344 



JOOBNAL OP HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. ( Febraary 13. 1868. 



Cochins I must class them together, but as far as I could judge 

 the latter were the better layers. By the end of the .year the 

 three Hambuighs had laid 476 eggs, and the thirteen 'Brahma 

 and half-bred hens 734 eggs— i' ,>., the H&mburghs averaged 

 158.66 eggs per hen, and the Brahmas, &c., only .56.46 eggs 

 per hen. Of course, some of the latter were occasionally 

 occupied with sitting and rearing chickens ; but allowing for 

 the time it would have required to break them off from sitting 

 if they had been wanted for laying only, this would not have 

 made very much difference in the result. 



I may add, that I reared a good many chickens of both 

 breeds, and could not discover the slightest difference in the 

 matter of hardiness. I do not think I lost a chicken of either 

 breed from disease. 



_ As for the superiority of Brahmas for winter laying, the 

 simple fact that for some time the only eggs I have had are 

 from my Hamburghs, while the Brahmas content themselves 

 yrith consuming vast quantities of barley and afford no return, 

 is the best answer I can give. 



Undoubtedly Brahmas are larger fowls for the table than 

 Hamburghs, but as they eat at least in proportion to their 

 greater bulk, there is not much economy in that. They are 

 also decidedly superior in every respect to Cochins, which I 

 have also kept, and where the poultry-keeper is compelled to 

 keep his unhappy fowls in a small back yard, he cannot do 

 better than keep Brahmas, especially as they resemble nothing 

 BO closely os a small heap of cinders on two "legs, and can, con- 

 sequently, be warranted not to show dirt. 



If, therefore, the amateur who keeps fowls principally for 

 their eggs has sufScient space, I should strongly advise him to 

 keep Hamburghs ; if he has room to keep two kinds separate, 

 or prefers pure breeds, then Brahmas also, as they will do the 

 hatching and rearing part of the business as well as any fowls. 

 If he wants a pood and handsome table fowl, he will find a cross 

 between a Brahma cock and a Silver-Grey Dorking hen first- 

 class. The hens from this cross are almost exactly like the 

 parent hen, except in the shape of the comb and in having a 

 few feathers on the legs. I have seen an old hand deceived 

 by them, thinking them to be pure Silver-Greys. Of course, 

 they are vastly more hardy than pure Dorkings. The opposite 

 cross of a Dorking cock with Brahma hens is not so good, as 

 the chickens are more leggy. — Oophilus. 



P.S. — Not the least objection to Brahmas is the appalling 

 ugliness of the chickens, contrasting strongly in this respecl 

 with Hamburghs. 



"FOUR-TOED HOUDANS. 

 Mb. Schroder has suggested what I have no doubt will 

 appear to many, including myself, a step " forward," by breed- 

 ing out the " backward " toe of the Houdan. Is it niDt, how- 

 ever, written in chronicles immemorial that the Dorking must 

 have the useless monstrosity too, and how can his Houdau 

 offshoot want the same ? Did the supernumerary create speed, 

 like the " seven-leagued boots," or strength as in the six- 

 digited giant of Gath, or delicacy of taste, or beauty of form, 

 then indeed the excrescence would be tolerable; but failing all 

 these, is this wonderful member to be venerated and conserved 

 as a relic of the primeval and barbaric age of poultry:' — James 



C. COOPEK. 



MERITS OF BRAHMA POOTRAS. 



Is this, my first epistle to the Journal, I will just jot down 

 the doings of a few of my strain of Dark Brahmas ; it may, 

 perhaps, interest some of your thousands of readers. 



I coincide with your remark, that a fowl cannot lay eggs 

 and make feathers at the same time. I have one that has laid 

 ever since the .SOth of October, 1806, only excepting the time 

 she batched and reared nine chicks, which process occupied 

 just seven weeks and two days. Now, up to to-day she has laid 

 279 eggs, all good, but she has been in moult for the last five 

 months, and at the present time she is without feathers under 

 the wings and breast ; notwithstanding, she looks hearty and 

 well, and to all appearance is hkely to go on laying for some time 

 yet. Our clergyman thought, although she was so good a layer, 

 it did not follow that her produce would be as good. Now, to 

 show that she has been beaten in her first fifty, we possess one 

 of her pullets which has laid fifty-five eggs in the same number 

 of days — that was from the 1st day of September up to the 1st 

 of November, just two months. She then took to clucking, and 

 sat for a few days, and strange, as it seema to me, took to 



moulting when only about eight months old. She has had a 

 thorough shift, has recovered from it, and has laid ten eggs 

 since. I also possess a pullet which laid ever since the 10th 

 of November, with the exception of missing four days in the 

 time. One more is worthy of mention — the smallest hen we 

 have laid forty-one eggs in forty-one consecutive days ! 



Time will not allow me to further transgress, only I would 

 like to remark that we never see an advertisement for the sale 

 of Brahma eggs, except of those of some strain that has taken 

 a prize. Now, if such a thing as a competition were to take 

 place for the best DaiK Brahmas for egg- producing, I should, 

 perhaps, stand a chance, although , probably, it might be a small 

 one. However, all who see my fowls declare them very good ; 

 whether they are judges or no I will not say. — J. P. 



A NATIONAL ORNITHOLOGiaVL ASSOCIATION. 



I HAVE read with much interest the article emanating from 

 Polefleld Hall, which appeared in your issue of January 

 16th, as well as that by my coadjutor in the south. The 

 idea of forming a— what shall I call it ? — perhaps, an All Eng- 

 land Ornithological Association — has long forced itself upon 

 my mind as being an object to acconaplish which no effort 

 should be spared, and I hail with great satisfaction the muni- 

 ficent offer which accompanied ilr. Bedwell's pithy but most 

 expressive suggestions. 



I am not writing officially, but I think I can safely say that 

 the Committee of the Association I have the honour to repre- 

 sent will supplement Mr. Bedivell's offer with another £20, and 

 I am open for any amount of work to assist in giving this 

 project some tangible form. With this view I shall be glad to 

 hear from Mr. Bedwell his idea of the framework of such an 

 Association, with some details of its objects, and the best 

 methods of giving effect to them. Till then I feel as though it 

 were, perhaps, rather premature to offer any suggestions ; I 

 will, however, follow up Mr. Warren's remarks if you can 

 spare me a little more space. 



I regard the formation of an All England Association as a 

 great means of doing what very few, if any, isolated societies 

 in England can do unassisted — that is, offer year after year to 

 the United Kingdom a complete schedule, and a liberal scale 

 of prizes. I do not think it fair that any one society should 

 be called upon to do so from its own immediate resources, 

 should find the sinews of war, and throw the doors of its ex- 

 hibition open to all the breeders in the kingdom ; but a com- 

 bination of societies can do this, and do it on a very grand 

 scale too ; they would be in a position to issue a schedule- 

 embracing all varieties of birds; they would not be hampered 

 by considerations as to whether such and such a class would 

 pay, but rather by supplying such a prize induce exhibitors 

 to compete for it. This would of necessity give an impetus to 

 breeding, and it would soon be patent to those concerned that 

 commercially it would pay as well as " breeding Pelargoniums 

 or bees." I need adduce no plainer proof of this than th& 

 fact, that the introduction of certain classes into the schedule 

 of the North of England Ornithological Association at the 

 last Sunderland Show created a position for birds hitherto 

 comparatively worthless, and that many were claimed at 

 prices from £6 6.s. downwards. The idea of being able to do 

 collectively what cannot be done individually is to me the most 

 prominent one. The mode of organisation, method of govern- 

 ment, Sea., will soon suggest itself if gentlemen who take an 

 interest in our feathered favourites will assist in ventilating 

 the subject in these columns. 



A " Standard of Excellence " and a method of judging by it 

 will each be aslne qua hoh, nor do I see any difficulty in arriving at 

 such. If the most celebrated breeders of any given class of birds 

 had each cf them a certain number of points to divide among 

 the different properties of such bu'ds, the mean result of the 

 aggregate would give a standard at once. That there are men 

 fully competent to judge upon sound principles I am confident, 

 and an extension of the basis of operation would as a natural 

 consequence develope their talents. I am not acquainted with 

 many public judges, but those I have come in contact with 

 appear to be men quite up to the day, and thoroughly able *o 

 perform their duties — to mention names would be invidiond. 



I should like to call the attention of all likely to tako a part 

 in furthering this most interesting scheme to one very impor- 

 tant matter, and that is to the imperative duty of enacting the 

 most stringent laws to insure common honesty in showing 

 birds. Perhaps that is rather too Btrong, and a libel on the 



