Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1910-01-13
The Garden Spot Of Virginia.

last, visited Burkes Garden, in this
county, writing in the Poultry Item for
January has the following to say with
respect to that section and what ne saw
in the way of thoroughbred poultry:
Among the most beautiful and fer
tile valleys in the world is Burkes Gar
den, Virginia. 1t is located in the south
west corner of the State, among the AL
leghany Mountains. 1t is little valley,
five miles in width by ten miles in
length, and is entirely surrounded by
mountains with only one gap for the
water to pass through. This valley is
the most fertile spot in the State, if not
in the world. Here the famous Ken
lucky blue grass grows moro luxuriart-
ly than at any place in either Kentucky
or Virginia. Imagine land so fertile
that sheep have to be kept in the poul-
try yards to keep the grass down and
you can form an idea how well adapted
this beautiful spot is to the raising of
poultry and the breeders in this region
are determined to produce poultry of as
fine quality as any other spot in the
world. Never have we seen poultry
culled so close or determination among
set of breeders to send out stock of
only the highest quality to their pa
irons, as we did in this beautiful valley.
Among the largest farmers in Burkes
Garden is George II. Moss. He is also
an extensive breeder of Barred and
White Plymouth Rocks and White Hol-
land Turkeys and breeds each variety
on separate farms. His Barred Ply
mouth Rocks are of the very best, in
fact, we have never seen a better col
lection of Barred Rocks than has Mr..
Moss. They all looked like birds fit to
show in any show in the land, all that
fine narrow barring that at once i'm
presses one as stock that has been pro-
duced by master hand, surely he is an
expert in mating them to produce birds
of exceptionally high quality and while
Mr.. Moss has produced such elegant
barring. he has not neglected ty--,
his birds possess that rare Rock type so
often seen in the whites and so seldom
in the Barred.
Mr.. Moss has been showing his birds
in all the leading southern shows and
always wins the lions share of rib
bons. At Tazewell, in q strong class he
won 1st hen, lat ckl, lst pull and 1st
pen; at Richmond, 1st ok, End hen. 1-3-4
ckls, 2-3-4 pull and 1st pen; also made
extensive winnings at Bristol. Char
lotte, etc. His White Rocks al4o pos
sess rare quality. They are good size,
absolutely pure white color and typical
Rock shape. Some of the best White
Rocks ever examined, we saw on his
is no better. At Tazewell they won 1st
ck, End hen, 1st ckl, 1st pull, 1st pen; at
Richmond, 1st ok, 2nd hen, 1-3-4 ckls.
4th pul, 1st pen; at Charlotte, in one of
the hottest classes ever shown in the
south where he met in competition some
of the most prominent northern breed
ers, he won 1st hen, 1st ckl and 1st pen,
on three entries. At numerous other
shows his winnings were just as credit
able
His White Holland Turkeys also show
the same highly quality as do his Rocks
and as much care is taken in breeding
them. He has bred this variety for a
number of years and by carefully Sc
lecting and mating them has produced
toms that weigh forty pounds and young
toms of twenty-five pounds can be seen
in numbers. With these he also won
many prizes. In the show room at Taze-
well he won IL pair; at Richmond, 1-3
pair in young; at Bristol 1st pair.
Mr.. Moss has a large stock of each
variety on hand and many very promis-
ing show specimens. He sends out no
poor stock and while his prices are not
high, the quality of the stock sent out is
of the very best.
Another set of breeders at Burkes
Garden, Va, is known as the Standard
Bred Poultry Farms, the leading spirit
in this aggregation is Professor Greever,
who is an enthusiastic poultryman and
takes much pride in his White Wyan-
dottes, as he does of his school. They
breed Barred Plymouth Rocks, White
and Partridge Wyandottes, S. C. Rhode
Island Reds, S. Z. White and Brown
Leghorns, Mammoth Bronze and White
Holland Turkeys. These varieties are
bred and reared by different persons and
on separate farms all being specialists
on the variety and experts in mating for
results. The same high quality of stock
is the pride and ambition of all the
Burkes Garden breeders. No blood is
too good for them or any price too high
for new blood. They have been win
ming with them at all the prominent
shows and to enumerate them here
would take entirely too much space. AT
such shows as Tazewell, Richmond, Vir.