170 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Septembkr 13, 1902.. 



POULTRY. 



Tlu' following notes on Breeds of Poultry ,iiv from 

 the pen of Mr. John Barclay, of the Agricultural 

 Society, Jamaica, in continuation of those in previous 

 issues : — • 



LEiaioi:xs. 



Tlic Lcgli'ini class, of which there arc white, ln-owii, huff, 

 l)lack ainl otlicr varieties, hold tlie ))Bst records for uuiuber of 

 eggs laid of any lirced ! The white is tlie wannest 

 favourite for usefulness, hut I prefer the handsome hrown 

 Leghorn for our hot climates. The Leghorn is undoul>t- 

 edly the most popular of the non-sitting varieties, if 

 we judge hy the luimher kejit in the United States and 

 Great llritain : no other breed is .so largelj' kept, and 

 it is because of its hardiness and excellent laying quali- 

 ties. The Leghorns are layers ; they are not of much 

 value as table l)irds ; they arc so active that flesh is not put on 

 readil}', hut this activity which prevents the accumulation of 

 flesh, encoiu-ages the development of the egg organs. Li this 

 particular the ^Minorcas ])ossess a distinct advantage over the 

 Legliorn.s, as their flesh and skins are beautifully white and 

 tender, and they will lie found to get much pluniiier with 

 less trouble if put up for fattening and kept from exercise. 

 ]iut in hardiness and activity, whether in the North or in the 

 South, file Leghorns cannot be beaten. In all my c.\[)erieuce 

 the only pure-bred fowls that will stand and actually thrive 

 in exposed and wet )ilaces in the West Indies just as well as 

 in hot and dry district.s, in confinement or at large, are the 

 Leghorns, and as they are so poor as tabic fowl.s, the all- 

 round fowl, a fair table fowl, and a fair layei', may be 

 produced by the cross of the Leghorn (preferably Brown 

 Leghorn) cock, on the Plymouth Piock, l>ult' Oriiington or 

 Indian Game hens. These cros.ses will do well under the 

 most trying conditions of weather in hot countries better 

 than any pure breeds, and are most liaud.some birds. 



MINOUC.VS. 



The next best layers for number of eggs and the layers 

 of the largest eggs of all breeds as a general rule, are IJlack 

 Minorcas. Lidced if eggs were sold by weight, these wouM be 

 the most profitable fowls in certain localities. They arc 

 larger fowls than Leghorns, an- fidl breasted, black-legged 

 with white skins, very delicate llcsh, and sometimes run to a 

 very fair weight. ]Minorcas are of something the .same type 

 as till' heghorns, vci'y active and not inclined to make fle.sh 



but to turu tluir f I into cg^s. Tlicy are, liowever, tender 



fowls com|iarcil with the Pcgliorns, and do not give the same 

 good results in wrt and cold places. Minorcas are without 

 doubt the best breed for the hot plains and dry places, and 

 they have ever thrived in such localities. It is my deliberate 

 opiiuon that they (the Leghorns and Minorcas) are the best 

 utility fowls of |mre breeds for the West liulies and the most 

 ]irofitalile in all directions. 



Egg production here is nioi-e in-olitable than the produc- 

 tion of flesh, and we arc not yet such uonnois.seurs, ha\e not 

 yet such decided taste in fowl.s, that we will only take tlieni 



for table if they are of a certain colour or size or shape, 

 whereas northern markets have their whims and jirejudices. 

 ^'ou must suit your conditions and market. The layings 

 breeds come to maturity and begin to lay two months before 

 the large brccLls; they eat less, they work more : and you thus- 

 outlay less to raise them and you get profit two nionthi? 

 l)efore your larger breeds begin to lay. Your laying breeds 

 do not sit ; they lay more eggs in a year than your sitting 

 breeds, and as a rule, taking more exerci.se, are healthier and 

 at the end of their egg days sell just as readily, though, 

 having one or two ]iounds le.ss weight, they fetch about a .sjiil- 

 ling less. But they make this twice an 1 thre3 times over in less 

 cost of raising, and in the greater number of eggs laid, And 

 I think above all in thL;ir favour is the fact that these active 

 breeds, especially the Leghorns, do not take on fat easily 

 and that they may therefore be fed freely on the most 

 common foods and the handiest food produced in the 

 West Lidie.s, viz., corn (maize), without dying of apoplexy. 

 Where large breeds are fed freely on corn and cocoa-nut, as i.s 

 done in Jamaica, the number of fine fat fowls that are found 

 dead beneath their roo:sts in hot weather, is sometimes most 

 disheartening. They have been over fat and died suddenly 

 of apo])le-xy. Of course this can be avoided by not feeding 

 corn, cocoa-nut, or very starchy foods nuich, and using 

 inijiorted foods like wheat, and oats. But I speak of the 

 conditions as I find them, and people will feed corn as the 

 food they find the readiest and cheapest to hand, and 

 to make fowls prolitalJe, you have to study your natural 

 conditions and adafit your methods to local eircunistanee.s 

 as far as pos.sible. In families where good tahle birds are a.s 

 important as eggs and Ijoth flesh and eggs are wanted, I 

 would recommend, especially for wet loealitie.?, the Leghorn- 

 Plymouth Rock, Leghorn or Old English Game-Orinngton 

 cross ; and for hot or dry jilaccs or cool upland places, not 

 too wet, the Minorca-Indian ( lanr?, Minorca-Black Orpington, 

 or Langshan-Mini r^-a cross in ordei irimed. All those crosses- 

 wouhl also do \cry well anj" where. 



(To be C'intinveiJ.) 



REPTILES OF BARBADOS. 



We have already referred to tiie two harmless 

 snakes that, at one time were fairly abundant at 

 Barbados. The other reptiles met with in the island 

 are four species of lizards. The more common of these 

 is the pretty green lizard (Ainllfi allitjKtor) which 

 occur.? generally in tlie Le.sser Antilles and jimbably 

 was introduced thence ti> Barliados. The Gecko or 

 ' Wood Slavi'' ( H('iiil(l(icfi/[ns nmhahi ) found in shady, 

 moist localities has almost world-wide distribution in 

 the tropics. Another lizard locally called '.Scorpion'' 

 (Mdlniiii fii/ilin) is .said to be rare in Barbados. 

 C'olonel Feilden obtained sp.^cimons of it from Graeme 

 Hall Swamp and Chancery Lane in LSSS. It occurs 

 over the greater part of tropical America. The largest 

 and iiandsoniest lizard in Barba(h>s is what is known 

 hjcallv as 'Guana', probably a corruption of Iguana. 

 This is found generally in the West Indies and South 

 Anun-ica. Colonel Feilden in 1S,S!) mentioned the 

 curious fact tliat all the specinu'ns of this lizard in the 

 British Jluseum were females and that probably the 

 male was undescribed. The mongoose has greatly 

 reduced the innubers of this lizard and prolndily, before- 

 long, it will entirely disap))ear. 



