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JODBNAIi OF BOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 10, 1870. 



The following are some of the points we formerly looked for 

 in a Game cock : — A good boxing beak, which was very big and 

 crooked (hawk-shaped) ; a large, full, fiery eye, and tapered 

 head, not too long (for in combat he takes hold of his adversary 

 to strike, and if the head and beak are very long and straight 

 he loses much of his holding power) ; long, strong neck ; flat, 

 broad body, tapering wedge-shape to the tail; long strong 

 wings, so that when they are clipped the quills are of a power- 

 ful description ; round, muscular, short thighs ; legs to be of a 

 good hard bone (not at all gummy or fleshy like other fowls), 

 standing with a good bend at the hocks, so as to have a full 

 spring when rising, and not straddling, or out of line with the 

 body ; spur very low ; clean, thin feet and toes, with a long 

 open back claw. In conversation with one of the judges at a 

 recent show, on the objectionable Malay cross, he asked how 

 it could be detected and prevented? I think "Newmarket," 

 or any other experienced fancier, would find but little difficulty 

 in distinguishing the Baucy, bold, defiant look of the true 

 Game cock, whose every movement is the poetry of motion, 

 from the cruel look, stiff, clumsy, and stork-like gait, of the 

 Malay cross. To prevent such being exhibited I would dis- 

 qualify all these crossbred birds, as purity of breed is ever to 

 be the first and paramount consideration. I am aware that 

 being a good judge of general classes does not necessarily 

 qualify a person to judge Game classes, rather the reverse, so 

 different are their distinctive points from other fowls. 



If a club were formed, as sometime since proposed in these 

 pages by Mr. Dear, to offer prize 3 for pure Game at some of 

 our leading shows, we might not only save our Game fowls 

 from degenerating, but even improve them, as exhibitions have 

 wonderfully tended to do in other breeds. We could then not 

 only see our present Black and Brown-breasted Beds, but as 

 "Wiltshire Bectos" suggests, have the charm of variety in 

 colours and strains, now almost extinct, such as Muffs, Hennies, 

 Tassels, &c, and in colours the now scarce, but formerly 

 plentiful and beautiful Black-breasted Dark Reds, Brick- 

 breasted Orange Gingers, Treacle-breasted Marigold Duckwings, 

 Tawny Duckwings, Mealy Greys, &c. ; and I, for one, would 

 gladly put my shoulder to the wheel to prevent our noble 

 Game fowl from degenerating into one of those useless crosses 

 of which we have already enough and to spare. 



I saw it stated in a recent number of "our Journal," that 

 there was no distinct work that treats en Game fowl. As I have 

 received letters of inquiry on this matter, I beg in conclusion 

 to point out the error. In the reign of good Queen Bess 

 Roger Ascham wrote a treatise on Game fowl, which I have 

 never been able to find, even in the library of the Britieh 

 Museum ; another was written by George Wilson, in 1607, 

 followed by B. Howlett's " Rnyal "Pastiine " (1709); " Direc- 

 tions for Breeding Game Cocks," being a reprint of Sketchley's 

 contributions to a high-class sporting periodical (1793) ; 

 Sketchley's "Cocker" (1814); Cooper's "Treatise on Game 

 Fowl " 1859 ; and I have heard of a work by a Welsh author, 

 Howell Morgan, but never seen it. The best articles published 

 in other works are to be found in Bees's, Johnson's, and 

 Blaine's Encyclopedias — Field Sports — and the contributions 

 in these pages by " Newmarket," as most of the above are 

 scarce and out of print. — Cornish Ddckwing. 



down ; another method, said to answer admirably, is to fill a 

 bucket with them, and dip them into hot water for thirty seconds. 

 In Russia the eggs are put into a keg, and heated lard is poured 

 on them, 60 as to fill the interstices, and thus prevent evapora- 

 tion. — (The Food Journal.) 



BUCKWHEAT AS A POULTRY FOOD. 

 I have from time to time noticed in your answers to corre- 

 spondents several questions as to the value of buckwheat as a 

 poultry food, in reply to which you generally state that you 

 consider it a very poor poultry food. I have used it frequently 

 for my fowls, and I always found they throve on it. At 

 one time I fed them on buckwheat, barley, and Indian corn 

 given by themselves at different meals, so that they were 

 equally used to each grain, and then I gave a mixture of the 

 three. I always found the fowls picked up first the buck- 

 wheat, then the Indian corn, and last of all the barley. A 

 small brother of mine used to say, " How it must make the 

 fowls' necks ache ! Why don't they fill themselves out on the 

 Indian corn ? " Pigeons prefer it to any other grain, except 

 hempseed. My fowls used to lay very well on it, and the 

 chickenB would eat it when three or four days old. Mr. L. 

 Wright speaks well of it, and altogether I think it a very eco- 

 nomical food. — Chajvsbdis. 



Eug Preserving. — The following hints may be useful:— 

 One plan in New York is to pack them in salt, the small end 



POLANDS, 



Having been for many years a breeder and gTeat admirer of 

 Poland fowls, I was very pleased to notice Mr. Boothby's re- 

 marks on them, as also to note the commendatory terms in vhich 

 my friend " Wiltshire Rector" speaks of them. 



It will, I fancy, be allowed by all that the classes for these 

 fowls are amongst the greatest ornaments of any collection ; 

 even our good friend " N fwm arret " admiis that they are 

 " ornamental." In spite of this, of late years, Polands have gone 

 down, and even although the topknots have gTown laiger, the 

 shadows have certainly been less. Let us turn to the "Poultry 

 di 1 how many varieties do we there find mentioned ? But, 

 as Mr. Boothby says, Who keeps them now ? In years gone by 

 Mr. Yivian was the great supporter of this breed, and had an 

 almost endless variety. The grouping them together into one 

 class has, however, proved utterly fatal to their cultivation, and 

 only a few ardent admirers remain. We shall be redi-ced very 

 soon, if we are not already reduced, to Gold and Silver, and 

 White-crested Blacks. Where is the White Poland ? Where 

 the Buff ? Where the Frizzled ? They are of the past, and unless 

 some greater encouragement be given to those that remain, I fear 

 after a little time they will be polled out. There are perhaps 

 some points in the breed itself that tend towards this ; they are 

 more adapted to a covered- in aviary than to shift for themselves. 

 Shifting for themselves in the case of Polands often means loss, 

 and the better the bird the greater the fear. The grandest top- 

 knot I ever saw in a pullet I lost the first time it was allowed 

 to ramble, and the loss was permanent. An old but testy friend 

 of mine, to whose daughter I had given a pair, would not at last 

 have them on his premises ; he persisted in calling them " wooden- 

 headed creatures," and ultimately they were returned to me. la 

 this case the cock was always at the pig trough, and his topknot 

 was a ludicrous compound of feathers, barleymeal, and dirt ! 



My special fancy is the Silver variety ; it is to my experience 

 very hardy, and breeds truer to the excellence of parents than 

 either the Gold or White-crested Blacks. I once had three 

 sittings of the latter from one of the first strains in the country ; 

 they professed to be from the best birds, but although some two 

 dozen birds were batched, there was not a respectable bird in the 

 lot, all disdaining to show any white feathers in front of the top- 

 knot. My experience of Gold — slight, I allow — agrees with 

 that of the White-crested, but the Silvers, I think, breed much 

 truer, and the produce has in my case been for many years remu- 

 nerative, even when draughted off to Mr. Stevens's.* 



It must be confessed, however, that with few exceptions 

 Polands are fair-weather birds, and I must differ wholly from 

 your reply to some correspondent about their being kept in a 

 room ; if the room is well ventilated they will succeed. At least, 

 take my experience : I have now been more than nine months in 

 my present home ; I am terribly confined for space, and I sup- 

 pose a less confirmed and hopeless "maniac" would have given 

 up poultry altogether. I have, however, wired off two stalls 

 of my stables for two sets of Polands ; each lot has only about 

 7 feet square. Occasionally, when the horse is out, they are 

 allowed a little larger run, but this is seldom, as I am afraid of 

 cock-fighting. At the outside of the Btall is a row of bricks 

 placed on their edges, and the stall filled up with gravel, saw- 

 dust being on the top of this ; here they dust themselves ; 

 their roosts are low, and they are provided with green food, &c. 

 As to laying under these conditions, I certainly think they have 

 laid better than they ever did with me before, and they always 

 appear in good health. In Polands I have frequently noticed 

 hens apparently moribund, with wings trailing on the ground, 

 and almost unable to move. Generally this has arisen from 

 some difficulty of passing the egg ; this over, and the bird is per- 

 fectly and quickly restored. I do not think I have seen th is 

 have been here. 



Now as to being able to keep them thus circumscribed suc- 

 cessfully for exhibition, let me premise that I think it unfair 

 to my pets to overdo exhibition, and that I never have sent a 

 bird direct from one exhibition to another, and I do not think I 

 6hall try. Since their moult my Polands have gone to the fol- 

 lowing places with the following results — Chippenham, two 

 pens, first and second prizes; Newport, Mon., one pen, second 

 prize ; Plymouth, one pen, third prize ; Bristol, two pens, cook 



