=Canary.=--See page 213.
=Chickens= (_Gallus domestica_), or Fowls, are widely distributed and
almost universally raised in every rural home. Immense poultry plants
have been built up in America in recent years, and the business
developed to proportions of a notably distinct industry. The
contributions of poultry to the nation’s wealth, mostly by the hands of
farmers’ wives, reaches an annual total of half a billion dollars or
more--an amount equal to the average value of the nation’s wheat crop.
Apart from the intrinsic merits of the individual breeds, and the better
understood methods of breeding and management, much progress has been
due to artificial methods of hatching and rearing the young fowls. The
incubator and the brooder make it possible to secure chicks at any
season of the year, and thus permits the development of special branches
of poultry raising, such as the production of broilers and soft
roasters.
There are numerous standard varieties of chickens recognized in the
United States, subdivided into four general classes, as follows: The
general-purpose breeds--the American class--Plymouth Rock, the
Wyandotte, and Dominique; the heavier, clumsier or meat breeds, such as
the Brahma, Cochin, and Langshan; the egg breeds, as the Leghorn,
Minorca, Andalusian, and Black Spanish; the ornamental breeds, as the
various Bantams, and others. Some other breeds on American farms are the
Rhode Island Red, Orpington, Houdan, Dorking and Hamburg.