The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-10-21
Glte 8armer.
The Bantam Chicken.
From the Philadelphia pa Ledger

mapd for economic purposes as the large
bird. if not more so. In French markets
one can buy chicken flesh by the piece,
that is, leg, wing, slice Of the breast or
the giblets, but with us it is the whole
bird or nothing, and when, as it often
happens, the family numbers only two or
three, it becomes tiresome if one would
have the ripened juices Of matured flesh,
as to buy for "a meal fills the larder for
week
pAt first the chicken stuff7d and roasted brown
With apple sauce aud ixngs all complete.
And then the frieasse, all coyerd Ger
With thiekened butter pour'd with lavish hand
To hide the bones And then what may be left
Is done up into pies with pastry tops
lust fitted to the dish. Last course ofall
ofthis eyentful bird is chicken soup
The general leavings and the scrapings-up
OF wings, legs, tails necks bones and everything"
For a large family, too, the one bird OF
many parts and all wanting the same part
causes dissension, and the outcome OF 1t all
is the demand for the small bird, and 1t Is
the rule now with the best of hotels and IN
families. where To want is to have, to serve,
not part, but the whole bird, and, as with
quail and pigeon. one may have all the
parts and none too much of any. The
market of today can, therefore, use much
greater number than is supplied of birds of
less than two pounds weight. The
chicken of ten weeks old, known as the
broiler, was grown to serve this purpose,
but it does not answer TO the well-tralned
taste, except upon occasion, any more than
Young veal would stand for beef.
But there are bantams and bantams, and
some remain the toy always because they
are bred TO put as little flesh as possible
upon their bones, while others lose none OF
their extrinsic values while growing full
share of the economic as we'll
But while bantam is . bantam always,
one rule will not serve for the care of all
kinds. The tendency Of the game family
is upward. The first property is station,
that is, an outstanding, free-born air when
the bird gets into position, very like that
of the West Point boy when ordered
''little fingers to the side seams of the
trousers" and, with head up, he looks over
and beyond for the enemy.
The Pekin, on the contrary, must be
close to the ground, the leg and toe feather
ing flush with the breast covering. "No
daylight under the bird is Its breeders
boast.
If, instead of Games and Pekins, the
classification is the long-legged and short
legged it will be better understood, and
good rule will be to hatch the one in the
spring and the other in the autumn. The
warm weather, with the hunt for seeds and
the chase after bugs and the benefits Of
natural food, will harden the flesh and
feather and refine the bone of the stilted
ones which have station as the great es-
sential; while the cold weather of the
autumn, which will cause the birds to
crouch and be lowered to keep warm with
the lessened exercise, causing less waste
and calling for less building material, will
give the low-dwarfed stature so highly
priced for the squatty varieties.
1t is the Perkin, or properly speaking
the Cochin bantam, therefore, that is to be
grown now. As to this difference in name
the story is, that in 1860, in the looting of
the Chinese Emperor's summer palace, a
British officer took as his share some little
feather legged yellow fowls, the Emperor
especial pride and fancy, and sent them to
a friend at home, and from these were
bred the birds that first won honors as
Pekins. These were Pekins proper, and
trace of them still remains. But the bird
that carries the name today is of English
origin. and was bred down from the large
Cochin. There is a claim for this bird OF
imported Chinese ancestry, but as it is fast
becoming credit TO have bred down ones
own this will probably not be insisted
upon. The bird of honor is, therefore,
the Cochin bantam. And it may be said
that it was the success in breeding down
this variety that has given us the bantam
for each of the large varieties.
The Cochin bantam should in shape and
marking follow the lines of the Cochin OF
its color, the points being identical for
both, except for size and weight, which
should be fully so per cent. less for the
bantam. The rule with certain judges is
that the bantam shall be one-tifth the
weight and size of the large bird it type
fies, and this might be, as the smaller the
better, providing stamina is not sacrificed
to gain undersize.
Cochin bautams may be kept success
fully in very small area; any ordinary
line fence will keep them within bounds.
They are neither gad-abouts nor scratchers,
but wilInot hesitate to bury themselves to
the neck in the soft earth Of well kept
flower plot. Their tendency is to lay on
fat, and corn, hempseed, sunfower seed
and buckwheat must be off their bill OF
fare. At Swarthmore, where Cochin
bapsams are at their best. wheat, rice md
crushed oats are the staple grains, but
whole fields are put into turniPs and cab
haze for their winter store. and they have
clover and the seed and sweepIDgs from
the hay NOW. Also the house scraps, and IT
they are given corn il is 50 scattered they
must exercise to find IT,