but the boss saws
that these must not be sold for less than
$40. He is particularly pleased with
the matched colors Of these, and don't
care whether any one buys them or not.
l don't believe that as great a price
was ever asked for chickens before"
"Y6u are wrong there" said the old
farmer. 81 can tell you story, and
it's true one, about prices paid fcr
fowls that are simply beyond ordinary
belief. In 1850 or thcreabouts num-
Der of bright poultry raisers IN England
undertook to increase the prices paid
for the stock they dealt in by pretend
ing to improve their breeds. They i'm.
ported number of Chinese fowls and
pretended to accomplish results with
them far beyond anything that could
possibly be done They issued learned
pamphlets which discussed the new va
rieties Of stock, and printed long ESSAYS
in the magazines. The impulse given
to the business was clear beyond their
widest anticipations. There were
plenty of market breeders who were
really anxious to get a variety of fowls
that would lay more eggs and would
weigh more when dressed for the table
than the old breeds that had been CON-
mon for years. The Cochins from
China were the fauorites. Wonderful
stories of the number of eggs laid BY
them were told.
FINALLY, the ladies and gentlemen of
leisure, who are always on the lookout
for some new diversion, took fancy to
the chicken business. They cared moth
ing for the profits. They must have the
best fowls. in the kingdom, fowls that
could beat the record and show a pedi.
gree at the same time. The queen her
self bought fancy fowls, and it then be-
came the fashion to take an interest in
poultry publications and poultry pedi.
grees. The prices began to soar.
1.-The increased demand for fine stock
brought out new varieties. White and
gray Shanghais soon competed with the
Cochins, and Chittagongs with Canton
Chinese fowls, and heated discussions
over the relative merits of the breeds
were held on the street-eorners, and
over the stiles in the hedges around the
fields.
LAS soon as the mania was fairly
started. fairs were held for the exhibi.
ton and sale of the fowls. Early in
1850 fair in Norwich, England, brought
out 102 lots of fowls, one of which con.
tanned ITO Cochins belonging to a lady.
The COchins were sold and realized
f36l As. 3D., the highest price being &c
guineas for a single cock. Many single
fowls brought from 6 to 7f each.
That sale was the sole topic of con.
versation in all England for a month
thereafter. The excitement lasted, and
the mania spread to America. In 1858
or 1854 Boston Yankee by the name
of Burnham, who knew good hen
when he saw it, sent out to Birming-
ham, England, fowl show a cage of
gray Shanghais. A trio sold at sight
for 800, and at the end of the fair
pair from this cage carried off the first
prize, and they were sold to Mr.. Tay-
lor, of Shepherds Bush for $500. This
is the highest price on record, believe,
for single pair. There were plenty of
sales during 1858 and 1854 for from
$50 to ESQ per pair.
People think 81 per dozen is big
price to pay for pure stock eggs nova
days. but then single eggs sold from So
to so each, and it's on record that half
a dozen chickens just Matched sold at
$40 apiece"
You said the mania spread to this
country" suggested the salesman.
Yes, but the prices paid here were
never so large. Boston seems to have
been the headquarters of the business.
Everybody wanted fancy chickens. The
orders to the Boston importers came
from Maine and from Texas, and one
firm there sold in 1888 over S23,000
worth of fowls. There were single Or
ders amounting to 200 to 81 500, and
this firm sold one lot for 81, 230.
''Good business, that" said the clerk.
Certainly. 1t costs no more to hatch
and rear a fine fowl than one of COM
mon breed; in fact, it cost less then and
it costs less now to keep fowls OF good
breeds. Plenty of men made large
sums of money out of the chickens
while the mania lasted. and plenty who
came while the boom was booming got
caught in the shower. There were too
many people in the business and too
many poor fowls sold with forged pedi-
grees. People got disguised, and then
the eight-pOund Cochin hens went into
potpie at 10 cents pound. When the
craze died out it left the country with u
fine stock of fowls, and the prevalence
of such beauties as those in the coop,
for there are great many fowls that
are as valuable intrinsically as those, is
due to the craze. But until fowls are
developed that will lay eggs to order,
something which people very much ex-
pected thirty-one years ago, there will
be no more fancy prices paid. IN Y.
Mdil and EIpreSs.