The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-22
LoNG-TArLED JAPAN ROOSTER.
Washington Has One That Sports
Tail Feathers Mere Than Ten Feet
Long
From the Waahlngton Post.

From the Washington Post
The Japanese are a proverbialIy patient
peop-e, and are continually IS -onishing the
world with examples of the care they will
oestow to bring about results taking years
or even lifetime TO complete. They re-
semble the Chinese in this respect and
the success which crowns their efforts
would only be possible in a country where
the lie OF human being is held greatly
at a discount, where wages are inhnitesi-
mar ana where patience is one of the
greatest lnheritances received from pre-
Nlous generations. Many people are ia
mlHar with various examples of the I'M
complaining resignation Of the Jap and
Chlnaman to the belief of their more crude
loretatheTs in the stunted feet of women
Many are also familiar with the minute
horses winch 1t had been possible to breed
only py generation after generation Of fam
mes following the same profession, and
pehdlng al their energies to breed a species
oil animal which, by gradually decreasing
IN size through the judloious crossing of
Years hnally results in a perfect animal.
Inc small trees with which we are com
ING TO grace our Christmas tables in these
later days is another example of this in
herent patience. A tree so minute that it
can De held in the palm Of ones hand-a
Tree sun growing and having life as per-
Iect ana productive as our own enormous
appletrees-seems to tale almost beyond
credence; but added to this is still another
mahlieS alton CT the aiaptabi.tty of nature
Lor on the wee branches are Che most per-
lecI OF apples, so small. to be unrecog-
hizdble' out still as perfectly formed and
as rosy as the New England apple.
Inc National Museum has just received
an example OF the powers Of the Japs in
TINS mode of stock breeding which cannot
pc found anywhere else in this country
Inc loWI IN question is a rooster. This
rooster probably would not impress one as
ulHerent from the ordinary barn yard
chahllcleer were 1t not for the enormous
length OF the tail. The tail is exactly 10
feet inches in length, and remarkable for
us beauty. From the back of the rooster
extend a dozen long fiament feathers. anv
one OF which would be long in the ordinary
FOWL put three of the feathers reach the
great length stated They are of a bright
peacock blue, and present a beautiful col
oriag, especially in the sunlight.
Ihls fowl was the pride of Japanese
farmer, and u took a large amount of
money to induce him 10 part with the
prize Generation after generation he and
MS fathers had watched the fowls of the
yard. Those developing an extraordinary
lehgth OF tail We're kept by themselves and
tended carefully. In time were raised
other chickens with longer tails than their
prosecutors, and from these were bred
other fowls, until the farmers labors were
rewarded by the magnificent specimen
now in this city. Every action of the
toWl was watched so that no injury might
come TO the beautiful tail; the yard pave
ment was made as smooth and as free
from Vermih as the ingenuity of the
breeder could suggest. No rough frame
work on which the feathers might tear
was dIoWed, and that the rooster might
De protected from danger to his adorn-
lnen1s through the pugidsdc tendencies of
me other birds, he was isolated with only
nus mate for company
These long-tailed fowls are only bred in
Shinowaramura Nagaoka county. Tosa
province, and seldom go to otSer parts of
the country, as their price places them
beyond the reach of all but the rich who
retain them as a manifestation of wealth.
during the time of the Toklgana dynasty
the breeding of these fowls was much en-
cpuraged by the government % the feudal
lords, and the tail feathers were taken in
payment of local taxes. The feathers were
then used to decorate the lords sneaps
and were not allowed to be exported Bur
modern ideas are developing in the jana
nese, and so greatly have their CONNER
clal instincts been aroused that what was
put Few years ago held too sacred for
the eyes of the foreigner to even rest upon
IS now gladly given into the possession of
that same hated being IN exchange for
the all-leveling power-gold.