February' 14, 1867. 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



19S' 



sportsmen's sorts, always throw more cock chickens than 

 puUets in proportion, a sign of their superior hardness and 

 goodness. 



Derby Reds. — These are white-legged Black-breasted Reds, 

 with yellow or daw eyes, and dark yellowish brown hens, not 

 Partridge-coloured, but fawn-breasted. They were the favourite 

 Game fowls of the late Eail of Derby, and are called after him 

 the Derby Reds. They are ranked by some as a sportsman's 

 bird, being the quickest, most active, and lightest-fleshed 

 of all the Black-breasted Reds ; but like all yellow or daw- 

 eyed birds they want stamina and endurance, do not stand 

 the dubbing or trimming well, and are not so game as the true 

 sportsmen's breeds are. 



Another good strain with the yellow or daw eyes is a breed 

 of white-legged Duckwiiigs found in East SuiTolk, and bred 

 there by the late Lord Huutingfield, and called Lord Hunting- 

 field's Silver-Grey Duckwings. These are as good as the best 

 breeds of Duckwings to be found, and are very line birds. 



In the neighbourhood of Ipswich, Suffolk, I met with a 

 breed of Red-breasted Ginger Reds, with bright red eyes, and 

 yellow legs, with light Ginger Partridge hens, mostly spurred. 

 These are the fiercest and sharpest Game fowls I ever saw, 

 being more fiery than the best Cheshire Piles. They beat 

 the East Suffolk Brown Reds easily, and are yet unbeaten in 

 the eastern part of the county. This is an original colour, and 

 is found in India. These Gingers, however, are not so hard 

 as the Dark Greys and Brown Reds. 



The Blue-legged Ddckwtngs are game little birds, rather 

 small, and distinguished for their fine sharp heads, having 

 the sharpest heads of all the Game fowls. 



Blue-legged Red Duns are also Game birds. 



The YeIxLOw-legged Duckwixgs are rather spiritless, like 

 almost all yellow or daw- eyed Game fowls, but are handsome, 

 and prolific. All the yellow, bay, and light brown-eyed birds 

 are bad. 



There are two slight errors in my communication at page 95. 

 The word " Furnace " in the first column, twenty-eighth line 

 from the bottom, should be " Furness ; " and in the second 

 line of the second column, for " southern " read "northern." 

 — Newmakej:!. 



COWS DROPPING AFTER CAL^TNG. 



Mt experience may be useful to some of your readers. I 

 have kept a dairy of nine or ten cows, for private use, for about 

 twelve years, and during the first ten years I was unlucky 

 enough to lose, on an average, a cow a- year from the above 

 casualty. Several veterinary surgeons were called in, but none 

 of their nostrums ever succeeded in setting one of my cows on 

 her legs again ; so I determined to try my own plan, which is 

 this. It is well known that the complaint arises from weak- 

 ness, and inflammation of the uterus consequent on calving : so 

 immediately the cow drops I have strong mustard rubbed along 

 the spine ; if costive, a dose of castor oil is administered, and 

 gruel and old ale given every two hours. I have saved three 

 cows by this treatment ; the last, a very valuable animal, 

 dropped on Sunday morning, and appeared in a hopeless state 

 until last evening, when she rose, and is now to all appearance 

 doing well. 



I may add that I only keep Aldemeys, and think there is 

 nothing like them for family supply. Dm-ing winter they are 

 kept in the house, only going out for an hour or so on fine 

 days, and their food is hay, grains, and mangold wurtzel. They 

 ^ve an abiuidant supply of milk, and rarely suffer from cold. — 

 C. A. HiNEURY, Belmont House, East Barnct. 



COCHIN-CHINA COCKS TAIL AND VULTURE 



HOCKS. 



Kkowing your friendship towards us of the feathered frater- 

 nity, I take up one of my quills to address you on a matter of 

 moment to myself and my brother Cochins. Though I am a 

 chicken, I am a full-grown one, and am considered a fine bird. 

 I was highly commended at Birmingham, and took a prize 

 at Bristol. I have a fine handsome tail, not over-large, but 

 standing proudly erect for 2 or 3 inches, and then falling grace- 

 fully backwards. What I want to know is if this ornament, of 

 which I am so proud, is really no ornament at all, but an eye- 

 sore in the sight of good judges. I ask the question because I 

 see my brothers at the show with most of their tails gone, and 

 I am told it must be so with me if I am to take high honours. 



Is this so ? and must I lose my beautiful top feathers ? Then, 

 again, I have a nice cluster of feathers at the top of my legs. 

 Is this what is called vulture hock, and am I to be considered 

 a "dutYer" because of these? In every other resjject, I am 

 told, I am perfect. Your opinion on these matters will oblige 

 — A Wuite Cochin Cock. 



[We do not hesitate to say that with experienced judges 

 you will be admired, because you are shown, as they term it, 

 honestly. Wherever it is patent that liberties have been taken, 

 and feathers pulled out of a tail, disqualification should follow. 

 We must, however, add that in all your breed, the tail should 

 not be a prominent feature, and 3 inches high is quite high 

 enough. There are many beauties which become deformities 

 when they are exaggerated. Instead of carrying it proudly 

 erect, we advise you to drop it a little. The handsomest mem- 

 bers of your family endeavour to present the line of beauty by 

 slanting down from the head to the middle of the back, then 

 rising very gradually and very little from the middle. Tho 

 tail merely describes a curve, and falls in waving feathers. 

 Vulture hocks are generally considered as a deformity of your 

 breed.] 



MUTILATION OF FOWLS AT EXHIBITIONS. 



In your Number published on .January 31st, there is a letter, 

 signed Thos. Wrigley, jun., Tonge, jiiddleton, Manchester, 

 which I think reflects most unjustly upon the Committee of the 

 Leeds Smithfield Club. I have the honour to be a member of 

 that Committee, and I can assure Mr. Wrigley, jun., that every 

 care was taken at the last Show to appoint proper persons to 

 receive the fowls, to place them in the pens, to have them well 

 and judiciously fed and attended to during the days oi exhibi- 

 tion, and, at the close, to put them into the proper hampers 

 and have them sent home. At the request of my fellow Com- 

 mittee-men, and with an earnest desire to do what I could for 

 the Society, I undertook the responsible and arduous duty of 

 penning the birds with the help of a good assistant, also of 

 repacking them for despatch to their homes at the close. I 

 say it without any egotism, that every bird was as carefully 

 and properly handled as if the owner had done it himself. To 

 guard against any mishap I waited into the small hours of the 

 morning to receive any hampers that might arrive by rail, and 

 did not leave till a messenger from the station informed me no 

 more could come, as the trains were all in. 



I then satisfied myself that all was ready for the judges, and 

 left the place in charge of night watchmen specially appointed. 

 I was there again soon after six the same morning, and found 

 all right. I kept a constant and careful watch over the pens 

 during the days of exhibition, in additiuu to the men appointed, 

 and when the hour for closing arrived I had the place cleared 

 of every one but the Committee and servants. The same 

 assistant and myself immediately commenced to take out the 

 birds and pack them in the proper hampers. That there 

 should be no delay we kept at our work until after three o'clock 

 next morning. We were very careful to note what pens each 

 packed, and on referring to my memoranda I find that Mr. 

 Wrigley's two pens of Golden-pencilled Hambnrghs (all that 

 he exhibited), were packed by myself. I also packed the whole 

 of the Silver-spangled, so that I am in a position to state most 

 positively that neither his birds nor the Silver-spnngled chicken 

 brought under his notice lost any feathers in our hands. I 

 found a sickle feather in one of the Silver-spangled pens, and 

 drew attention to it before I touched the bird ; there was no 

 doubt it had cast it. I also had my attention called to a sickle 

 feather in one of the Black Hamburghs (sent from Mr. Wrigley's 

 neighbourhood), which had been ingeniously fastened in with 

 black silk to make up a deficiency. So much for sickle feathers. 

 Excepting in the case of one Duck, which had been lost iri 

 transit, the Committee have not had a single complaint of 

 birds missing or wrong birds received. I think this speaks for 

 attention with a lot of about seven hundred pens. 



I feel that the remarks of Mr. W^rigley respecting the Silver- 

 spangled chicken are a gross libel upon our Committee, for 

 there is not a single gentleman belonging to it who would demean 

 himself to commit such a cruel and dastardly act as wilfully 

 plucking " every laced feather from both wings," or any other 

 feathers, and I think my explanation ought to prove that the Com- 

 mittee took every care no one else should do so. They do not 

 know one person's birds from another ; eveiy exhibitor is alike to 

 them. It is their aim and study to conduct their shows upon 

 honest principles and with strict impartiaUty. After devoting so 

 much valuable time from their business, and working so hard 



