246 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



[ Mareh 2G, 1868.' 



Dark — but on what conditions ? " Age, perfection of colonr, 

 and raarmngs" to be chief points — the very thing which 

 " Y. B. A. Z." and myself contend has led to the present state 

 of matters. Not a word of even size, and, much less, not a 

 word of shape or Brahma symmetry. Now this latter point — 

 symmetry, or perfection of form and characteristic points, is 

 the very A, B, C, or foundation of all excellence ; but it is to 

 be swamped by colour, as, alas ! it too truly is ! 



So that with regard to Mr. Crook's opening -paragraph, I do 

 emphatically repeat my opinion that, judged by the only real 

 standard, Light Erahmas are a " degenerate race ;" that (as a 

 class of course I mean — single good birds I do see), they are 

 far inferior to the Dark in purity of race, comb, head, shortness 

 of leg, depth of keel, and squareness of build. Bat do not let 

 me be farther unfairly charged with maintaining that they are 

 " difficult to breed true to characteristics." This I deny. It 

 is as easy to breed one Erahma as the other, only a true and 

 characteristic standard must be sought after in order to attain 

 success. This many of the Dark breeders have kept in view, 

 this nearly all the Light breeders have in a great measure dis- 

 carded. And as to describing us who assert the inferiority 

 thus produced as persons who have " not properly understood 

 the breed, and as a matter of course have not been successful 

 with it," Mr. Crook must surely forget that the very origin of 

 the whole discussion is the fact that he and other admirers of 

 the Light breed have "not been successfal with it" them- 

 selves ! We think — we know that we can point out the reason ; 

 he, despite of the woU-known general principle, can or will see 

 none. 



Mr. Crook's remarks on three different original strains and 

 their characteristics, open a further field for prolitable remark, 

 and one in which I have taken great interest, but can only 

 make one or two observations which bear upon the matter in 

 hand. We have first " Mr. Burnham or Dr. Bennett " (though 

 Bennett's, by the way, was quite distinct), characterised by 

 the " creamy tinge," but having " the defect of being too 

 white down to the skin." Here at once is evidence "presump- 

 tive " of a Cochin cross ; and what do we find '! Why, as all 

 know, Burnham with unblushing effrontery acknowledges that 

 his birds were produced all from Shanghae hens. Similarly 

 his Dark Erahmas were produced from grey Chittagong cocks 

 crossed with Cochins. In spite of the immense mass of evi- 

 dence tending to show that Erahmas are a distinct race, that 

 some of the so-called "jorigioal strains" were thus produced 

 there can be no doubt ; and hence much of the perplexity which 

 awaits all who candidly investigate this most interesting sub- 

 ject. Hence also the Biahmas without the "grouse head," 

 which Mr. Crook most truly says are still bred in America, 

 though the grouse-headed Ijtahma is also well known there. 

 In fact, between the original pure-bred Brahmas, the " ori- 

 ginal " made strains such as Burnham's (which latter. Dark 

 especially, caused infinite disappointment, rarely breeding two 

 birds alike), the more modern crosses with Dorkings and Cochins 

 to gain points of colour, and their various intermixtures to 

 subdivisions, any who conscientiously investigate the origin 

 and history of Brahmas will find that they can discover " very 

 little to swear by, but a great deal to swear at," and also a 

 great deal of reason for much diti'erence of opinion. 



Let me take the opportunity of assuring Mr. Pares that I 

 never meant to deny the existence of many excellent birds with 

 the proper grey bottom colour; nor would, I think, my letter 

 be so read. I simply meant, and I repeat, that I have parted 

 the plumage of very many Light Brahmas with the result 

 stated. — Nbmo. 



[Here the controversy may end. We see no valid reason 

 why Light and Dark Brahma Pootras are not entitled to cups 

 and other separate prizes, just as much as Buff, Parti'idge- 

 coloured, and other varieties of Cochin-Chinas.- — Eds.] 



BRiVHMA rOOTRAS— DORKINGS AND THEIR 



CROSS-BREDS. 

 I a;i in possession of a Dark Brahma pullet, one of a pair 

 hatched from eggs laid by the same hen on the 10th of May, 

 1867. They both began to lay in the second week in Novembsr. 

 One of them I was obliged to kill on the 10th of February, as 

 her egg organs became badly inflamed. She laid an egg nearly 

 every day from the lOt'n of November to the day before I killed 

 her. The other has continued laying up to the present time 

 without becoming broody, or ever missing more than one 

 day at a time, and that very seldom. During January she 



missed six days, in February none, in March two to the present 

 time. I kept no account of the days when she did not lay in 

 November and December ; but allowing her to have missed 

 seven in December and four in November, she will still have 

 laid 11.5 eggs to the 2:^rd of March, which is, I consider, mar- 

 vellous work, as she will not be twelve months old until the 

 10th of May. Her eggs are large for a Brahma, the usual 

 weight being 2J ozs. 



I find a great difference in the laying and tendency to incu- 

 bate of my Brahmas, although all are equally pure bred. One 

 of the pullets from the same brood as the other two began to 

 lay about a fortnight before them, and has been broody twice ; 

 the latter time I sat her on some eggs, and her chicks are now 

 nearly a week old. 



The other breed I keep are dark-coloured Dorkings. I find 

 that the pullets begin, as a rule, to lay rather earlier than the 

 Brahmas, though they oftener miss a day, and are more influ- 

 enced by changes of the weather, severe cold causing them to 

 cease laying almost entirely, while the Brahmas do not appear 

 to be in the least affected by it. 



I may mention as a comparison of the early-laying powers 

 of these breeds, that on the loth of March last I had a mixed 

 brood hatched ; among them were three Dorking pullets, which, 

 singularly, each laid their first egg on the very day they were 

 five months old — viz., on the 10th of August. The Brahma 

 pullet did not lay until from a fortnight to three weeks later. — 

 Pv. W. Eeacuey, KimiskersiccU, Devon. 



BARNDOOR FOWLS. 



At a recent meeting of the Boroughbridge Agricultural 

 Association, Mr. Gaunt readapaperon barndoor fowls. 



He said that twecty years ago the very proposal to read a 

 paper at an Agricultural Society like this, on the subject of 

 breeding and managing barndoor fowls, would have been looked 

 upon by the kindly-disposed of its members with curiosity, as 

 something very singular, and by others with a feeling very much 

 akin to scorn. In those days nothing would have been — nay, 

 even in these days, nothing is deemed — more derogatory to the 

 British farmer than to suppose him capable of taking any interest 

 in those beautiful and useful inhabitants of the foldyard, further 

 than to help his goodly spouse to a decision as to whether the 

 couple of capons for dinner should be roast or boiled, or to 

 express his anxiety as to the number of minutes his eggs should 

 be cooked for breakfast. This should not be so ; for the very 

 fact that enormous numbers of eggs and poultry are annually 

 imported both from France and Ireland into this country, must 

 show that the production of them is a source of profit, or the 

 supply would naturally cease. The question at once arises. Why 

 should we be dependant upon our neighbours for sending us 

 the very commodities which we have the power not only to 

 produce, but to produce in the highest perfection ? for it has 

 been truly said that the English farmyard is the paradise of 

 poultry. One reason is, that the rearing of poultry in large 

 numbers has never been thought worthy the consideration of 

 the farmer himself, though there is no doubt that it may be 

 made a source of great profit, with a very slight outlay of 

 capital ; and another cause is the utter disregard that has been 

 paid to the judicious breeding and crossing of the various kinds 

 of fowls. They are allowed from year to year to run on in the 

 same folds without any admixture of fresh blood, and in eon- 

 sequence become puny, small, and weakl}', so that half the 

 number hatched are unable to struggle to maturity, from their 

 excessive liability to the numerous diseases which poultry 

 "flesh is heir to." 



During the past few years the magnificent poultry shows 

 which have been held in most of our principal towns and 

 villages, have drawn much attention and given an impetus to 

 the breeding of poultry, and great has been the admiration 

 excited by the pure-bred specimens of the numerous varieties. 

 What, indeed, can be more beautiful than the thorough-bred 

 Game cock, with his flashing colour, his serpent-like head, 

 and his lordly carriage, showing not only that he is, but that 

 he knows himself to be, the true aristocrat of his race ? Other 

 classes are not behind him in beauty of a different kind ; truly 

 they have not his magnificent plumage or defiant eye, but the 

 couifortable shapeliness of the Dorking and the Erahma Pootra 

 hens, suggestive of their motherly propensities and of their 

 satisfactory appearance on the table, speaks volumes in their 

 favour. But these thorough-bred birds, valuable as they are, 

 and profitable also, are not what a farmer should have as barn- 



