The daily sentinel., 1900-07-31
AMERICAN HENS

After Becoming Naturalissd In South
Africa Change Their Natures
zone of the greatest troubles expert
snced by people living in tropical
countries" said L. T. Warden Of Chi
cago. at the Gilsey house. sis to obtain
meat OF quality At to eat Take the
Philippines, for instance. The cattle
there are magnificent to look at, but
they cut up into mighty poor food. be-
ing fat and also stringy. Almost all
tho meat used by our men there comes
from Australia. being brought in re-
frigerator ships, from which it Is is-
sued three times . week. The Austria
liam is as good beef as . man would
care to eat. There is, or rather, was
for 1t is nearly year and half since
I was thers-a lack Of poultry also.
No hens or chickens can be obtained.
but only ducks, and, Of course. your
morning egg was that Of duck. which
10 an exceedingly poor substitute for
q hens egg, In my estimation. l un-
derstand that since then they have
tried to remedy this and other de-
fciencies by importing hens and othe'
things, but doubt the success of ths
experiment, for the climate. different
kind of food and the like. may change
the flesh of the fowl and the Qualit,
Of the egg. G. A. Williams. frien
of mine, who used to be United Stab
consul at johannesburg. and who now
lives in the Transvaal, told me thr
when he first went to South Africa b
endeavored to raise the character an
quality OF his table supplies by i'm
portation. The meat in South Afric'
was poor. but that could not be helped
American fowls. Williams though
would be decided improvement ov'
those OF the Transvaal, and their egg
would enable him to begin each da.
with an easy stomach and a satisfies
mind. So he brought out flock
American-bred poultry. At first al
went well; the breakfast egg was
godsend and the occasional chicken .
dinner all that he had fondly antici
pated. but then there came a change
at first SO gradual. that Williams wa
inclined to attribute 1t to loss of ap
petite. Tho breakfast egg grew coarse
and coarser in flavor until 1t becams
wholly uneatable. and the dinner
chicken deteriorated In similar man
ner and with identical result. With
the former. however. the outward ap
pearance of the egg remained "a.
same. but the poultry not only changed
in quality and flavor of flesh, but also
in external appearance, as well. With
out increasing the size Of the body. the
necks grew longer and thinner and
the legs heightened out Of all proper
ton, until at last the hens resembled
nothing 30 much as diminutive os-
triches. They were unfit to eat, and OF
no other domestic use, and so Williams
gave them away to the Kafirs, but TO.
some time he thought OF exhibiting
them here at q poultry show, mainly
to ascertain what names competent
judges would apply to them, but the
expense deferred him. He also had an
other scheme to get even, which was
to enter the roosters In cooking mains.
Williams said they could lick any
thing that wore feathers. short of an
eagle or an ostrich, and that there was
not dog in the Transvaal that would
come anywhere near his house while
they remained his property, SO utterly
had the few dogs which had tried con-
clusions with them been routed
New York Tribune.