52 



JODBNAIi OP HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE QABDENEB. 



[ July 16, I86& 



R. Fulton. Highly Commended, D. GreengraBB, Harleaton, Stowmarket; 

 H, Yardley, Birmingham ; D. H. Feltham. 



Caqe Birds. — Canary (Any colour).— First, Second, and Highly Com- 

 mended, T. Fenn, Ipswich. (loldfincli or Any Variety.— First and Second, 

 T, Fenn. Hif^hly Commended, J. Clover, St. Helen's, Ipswich. 



Babbits. — First, G. Jones, Birmingham. 



The Judges were the Hev. T. L. Fcllowes, Honnington, Norwich, 

 and Mr. Harry Adams, of Beverley. 



CROOKS IMPROVED PORTABLE HEXAGONAL 

 CHICKEN-FEEDING FOLD. 

 This takes to pieces tor packing away. The object is to 

 enable young chickens to feed without being disturbed by the 

 older birds. The doors at the sides are made to slide, in order 

 to accommodate chickens of various sizes. It is also useful as 

 a lattice coop to place a hen and chickens under. The same 

 principle is carried out for clasping the lower portion of trees 

 in orchards, shrubberies, &c. Total size, 6 feet in diameter. 



We found the neoesaity for such an article in our yards, for 

 where there are quantities of stock of all ages and sizes feeding, 

 it is, of course, necessary to feed the young stock upon food, 

 Buch as groats, &e., which is somewhat expensive, and quite 

 unnecessary for adult poultry. By using these folds the most 

 expensive kind of food can be placed within the fold without 

 fear of the old birds disturbing or trampling upon the young, 

 or eating the dainty morsels intended for the latter. — E. & F. 

 Crook. 



HOUDANS. 



In your impression of July 2nd, under this heading, you give 

 a translation from " Le Poulailler," of M. Jacque, in whick 

 the extreme delicacy and sudden failing of constitution in 

 Houdan cocks is mentioned. This is in direct opposition to 

 my experience of four years concerning imported and English- 

 bred birds kept in confinement, and even in a cold, damp 

 situation. I can safely class them with the Cochin and the 

 Brahma in hardiness of constitution, and freedom from disease, 

 even in a yard where roup broke out fatally amongst Game 

 Bantams. 



In the Journal of the '2nd of October of last year, you say, 

 that " fowls without five claws are not Houdans." My ex- 

 perience is, that five-clawed and heavily-bearded birds will 

 throw occasionally four-toed and beardless birds, although I 

 have never had any without the topknot. The same thing as 

 regards the toes is found in the Dorking. 



In crossing Dorking and Brahma hens with Houdan cocks, I 

 have produced precocious and heavy birds of dark plumage, 

 with almost invariably strong short black legs. 



I shall be glad of the experiences of other breeders, as I look 

 to the Dorking-like features and hardihood of constitution in 

 these birds, either by themselves or by judicious crossing, to 

 supply the place of the Dorking on damp, cold soils, and to add 

 materially to our food birds. — Geokge Manning. 



racing in Belgium, I wrote entirely as a " thorough English 

 fancier," and I have already a supporter in " J. I. B." I do 

 not know much of (ierman ideas respecting Pigeons ; but in 

 passing through Germany eight years ago I observed that, with 

 the exception of the Antwerps and some of their " new varie- 

 ties," they possess nothing we can envy them for, though in a 

 future communication I shall prove that we can well envy 

 other nations their "pets of beauty," the most remarkable of 

 which I believe I introduced to English fanciers. So I quite 

 agree with "Wiltshire Hector" in this. But what about 

 the points of the two breeds in question ? 



I have stated distinctly the points of the " show Antwerp," 

 compared it with the Dragoon, and proved that it is far superior 

 in colour and points, and I am ready to substantiate this by 

 comparison of birds. .We have Antwerps blue as the best Blue 

 Dragoon, with intelligent broad heads, in shape as a well- 

 enlarged Bullfinch, and in carriage as graceful as any Dragoon. 

 So, as long as we have all this, besides three additional excel- 

 lent colours, and the improvement from the idiotic head to the 

 intelligent form of the " show Antwerp," adding the great 

 property of flying and the most valuable of feeding, what else 

 do we desire? Can "Wiltshire Eectok" corroborate his 

 statements by comparison that they are birds of " no colour or 

 points ?" 



I believe I am quite correct in saying that two-thirds of the 

 fanciers in England possess Antwerps, and necessarily all who 

 keep Toys for feeding purposes. Is it just, then, to exclude 

 them all from exhibiting what in their estimation is worthy of 

 attention because the author of "Pigeons" and "Wiltshire 

 Eector " dislike them ? I beg to refer him to a book called 

 " Le Pigeon Voyageur Beige," by F. Chapuis. Doctor of Medicine 

 and Natural Sciences. It treats on nothing but the Antwerp ! 

 But let us suppose that the Antwerp is not sufficiently inter- 

 esting yet in appearance, let us exert ourselves to make it so. 

 Has not encouragement made the Carrier what it is — a Pigeon 

 not more like its Persian ancestors than the Antwerp is ? and 

 I can name a host of other breeds likewise. 



I have visited the great Dragoon and Antwerp fancier I 

 alluded to, and asked him, "What would you take for the best 

 pair of each breed?" "It is a puzzling question," he said; 

 but if I am to answer it I should want more for the best pair 

 of Antwerps." And I am quite certain that he possesses some 

 of the finest Dragoons ever bred. 



Is "Wiltshire Sector" aware how many young Bine 

 Carriers obtained lately at our shows prizes in the Dragoon 

 class, and when older move on to the class of their superiors ? 

 " Wiltshire Hector " must have forgotten that the only fancy 

 Pigeons we can fairly call English breeds, though not of ;that 

 origin, are the Carrier and Shortfaced Tumbler ? The first of 

 these does not " take " abroad. The second is greatly and justly 

 admired wherever it is introduced, and I intend to introduce 

 these birds into Africa. Further still, he must have forgotten, 

 or he would have never written, " We love in poultry and 

 Pigeons to breed pet birds with fine and remarkable points and 

 properties, &c." Where should "we" have been but for the 

 importation of all the " fine and remarkable pet birds," with 

 the exception of the Shortfaced Tumbler?" Or does "Wilt- 

 shire Kector" call the Carrier or Dragoon pet birds ? If so, 

 we shall always differ, not because nations should do so, but 

 because the majority of my fellow English fanciers, so far as I 

 am informed, do. — A Foreigner. 



ANTWERPS— DRAGOONS. 

 Mv signature has quite misled " Wiltshire Eectob." With 

 the exception of the example I mentioned of the Antwerp 



GAS STOVE IN CANARY AVIARY. 



Ml- friend Mr. Blakston has done the state much service by 

 his letters on Canary-breeding, but I am certain that he has 

 made a mistake in his idea about a gas stove in the breeding- 

 room, and I hope he may not find it out to his cost. 



Gas in rooms where Canaries are kept is the very worst 

 thing you can have. I appeal to other breeders. Messrs. 

 Hawkins, Doel, Tully, Walter, cum multis aliis, will bear me 

 out. 



Gas makes birds soft-feathered, injures their lungs, and sends 

 then into moult, to say nothing of the mischief it causeswhen 

 it goes out in the night. A man in Manchester, high up in the 

 mystery of Canary-breeding and showing, had a magnificent 

 stud of Belgians, and in his breeding-room he had a gas stove. 

 One morning he found all his stock, nurses and all, dead ; there 

 they lay (£50 worth), aristocratic Belgians with heads like peas 

 and necks like giraffes, plebeian nurses with their charges, all 

 stiff and cold. The gas had gone out, returned, and smothered 



