Morning journal and courier., 1885-06-19
SOME HIGH-PRICED CHICKENS.
Plenty of Coc1ins Sold for Fifty DOl-
 lars Backbone Pair of Gray Shang- hais Bring Five Hundred Dollars Talk With n Dealer-Facts From the

 lars Backbone Pair of Gray Shang-
 hais Bring Five Hundred Dollars
 Talk With DeaIer-Facts From the Fanc1ers.
 From the New York Mail -Express.l A pert young salesman stood beside 8 great coop of pigeons in a poultry fancier's store yesterday, talking about the merits of three handsome chickens in small coop before him to another youth, while white haired old farmer from Jersey stood by and listened attentively.
 "These are genuine cechins," said the salesman, and they are an unusually fine lot. Cochins generally sell for $12 for the trio, but the boss says that these must not be sold for less than $50. He is particularly pleased with the matched colors of these, and he don't care whether anyone buys them or not. don't believe that as great price was asked for chickens before."
 "You are wrong there," said the old far mer. "I can tell you story, and it's @ true one, about prices paid for fowls that are simply beyond ordinary belief. In 1850 or whereabouts number of bright poultry rais- CTS of England undertook to increase the prices paid for the stock they dealt in by pre- tending to improve their breeds They inn ported a variety of Chinese fowls and pre- tended to accomplish results with them far beyond anything that could possibly be done. They issued learned pamphlets which discussed the new varieties of stocks, and ! printed long essays in the magazines. The | impulse given to the business was clear be- yond their widest anticipations. There were plenty of market breeders who were ! really anxious to get variety of fowls that 1 would lay more eggs and would weigh more l when dressed for the table than the old , that I The cochins from China were the favorites- | Wonderful stories of the number of eggs laid by them were told.
 1 Finally, the gentlemen and ladies of leis- ! ure who are always on the lookout for some ! new diversion took fancy to the chicken business. They cared nothing for the profits. They must have the best fowls in the king | dom, fowls that could beat the record and ! show pedigree at the same time The l Queen herself bought fancy fowls, and it 1 then became the fashion to take an interest ! in poultry publications and poultry pedigrees. | The prices began to soar.
 "The increased demanded for fine stock 1 brought ont new varieties. White and gray ] shanghais soon competed with the cochins, 1 and chittagongs with Canton Chinese fowls, and heated discussions over the relative mer- l it's of the breeds were held on the street cor, ! ners and over the stiles in the hedges around | the fields.
 "As soon as the mania was fairly started fairs were held for the exhibition and sale o1 the fowls. Early in 1850 fair in Norwich ! England, brought out 102 lots of fowls, one of which contained 110 cochins belonging te
 q lady. The cochins were sold and realized ! e361 As. 6d., the highest price being 20 guin
 eas for single cock. Many single fowls 1 brought from 93 to e7 each
 "The sale was the whole topic of conver
 sation in all England for a month thereafte ter
 The excitement lasted and the mania spre ad
 to America. In 1853 or 1854 Boston Yan- kee by the name of Burnham, who knew g good hen when he saw it, sent out to Bir- ! mingham, England, fowl show cage of ] gray shanghais. A trio sold at sight for $1OO and at the end of the fair pair from this cage carried off the first prize and they were sold to a MT. Taylor, of Shepherds Bush, fol
 $500. This is the highest price on record,
 believe, for single pair. There were plenty of sales during 1853 and 1854 for from s3( ] to $50 per pair
 "People think that $2 per dozen is big ! price to pay for pure stock eggs, nowadays
 but then single eggs gold from $5 to $1(
 each, and it is on record that half dozer
 chickens just matched were sold at $1( ! apiece"
 "You said the mania spread to this coun
 try" suggested the salesman,
 ! ''Yes, but the prices paid here were neve ! so large. Boston seema to have been tn
 headquarters of the business. Everybod,
 wanted fancy chickens. The orders to tn
 Boston importers came from Maine ana
 Texas, and one firm there sold in 1883 ove
 $23, 900 worth of fowls. There were single
 orders amounting to $1, 200 to s1, 500, an6 ! this firm sold one lot for &. gao
 Good business, that" said the clerk
 Certainly It costs no more to hatch an6
 rear fine fowl than one of & common breed
 in fact it cost less then and costs lest now te
 keep fowls of good breeds. Plenty of mer
 made large sums of money out of the chick
 ems while the mania lasted, and plenty who
 came in while the boom was booming got ! caught in the shower. There were too many people in the business and two many fowls
 sold with forged pedigrees. People got dis
 gusted, and then the eight-pound cochin hens
 went into potpie at 10 cents pound. Wher 1 the craze died out it left the country with
 fine stock of fowls, and the prevalence of suc1
 beauties as those in the coop, for there ar, l great many fowls that as valuable in
 trinsically as those, is due to the craze, Bu
 until the fowls are developed that will Ia,
 eggs to order, something which people very
 much expected thirty-one years ago, there | will be no more fancy prices paid