June 30, 1S72 ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



511 



If fhey coiild they tvouM often give iis a bit of their mmd on the 

 subiect of matins. We have seen and still see such curious 

 proceediugs ; we hear such complaints of disappointment when 

 nothing else could be looked for, such anticipations of success 

 that will never be realised, and such senseless hopes from most 

 incongruous matings, that the mine being charged, the match 

 was applied by our New York friend, and we determined om- 

 experience should be made public. , ,, , 



Before putting bii-ds together to breed from, we should be 

 quite clear in our minds on the subject of our requirements— 

 whether size, symmetry, feather, or all of them. We should be 

 cai-eful to note the results of past experiments. We should set 

 ourselves no tasks that we cannot perform. Some results may 

 be attained in one season, others are the work of years. We are 

 not without some guide ; it is found advantageous to mate a 

 two-year-old cock with pullets, or a twelve-months cock with 

 hens. It is admitted by aU large breeders that defects are more 

 surely transmitted by hereditary descent than beauties or ex- 

 cellencies ; therefore' choose perfect birds. We had a Silver 

 Sebright cock so perfectly beautiful, so admirably laced, such 

 a tail, such a carriage, but he had a single comb. We thought 

 it terrible to lose the services of such a bird. His parents had 

 faultless double combs, the correct shape, the perfect colour. 

 His was an accident. We would breed from him, but as we 

 believe in such matters, in the effects of appearances, we dubbed 

 him artistically. We cut through the thick of the comb, divided 

 it down the centre, and notched it across. It almost deceived 

 us, and we tried him as one of our stock birds. It proved a bad 

 breeding year, and the only chickens were his. They all had 

 single combs. How many breeders of Dorkings have been led 

 astray, like ourselves, by the best bird we ever bred, only he 

 •was a claw deficient on one foot. His parents had all then- 

 claws, and it must surely be a sport, but the fault ran through 

 his progeny ; fom--elawed birds were common among them. 



There was never a gi-eater triumph, as the result of skilful 

 mating, than the manufacture of the Sebright Bantam. If let 

 alone the breed would return to the old brown, white, black, 

 and spangled fowls that were the ingredients. If the lacing 

 becomes faint, recourse must be had to a black hen crossed 

 ■with a Sebright cock ; her produce, much too dark, must be 

 put to the faintly-laced birds. The black hen, having brought 

 the requisite colour, is done away with, but her dark descendants 

 are skilfully mated till the good effect of her colour is seen 

 throughout the yard. Wherever colour is the desideratum the 

 principal drawback is the time employed in the operation, years 

 Ijeing necessary. It may often be shortened by maldng many 

 rnns at the same time, all differently composed ; but this re- 

 quires appliances that are not within the reach of aU. Where 

 size is required, the most successful choose the largest possible 

 ien, and a perfectly shaped but middle-sized cock. 



The secret of all perfect mating is to use no bird with a 

 -positive defect. It is to seek in both parents that which you 

 wish to perpetuate. This is ti-ne not only of the stock birds you 

 are using, but also of those that are running with them in the 

 yaxd. Nothing that is objectionable should meet or offend the 

 eye. In breeding, it must be recollected, perfection, or the 

 approach to it, is difficult to attain with all the means and ap- 

 pliances to boot, and therefore, if anything be neglected, there 

 is small hope of success. The downfall of many is, it is thought 

 -that faultlessness in one parent may overcome slight defects m 

 -the other. This is a fatal error. In mating for feather, degrees 

 at merit may be taken into consideration. Thus, m a Silver 

 Poland or a Spangled Hamburgh, it would be worse than useless 

 to seek to produce the correct white sickles -with black moons by 

 means of birds that lacked them themselves. 



Patience, common sense, and close observation will succeed 

 in accomplishing anything that can be reasonably desired. The 

 most legitimate object an amateur can seek, is to maintain the 

 purity of a breed and at the same time to develope its good 

 points. This may at first appear paradoxical, but it is not so. 

 Proper food and care, joined to a careful selection of the parents, 

 wm develope the useful properties. In the egg-producers health 

 -wiU prove- itself by fecundity, in the table fowls by size and 

 •weight. All this may be done without crossing. 



It is said that a recent French king, not remarkable for the 

 quaUty of his wine, was in the habit of mixing many sorts to- 

 gether till he attained, according to his palate, the acme of 

 di-inks He then insisted on his attendants di-inking it, declaring 

 it excellent. The advocates of crosses belong to the same category. 



PUBE BREEDS versus CROSS BREEDS. 

 I HA\-E occasionaUy seen the merits of pure versus cross breeds 

 discussed in your .lournal ; for the information of some of your 

 readers I will merely state the following, and leave them to 

 decide the case for themselves. One of my Dark Brahma 

 pullets, hatched in April, 1871, commenced laying early m Wo- 

 vember continuing, without intermission, laying daily tih the 

 commencement of the new year; she then ceased for four- or hve 

 days but recommenced regularly, only omitting an egg every 



third or fourth day. As she was not an exhibition bird I was 

 in hopes she would shortly commence to cluck, giving me the 

 chance of an early brood ; but she laid steadily on, with only 

 the intermission of a few days occasionally, until the middle of 

 March, when on five occasions she laid an egg before 10 a.m., 

 and another before 10 P.ii. of the same day. The eggs were 

 perfect in shape and size, but a trifle brittle m shell, so I ad- 

 ministered at intervals two five-grain Plummer s pills, which 

 checked the double-laying ; since then she has laid continuously, 

 evincing no disposition to sit, up to present date— Tune ird, her 

 comb being as red as ever, and her condition m no wise im- 

 paired. I may add she is perfectly pure bred, ancl I now leave 

 the advocates of barndoor fowls to say whether they can beat 

 us lovers of pui-e breeds.— F. S. F., Halifax, Nova bcotia. 



DORCHESTER SHOW UNDER TWO ASPECTS— 



IN RAIN AND IN SUNSHINE. 



No. 2. — In Sunshine. 



The stifling crowd gone, the heavy clouds dispersed, and the 

 bi-iUiant sunshine being poured on us in its utmost splendour, 

 the spirits of man and bird, as I have remarked, revived. 



First, the Show was larger than formerly, but many of the 

 bii-ds were in a dirty condition while others were perfectly clean, 

 thus showing that the dirt had not been acquired during the 

 Show. Sm-ely there might be a Uttle more attention in this 

 matter. Birds may be made perfecUy clean, as witness the Eev. 

 F. Tearie's first-prize White Bantams, perhaps the most beau- 

 tiful ever shown. , , , 



But I am in front of the Spanish, eight pens of cocks and 

 thirteen of hens ; excellent birds, but the Bristol birds, Mr. ih. 

 .Jones's, beating aU. Among the Dorkings were many fine- 

 bodied fowls, but the heads andcombswere coarse. 1 he Locluiis 

 in aU classes were more numerous than before, and yet, save at 

 a show, how seldom one sees a Cochin! while Brahmas.oi 

 haU-Brihmas, are everywhere. The Game cocks were large- 

 Umbed noble birds. The Hamhurghs desei-ve a special notice. 

 A few years ago they were to be counted on one s fingen! jit the 

 Bath aid West of England Show, but this year they formed the 

 largest class ; and considering that their feathered beauty is so 

 great, especially when seen near at hand, we may say that they 

 were the most attractive of all the birds shown. The beauty 

 of the Duke of Sutheriand's bird was very Syef • _B°th the 

 Spangled classes were to my judgment superior to the PenciUed 

 Tinly it was atieat to look at such birds. Tet it is only at a 

 show in the south that they are seen I I'^^'-'l/,.'!^,^,';'?' Pf° 

 call them " speckled Dorkings," and I was asked ^'l^f tl^°fe 

 funny spotted fowls were." I feel sure tha this exhibition mil 

 cause a Hamburgh mania in the neighbourhood of Dorchester. 



Now let me atk. Where were the Golden PohsA, fanciers ? 

 Where indeed, for only one entry m each class! Is there no 

 one who Ukes to be sure of at least a second prize ? Please do 

 not let the beautiful Golden PoUsh become thmgs of ^e Pa * 

 The Silver PoUsh were better in numbers, but not so "^meious 

 as they ought to have been. The same may be said of the 

 o-igina'^Pohsh, the Blacks. I would recommend PohBh f?^!? 

 to those who could make an aviai-y m their garden but couldnot 

 allow fowls their Ubei-ty. The PoUsh are cleaner and happier 

 L confiTement, for if at large they soon, lose themselves bemg 

 unable to see w4ll. In confinement, t^^"/, f '''^' ^^'^^^f?^;^ 

 they are clean, content, and very beautiful. Th-^tiencli towls 

 were numerous, but not worth looking at m their moulting 

 rurrdirtvpondition It is a wonder to me they have so many 

 atokers^ but"one to his taste. Of the Sebright Bantams 

 thS^was but one pen, and that bitter bad. The Black Bantams 



extremely gamey-looking uttle fellow. ,. ^. , . , ,„„„ 



In re'ard to the birds in the Any other distmct variety class 

 I must notice the Malays in this way. I had just bef'"-« ^^^ 

 l.^^L.;r,o■ at the nair in Mr. Wright's new book, and must testuy 

 rtt^l-otderfSucSracyandfifelikecharactero^those^ 



Malays were always made too pretty I'':*"™; ..^.^•^l^f'ifo'fa X 

 Inokinc' birds and usuaUy at first inspire dishke, but noltt tne 

 SSn'/of those who tale to them. I for ™e should be very 

 soiTy to miss them from our shows, they being so unhke aU 



°'l now come to the Tigeons. I was glad to see that they were 

 fed hilaXnware dishes, and had not their food scattered on 

 the floor thfs gave a better chance for heavily wattied bird^. 

 SHll rather deeler vessels of zinc or tin fastened rather high up 

 fnliont of thfpensy are better than the almost flat earthenware 



*''?he"cSrTe"ses"were chiefly remarkable for the prevalence 

 of dun colored bi!-ds But there should have been gi-eater 

 entries in all the Pigeon classes, when one considers there was 

 actudly oiJy one Ln Pouter and only one pair of Almond 



