OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 18, 15 July 1911, Page 3

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

(By "Cock-o'-the-North"). I RcadeT3 will have a ehance of seeing I good poultry, both from a standard and utility point of view, on Wednesday and Thursday, 10th and 20th inst. The Taranaki P.P. and C. Society deserves strong support from every fanner, poul-try-keeper or poultryman in the district, for most of its members are very favorably inclined towards the utility section of the poultry world of this Dominion. This will be plainly seen by those having sufficient energy to enable them to roll up at the *how, and anyone wishing to consult "Cock-o'-the-yorth" on any subject in connection with their fowls Twill have the opportunity of doing so I entirely free of any charge on applica- | tion to the secretarv of the Society (Mr. ) S.Green).

Once more I urge readers to take a day. a part of a day, or even a couple of hours off and go to the show. If you have never been, now is your time to begin, and you will be agreeably surprised if you do. What can be better than to see a lot of beautiful highclass fowls of all breeds and varieties? Even if you have not up to the present eared for any but some particular breed by attending such a show and conversing with men of experience your ideas will be broadened, and you may compare your own breed with others exhibited there, and perhaps to your advantage. Though not myself a fancier nor presuming to judge birds from the English standard, yet I thoroughly enjoy a. good walk around the pens and a chat with the owners of the various birds. It must not be forgotten, either, that though the utility portion of poultry culture has made such rapid and gigantic progress in our Dominion, that it is to the fancier we are in a vay large measure indebted for the fact that we have purebred stock to work on. Had it not been for the love of the beautiful which is more or less developed in every true fancier we would now be busily engaged in trying to evolve something in the shape of a fowl from which we could breed with some degree of certainty. Some of us no doubt might succeed after ■ten or fifteen years' work in accomplishing this most desirable result, but the fancier by his love for his particular pet breed or breeds, saved us this immense task, and gave us purebred stock ready to our hand that would breed reasonable true to type, and some of these also combined usefulness with beauty by never losing sight of the laying properties of their birds. To this latter section wo are especially indebted. As it is to these birds, sometimes re-invigorat-ed by an infusion of American blood (Leghorns) that we owe most of the splendid laying strains which nave made ti« name of Australasia famous for 'nying birds all over the world. In face of facts such as these, it would be churlish to refuse to support the ,men who have done all this. I sincerely hope the Taranaki Poultry Society wiil have a record show, both for attendance and entries, for they well deserve it.