172 



J3TJRNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 3, 1870. 



And so it was with parting, not only from friends, but from 

 the beautiful home of twenty years. The numerous accumu- 

 lations — ferns, flowers, fossils, &c, which cannot well be car- 

 ried away to another distant place, were given away to friends, 

 and are kept for the sake of the givers. Now in this home 

 was a clever, kind, grey Parrot. Many thing3 were removed 

 gradually, a part of the family were gone, the little children 

 were gone, and the Parrot noticed all, and watched the de- 

 partures. At length the day came for the final leaving, for the 

 looking round the empty house, and for locking the front door, 

 which now closed with a horrid hollow sound. Mistress and 

 Parrot went last, and the bird bowed to the house and said 

 sorrowfully, "Good-bye, good-bye;" and on the way to the 

 railway station he kept turning towards his home of so many 

 years, and repeating his sorrowful " geod-byes." This bird 

 had always been a favourite, but now he is loved, and will be 

 tended all his days with fond hands, because of his part taken, 

 and evidently felt, in the general sorrow. Is not such a bird 

 priceless ? I am afraid the cheery beginning of this paper has, 

 to say the least, a somewhat pensive ending ; but, as Hood 

 says— 



" There is no nrasic in the life 



That sounds with merry laughter solely; 

 There 's uot a string attun'd to mirth, 



But has its chord in melancholy." 

 — Wiltshire Rectoe. 



PROFITABLE POULTRY-KEEPING. 



Seeing several articles in your Journal respecting profitable 

 poultry-keeping, I have sent my results of last year, 1809. I 

 have the management of the poultry for the gentleman to whom 

 my husband is gardener. I had twelve Hamburgh hens, and 

 six Cochin-Chinas, and nine Ducks. I had 2500 eggs, and 

 reared seventy-four chickens, and fifty-one Ducks. 



£ s. a. 



Received for eggs, chickens, and Ducks 25 13 4 



Expenses for food and. exhibition 16 10 1 



Profit £9 3 3 



— E. H. 



" S. 0." thinks Id. each a good price for eggs. I get for 

 mine during the winter months, say from October to February, 

 3s. per dozen, and the rest of the year Is. Orf. per dozen. Dur- 

 ing March and April I generally sell a few sittings at 5s. or 6s. 

 each, say for eleven eggs. 1 do not keep a profit and loss 

 account, but am quite satisfied I have a good balance on the 

 right side. There is no secret about having plenty of eggs all 

 the year round, and the way I obtain them in the winter is by 

 strictly adhering to the following rules:— Keep none but first- 

 rate birds, and sell all bad layers. Choose a good hardy sort ; I 

 prefer Buff Cochins. Clear off all old birds after every first year'B 

 laying, and replace with early pullets, either bought or reared. 

 By this means you will ensure plenty of eggs in winter, and 

 your friends will not be long in learning the fact, and be ready 

 to pay a good price for them. In my opinion, plenty of eggs 

 in winter is the great secret of making poultry pay. — G. H. 



In reply to " S. O.," I beg to state that the value of 

 the 10(j eggs, for the 106 chickens, was not deducted from 

 £i 10s., as it ought to have been, which is therefore less by 

 13s. 3d., at lid. the egg. The average price for eggs was in- 

 tended only to have been Id. ; but friends who know the place, 

 said it was not enough, and eggs are now selling at 2(7., 2id., 

 and are often sold for 3d. each ; but the only way for " S. 0." to 

 obtain " such good prices," is first to get the same rate of eggs, 

 and then come to the same place to live. The chickens that 

 were sold for £1 9s., were at rather a fancy price for this place, 

 but they were beautiful Dark Brahmas;* cheap I called them 

 at 5s. and 7s. each, and the chickens killed were averaged 

 at 3s. each, though many weighed their 5} lbs. under six 

 months old, and were as fat as Capons, but much more meaty. 

 I do not keep poultry for profit, but have great pleasure in 

 feeling what may be saved by doing so for the house, and in 

 having the luxuries of good chickens and plenty of new laid 

 eggs.— A. W. 



POULTRY PENS. 

 I have noticed several complaints of late in the Journal re- 

 specting the wire backs and tops of poultry pens, your corre- 

 spondents asserting that the plumage of the birds gets injured 

 through this arrangement. Well, I am of an opposite opinion, 



and I contend that when the pens are large enough the birds 

 suffer no injury. I am an extensive exhibitor, and have never 

 yet. that I am aware of, had a bird injured on account of open 

 backs and tops. 



The pens referred to, no doubt, are Messrs. Turner's, of 

 Sheffield, and I think it only fair to them to say that they are 

 without doubt the best and most convenient pens now in use, 

 at all events I have seen nothing so good. 



The advantage of having the backs and tops wire, is to keep 

 the alleys in the exhibition as light as possible. 



The cause, I fancy, of birds having their plumage spoilt is by 

 using baskets unfit for the purpose. Baskets should be large 

 enough, and lined on the sides and top. If such baskets are 

 used, we shall cease to hear much about spoiled plumage. Care 

 should also be taken to have the baskets well fastened up, to 

 prevent urchins at the railway stations amusing themselves 

 by getting hold of the cock's sickles. — Yorkshire. 



THE OBJECTS OF A POULTRY SHOW 7 . 



I have noticed a tendency lately in discussing several 

 questions to argue as if the sole object of a poultry exhibition 

 were to win or to award prizes, and I cannot but feel this is a 

 dangerous way of regarding the matter. I have reason to 

 believe the same spirit has already begun to lead to betting 

 upon the awards ; and if this once become general, adieu to all 

 genuine fanciers, for we may write " Ichabod " upon the whole. 



The whole is only a means to an end — and that end is the 

 general and real improvement of poultry either in beauty or in 

 solid value, and the increased encouragement of poultry-keep- 

 ing among the people. In this latter aspect of the matter I 

 feel always specially interested, and am, I fear, answerable for 

 leading many a one into keeping fowls. 



As an instance of what ought to be, I will say that I have 

 ticked off in my Bristol catalogue just about a hundred local 

 exhibitors, of whom more than three-fourths are this year new 

 names ! " Our chaplain " remarked the other day that shows 

 were " coming west." This, too, is another branch of the 

 subject; anyway, after the prizes have been awarded and the 

 cups are carried home, I look upon these seventy or eighty new 

 exhibitors (I mean exhibitors, not pens), as the real work done 

 by the Bristol Show ; and it is worth a great deal in the opinion 

 of — L. Wright. 



EGGS. 



The importation of eggs into England increases vastly- From 

 1843 to 1847 the import for the year amounted to 73 millions of 

 eggs; during the next five years 103 millions on an average; in 

 the following year 147 millions; and in the next 163 millions; 

 in the year 1861, 273' millions; in 1864, 335} millions; and in 

 1866 as'much as 430,878,S80 eggs, valued at £1,097,197. In 1867 

 397,934,510 were imported, and in 1868 3S3,969,040. By far 

 the greater part of the imports come from France, and very few 

 from Germany. The cargoes of eggs are chiefly shipped in steam- 

 ers, and go to the harbours of Southampton, London, Folkestone, 

 Newhaven, and Shoreham. 



The time of egg-laying begins in France from January to March ; 

 April, May, and June are the most productive months; in July 

 the production falls off, takes up a little again in August and Sep- 

 tember, leaves off entirely in October and November, and in De- 

 cember is absolutely nil. Iu order to obtain eggs even at this 

 time the stables are warded, and the hens are fed with buck- 

 wheat and meat. 



Poultry keeping in France is chiefly in the hands of the small 

 landowners, who carry it on in an energetic business-like manner. 

 This is particularly the case in the provinces of Burgundy, Nor- 

 mandy, and Picardy. Paris alone consumes 12,000,000 francs 

 worth of eggs. The harbours from which the greatest export of 

 eggs takes place are Calais, Cherbourg, and Honfleur ; at Calais 

 tin eggs are packed inchests and straw, 1,100 eggs in each chest ; 

 at Cherbourg and Honfleur in chests of 600 to 1,200. Of late 

 years large masses of eggs are opened in the German markets, 

 and the yolk sold cheap ; the white is sold to manufacturers. 



TORQUAY POULTRY AND riGEON SHOW. 



Many were of opinion that so late in the season it would be im- 

 possible for any society to obtain a good entry for a poultry show, but 

 the Torquay meeting was a refutation of such forebodings, for not only 

 were the entries numerically strong, but they came from the bulk of 

 our most celebrated exhibitors of poultry and Pigeons. This may, of 



