The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-01-21
The Poultry Yard.
POULTRY RAIsIRG: ITS HISTORY, I'M
PORTANCE AND ITS EROWTH IN
STATE AND NATION.

the FIJI n Annual ehoW OF Lhe OAAA4USS
Poultry Association, January Z, l9O
The subject before us is the en-
oouragement of what has beer
termed n of the small industries o.
State, the advancement of she
breeding of fowls, by the poultry
show.
There are 81 varieties now reoOg
uized as standard poultry, besides
numerous miscellaneous or mixed
and fancy classes, in this country.
Far be is from me to plunge into
this maze. where only the expert is
at home, and discuss the merits o.
the best breeds, AT d the road 80 sue
cess in their rearing and develop
ment.
The art of the poultry fancier is
not TO be- acquired in a day. There
are months and years of experience
to have been laid up, and much OBJ
servatiOn and natural taste, for this
fascinating and ~engrossing pursuit
And there are 4 thousand secrets OF
and treatment to be
mastered, or OWNED by a kind of in
stinot, before the Judge of poultry
has been maJured.
The care of domestic fowls Is n
of the oldest as we'll as most delight
full of the housekeeping arts. Paint
ing, pottery, literature, have pre-
served the character of the home,
stead. The c~ock-orowing in Holy
Writ, and the geese whose gabble
saved Rome, are illustrations of
their frequent mention in sacred and
profane writing.
THE HISTORY OF THE FOWLS
Authorities say that the original
species are those which inhabit
northern India and CeylOn and Java,
TO the present day in a wild state,
and possibly q fourth in China. Is
Is said the tame birds we're first do
mesticated in Burmah and the ad-
jaoent countries. The Chinese say
that the cook came 80 them from the
West, about the time that We reckon
10 be fourteen centuries B. C.. In
that sacred book of the Orient, the
Institutes of Maru, which scholars
consider a thousand years older than
the time of our Saviour, the tame
fowl was forbidden 80 be eaten, al
though the wild one vas permitted.
Some Greek poets mention dOmes.
tic fowls, s Ich as Pindar and AristO
planes, an the latter calls the cock
the Persian bird. This shows the
route of the Indian fowl 80 the West.
He is figured upon the Lyctan mar
bles now in the British Museum,
which have the date 500 B. @. and
the bird il s3ulptured, with a drOop
ing tail, instead of the erect, just as
the wild cook of India carries his to
the pre-ent time. But beyond this
era, he may be seen pictured on the
Babylonian cylinders which are ex-
cavated in the East, andlaying bare a
new and wonderful history of the
ancient world, beyond the ken of
mankind until now.
Il may interest some of our friends
who love these martial pets, TO know
that the black breasted game Is per
hsps nearer the original wild vari-
ETY. than any others of the modern
breeds.
Our forefathers brought these
fowls of the household across the
Atlantic and with them, too, the
Aylesbury duck, known in NOrta-
amptonshire in England beyond the
time of historic record, and the En-
blen goose of Westphalia, and in
time the French importations of the
Rouen duck from the North, and
Toulouse goose from the south of
fair France. In fact, almost every
country sent as it's representatives
as the Polish, almost the oldest of
the races in Europe, the D Orking of
England, the Hamburg of Germany,
the HOudan of Belgium and France,
the Leghorn of Italy, the Black Span
ish and the Minorca from the Iberian
peninsula, and its islands, and the
Guinea chicken from the North
African coast. Strange TO say, the
Musoovy duck is not a native of
Russia, but is the gift of South
America.
About the year 1846, not yet so
years ago, the modern Asiatio breeds