Febrnnry 20, 1866. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



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a-day— as often as you feeil them, and always before you feed 

 them. Those fowls, chiefly, that receiye grain wiU be attacked 

 with roup unless the house, or at least the place on which 

 the grain is thrown, be as thoroughly swept and cleaned as 

 if you polished a looking-glass ; otherwise grain may mix 

 with their excrements and the mischief will be done, however 

 little they may pick up with their food. It will be well to 

 sweep the whole house every time, for, when hungry, your 

 birds may begin to pick from the excrements any particle of 

 food not thoroughly digested which may be found in these." 



I repeat the above as I heard it. I have tried the system, 

 and it has answered. During the autumn my poultry yard re- 

 mained free from the complaint ; but, when in December I 

 went on a journey, I saw, when returning, three hens suffering 

 from the roup, and was informed that the person who had 

 taken care of my birds during my absence had "taken it easy," 

 and frequently deviated from my instructions. I cured two of 

 the sufferers, that had been only shghtly attacked, according 

 to the subjoined receipt, which I owe to the same overseer ; 

 the third died, its iUness having been already far advanced. 



He said, " If any of your fowls becomes ill, separate it im- 

 mediately from the others, and place it in a run, the bottom 

 of which consists of fresh turf. In wet or cold weather take a 

 cage with turf in-doors. The fowl will recover in three or four 

 days, unless the iUness has been too long neglected. The 

 roosting upon gi-ass has in aU cases the most beneficial 

 effect." 



" A most pernicious effect upon the health of fowls," he 

 continued, " is produced by rich feeding after their having 

 been on a long journey. Give them nothing by which they 

 may satisfy their blind hunger too fast, no flour, no hard 

 grain, only cut chickeu-groats or a small quantity of crushed 

 oats, but, above all, very, very little water on the first day." — 

 Fk-iscis Broemel. 



TESTING rURCHASED EGGS, 



As you are now commencing the insertion of advertisements 

 of eggs for sitting, will you allow me to advise those who pur- 

 chase them to subject them to the water test before placing 

 them under the hens ? 



Last season, wishing to have some new blood in my yard, I 

 ordered eggs from an advertiser in youi- paper : some at £1 Is. 

 per sitting, and others at a lower price. Not one of the highest- 

 priced sitting hatched, although other eggs placed under the 

 same birds did. Upon complaining to the advertiser, others 

 were forwarded ; but having my suspicious aroused, they were 

 tried, and found to have been already sat upon, some having 

 chickens in them, others being rotten ; so,I was saved the disap- 

 pointment and annoyance of losing the hen's time, but did not 

 think it would be of any avail to make another complaint. 



If you insert this notice in your columns you may save 

 others the vexations which always attend the unsuccessful 

 sitting of hens. — A Const.ixt Suesceibee. 



[If our correspondent had sent us the name of the vendor of 

 the eggs we would have published it. — Eds.] 



WHICH IS THE BEST FOWL FOR THE TABLE? 



Aee the Brahma Pootras good birds for the table ? Since 

 Dixon's Work (18.57) I have seen no comment on degrees of 

 quality of table fowls, which, whilst fit for show-purposes in 

 their class, still may be very useful for the spit, when a defect 

 would preclude their use tor aught else. A Game bird is Al ; 

 Dorking is A2 ; but a black-boned Indian fowl (very rare ?) for 

 roasting, beats aU in my opinion. 



Pray give your opinion as to the comparative merits of 

 Brahma Pootras as table fowls, in juxtaposition with their con- 

 frires. — Peteebokough. 



[The "Fowl of Fowls" for the table is the Dorking. Not 

 only is its meat of marvellous quality, but it has the property 

 of contributing more choice and less coarse meat than any 

 other bird that we know of at present. It has more breast, 

 and its thighs are delicate. The backbone of a well-fattened 

 young Dorking is said to be the perfection of poultry food. It 

 is hard to say which is the second, as opmious differ so much ; 

 our own is, that a yomig Game pullet is A2, but she must be 

 IdUed in proper condition — i.e., she must not exceed sixteen 

 weeks old ; she must have rim wild ever since she left her 

 mother ; and she must have been dead two dayj> when she is 



eaten. The amount of breast on such an one is wonderfi'l ; 

 the meat is sweet and high-flavoured, and the only fault ever 

 found is that there is not enough of it. The Spanish chicken 

 is very delicate, and the meat is finer in the grain than any 

 other we know. The Hamburgh is also very good. We should 

 put Spanish A3. Two noted breeds are the Cochiu-China and 

 the Brahma Pootra, both most H-sc/iif; but in our opinion the 

 latter the more so. As table fowls they are coarse, and have 

 far too much offal meat about them. They are as a Leicester 

 sheep compared to a nine-stone Southdown. The black -boned 

 Indian fowl mentioned is the filthiest thing to look at as food 

 that we have ever seen. It is by no means rare, being the 

 Silky fowl. It has blue flesh and nearly black bones, and how- 

 ever good the flavour may be (we have many of them, but have 

 never tasted one), we should consider the look so repulsive, 

 that nothing short of starvation would make us eat it. 



There are of late two French fowls introduced, both of ex- 

 cellent table quality, the La Flcche and the Creve Coeur. They 

 are high-class birds, but they are not so hardy as the Brahma. 

 They are better birds for the table. The table you ask for 

 should stand thus in our opinion. We class them on their 

 food merits, without reference to their delicacy or strength o£ 

 constitution : — 



5. — Spflnish. 

 6. — Hamburgh. 

 7. — Brahma Pootra. 



1. — Dorking. 

 2. — Game. 

 8.— La Flcche. 

 4.— Crtve CcEur. 



S.— Malay.] 



GAME BANTAMS. 



Having read the interesting notes on Bingley Hall Show by 

 our esteemed correspondent " Wiltshiee Rectoh," and also 

 the letter of " Gallus," with "Wiltshiee Rector's" reply 

 to it, in " our Journal " of January 30th, relating to these uni- 

 versal favourites, I beg to offer a few remarks on the subject. 



Of the foiu- principal varieties of Game Bantams, my expe- 

 rience teaches me that the Black-breasted Reds are the easiest 

 to breed true to feather ; next to them, perhaps, Piles ; then 

 Duckwings, and lastly Brown Reds ; and of these last there is 

 hardly a first-class pen to be seen at any of our shows. Indeed 

 there is stiU much room for improvement in each of the 

 varieties ; and, as " Gallds " truly remarks, " He may con- 

 sider himself indeed a lucky fellow who can obtain one good 

 bird from a hatch." Now "Wiltshire Rector's" reply is cer- 

 tainly open enough. I only wish he had not given up Game 

 Bantams, and then he might have agreed with us who find it 

 difficult to reach the higher standard which we now aim at. 

 If he judges the birds he speaks of having seen at his friends' 

 by a comparison with the best birds of some three or four 

 years ago, they might easily be considered all good birds. It 

 is certainly not easy to breed such birds as the Black Red 

 winners at some of our recent shows, and they are very easy to 

 distinguish from the so-caUed "Game" Bantams that come 

 in flocks to every poultry show. Undoubtedly five-sixths of 

 these birds would be better killed than kept. 



With regard to profit I can confidently recommend Game 

 Bantams as being equal to Blacks for producing eggs, both as 

 to number and quaUty. During the last two years I have 

 never been for a single week without new-laid eggs from my 

 Game Bantams ; and the birds when fed up, though smaU, are 

 as delicious for eatmg as any variety of fowl. In one sense 

 they are, as "Wiltshire Rector" says, easy to breed, for, 

 unhke the Sebrights, nearly all their eggs are fertile, and with 

 proper care the chickens are not more liable to death than 

 many other varieties ; and last, but not least, it is probable that 

 the most perfect specimens wiU continue to command as high 

 prices as have ever been paid for them. They are steadily 

 gaining ground, and with "Gallus" I sincerely hope that 

 they may long continue to hold the high position which they 

 have so justly gained. — W. F. E. 



NAMES OF FOWLS, 

 Wrong names are sometimes given to poultry, and, even if 

 corrected, people persist in using them, because they are 

 adopted in the schedules of prizes of poultry shows. The 

 French fowl " Padoue," alias " Pouland," is named Poland. 

 So far well— the difference is trifling, but the name, so fre- 

 quently used, " Polish fowls," is decidedly absurd. They have 

 as Utile to do with Poland and Pohsh poultry as -VVhitechapel 

 with Cochin-China in Eastern Asia. Why another class of 



