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JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEK AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ MarcU 12, 1868. 



Say that Dorkings or Spanish lay at seven months old, Cochins 

 and Brahmas at six, sometimes at five, then chickens of the 

 breeds must be kept in the spring, so that they shall attain 

 those ages in December when eggs are scarcest. This brings 

 it to a certainty. There are few places where new-laid eggs 

 are not in demand at that time at 2d., in many towns they 

 make 3<l. each. In the neighbourhoods in the west-end of 

 London where horses and carriages stand, greengrocers and 

 small shopkeepers keep fowls under every disadvantage, but 

 make them profitable by the sale of eggs. The same may be 

 done by any one. This is an exceptional time of year, but we 

 never yet knew a place where new-laid eggs were not saleable 

 aD the year round. They suffer little by foreign competition, 

 and as soon as it is known that they are brought regularly, shop- 

 keepers are glad to buy them. This soon amounts to a sum 

 in the spring. 



Then there is the sale of fowls. If they can be reared early 

 they make large prices. In numbers of places poultry is given 

 up as out of season from February till July ; none but hard 

 winter fowls are to be had, but if young ones were offered they 

 would soon be gladly purchased. Such would be the refuse of 

 the yard — those that were faulty in some particular. This 

 plan enables any one to breed good and valuable fowls, because 

 it affords the opportunity of great choice. Spring chickens, 

 the most valuable because the scarcest, are fit for fattening at 

 fourteen or fifteen weeks old. At that time their points are 

 sufficiently developed to show whether they are likely to be 

 prizetakers or not. In sorting a run, amateurs should begin 

 by selecting for sale for table purposes all that are faulty ; 

 then take the worst of the good ones till there remain only 

 those that are promising. There is not so much diOieulty in 

 rearing early chickens as folks imagine. Our experience is, 

 that they are reared more easily m January and February than 

 in Mai-ch and April. The advantages are many. It enables us 

 to give more attention to those that are likeliest to make the 

 best return ; it economises food ; it prevents the evils of over- 

 stocking, and it keeps up alittle supply of ready money. When 

 the selected are attaining a size that justifies another weeding, 

 then send the least promising to the auction. Reserve the 

 best for exhibition and for stock. They may be put at prices 

 that are highly remunerative without being prohibitory, and 

 they wUl sell, though, perhaps, they may not be prizetakers. 



One thing only is wanting, the false pride that is above sell- 

 ing eggs or poultry must be conquered, and the business must 

 be looked after carefully as any other trade or pursuit is that 

 is expected to be successful.— X. Y. Z. 



LIGHT BRAHMA POOTRAS. 



As a breeder of Light Brahmas for the last fifteen years, I 

 beg to corroborate generally "Nemo's" remarks as to' the re- 

 quirements to he sought for by judges. In the first place, the 

 Bingle-combed Brahmas are as pure as the pea-combed, if not 

 of a purer strain. For twelve years I never had a pea-combed 

 chicken from single-combed birds ; after that time, having in- 

 troduced a cross with a pea-combed strain, I cannot speak so 

 positively ; but I venture to affirm that the single-combed Light 

 Brahmas are hardier, better shaped, and better coloured than 

 most of the pea-combed strains. 



With Mr. Crook, I say that the Light Brahmas should have 

 a surface colour of clear white, with a ground colour of grey, 

 and, indeed, I should feel inclined to regard a bird as dis- 

 qualified which did not possess the dark ground colour, as 

 being a cross from a White Cochin. The neck hackles should 

 be well and clearly marked ; not a poor, half-marked grey, but 

 a bold, well-deliued, striped hackle. 



As regards saddle hackle, I believe Mr. Crook and I are at 

 issue, he preferring a well-marked saddle hackle also, whilst 

 I have always bred (until my cross mentioned above), birds with 

 a pure white saddle hackle. With the exception of the flight 

 feathers in the wing, the black white-edged tail, and the 

 hackles (neck or saddle), I venture to submit there ought not 

 to be a coloured feather of any description in a Light Brahma. 

 On the whole, I think they are rather longer-legged than Dark 

 Brahmas, but for the table no bird is equal in flavour to a 

 Light Brahma.— F. Powell, Knarcshorougli. 



Those who favour the Dark birds seem to me to assume that 

 the Light, as a class, are decidedly inferior to the Dark, but I 

 cannot see that they are at all justified in such an assumption. 



I readily admit that if you look at the classes separately, the 



Dark birds seem the finer ; but we should not rest here without 

 further investigation, and, above all, an impartial one ; for if 

 we do, we only foster the popular delusion, " that the Light 

 are very pretty birds, but that the more competent a person is 

 to judge, the more certain is he to prefer the Dark." 



I believe the main reason why this delusion has arisen is, 

 that any Light-coloured bird corresponding in all points with a 

 Dark one, will not produce the same effect on the eye, the 

 dark outline being more striking. This is the chief reason why 

 the judges at our shows, who must necessarily make their 

 awards according to the impressions they receive at the time, 

 always decide in favour of the Dark. But it is not always first 

 impressions that are most correct; that they are not so in this 

 case we may infer from what we have lately read in The 

 JouENAL OF HoniicuLTUEE. I think that alter what has 

 arisen, no first-class breeder will be surprised at Mr. Crook's 

 challenge, and all must feel that no one would be likely to beat 

 him, unless it were Mr. Boyle. 



I was to-day looking over the yard of an old breeder of the 

 Light variety. 1 think I never saw a prettier sight than this 

 collection of birds with their well-defined hackles and black 

 tails contrasting with their snow-white bodies, their broad 

 sterns abundantly covered with a delicate white fluff. The 

 birds looked so fine that ever since I have been wondering how 

 the prejudice against them could have arisen, and what cause 

 there could possibly be for its continuance. It cannot be 

 owing to any deficiency in their weight, for there they are 

 pretty equal to their Dark brethren. The only cock bird which 

 I have, more than a year old, weighs 12 lbs. I do not mention 

 this as being an extraordinary weight for a bird of this variety, 

 but to show that they are not inferior to the other variety in 

 this particular. Although I am continually exhibiting, I never 

 brought forward the bird I mentioned more than once, that was 

 at Hastings, when he was second in the adult class. He did 

 not then strike me as being decidedly superior to the birds in 

 the other pens as to size. Now, I do not think the average 

 weight of the Park birds is higher than 12 lbs., but if it is, we 

 are ready to grant that this is in their favour, still we must be 

 shown it first. 



Compliiints have been made with regard to the feathering 

 of the Light birds, but apparently without just grounds, at 

 least as regards its quantity, for in every well-filled class there 

 are birds to be seen with massive wings on their hocks and feet ; 

 not that I maintain that this is right, for I like to see their 

 hocks covered with a rich round kuob of soft feathers, clearly 

 separated from those on the feet, which should be adorned 

 with soft feathers, both black and white, well laid on, and very 

 much corresponding to those on the breast. I am surprised 

 that the awkwardly stiff feathering, which seems to incumber 

 the bird rather than belong to it as a natural part of itself, 

 should be aimed at by so many breeders ; but as this applies 

 to the Dark as weU as the Light birds, it cannot be said to 

 raise them above their more beautiful brethren. — H. M. Mav- 

 KAED, Holmcwood, Byde. 



RAILWAY CHARGES. 



I AM sorry the Honorary Secretary of Weston Show im- 

 pugns the correctness of my statement — that the Secretary 

 of the Show charged me 5s. 3d. for conveyance of birds from 

 the Show to the station. 



I beg to say — 1st, That I received a letter from the Secre- 

 tary, in which he says the 5s. 3d. claimed is " for carriage from 

 the Show to the station." 2nd, That my fowls were booked 

 through to Weston, and that there was no question, therefore, 

 on the subject of the Secretary of the Show paying any carriage 

 forme. 3rd, That from the "letter of Mr. Percivall, of Peck- 

 ham, in your issue of February Gth, page 119-20, it appears 

 that he was charged 4s. 4;;. as " railway charges to and from 

 the showyard," and that no denial of that statement has been 

 made. And 4th, That the report in your issue of January 9th 

 commented on the " great inexperience shown in the manage- 

 ment of Weston Show." 



As now we have evidence of two exhibitors being charged 

 very high for conveyance from the Show to the station, the 

 management ought to advertise their willingness to return 

 such erroneous charges. — Bkaema. 



TRIMMING FOWLS FOR EXHIBITION. 



In your impression of the 20th nit., Mr. Worthington opens- 

 up the subject of the fairness or not of trimming fowls' legs 



