318 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICUIiTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ April 34, isec 



that caused the birds to nrriTO in better condition. But people 

 hud learned their lesson. It was not enough to get fowls 

 stronger than those thov had had, but they wi.shed to possess 

 some that would not ktep them in constant eicitement as to 

 whether the hearty, frolicsome fowls of Tuesday would not be 

 the moping moribund things of Thursday. They found certain 

 breeds were prone to disease, and they gave them up. Ham- 

 burghs and Polands went to the wall. These were the breeds 

 that with very few exceptions brought contagion with them. 



As wc are writing on poultry, and not on the cattle plague, 

 we must observe here, that in many parts of Yorkshire Ham- 

 tnrghs bad been known for years as healthy birds, and re- 

 mained so ; but few yards introduced imported birds for the 

 sake of fresh blood witliout payin;,' the penalty in the shape of 

 sickness. Spangled Hamburghs, or Moonics, are not included 

 in the breeds that could bo regenerated by foreign blood. They 

 are little, if at all, known abroad. Common-sense men did 

 ■not trouble themselves about causes, but accepted results. 

 Hamburghs and Polauds were subject to roup ; then they 

 would not keep them, and they gave them up. Scientific men 

 thought they would inquire into causes. Dr. Horner, of Hull, 

 was the first, as he was, perhaps, the most distinguished. He 

 first said the roup was not contagious. Everybody laughed at 

 him, but everybody was wrong. It is not contagious. You 

 may take the roupiest fowls that were ever seen, and may put 

 a dozen with Spanish, Brahmas, and Cochins. Not one of 

 these wUl take it, or bo affected by it. Not so with Ham- 

 burghs or Polands ; it would almost seem that with them con- 

 tact with a healthy imported Dutch fowl would produce roup, 

 as we are told the contact with a thoroughly vaccinated Euro- 

 pean gives smallpox to the Indian. There is a predisposition. 



Hamburghs in England now, without contact with foreign 

 birds, are as healthy as any others. They are bred here and 

 acclimatised. Something of the same may be said for the 

 birds recently introduced from France. No one can deny the 

 merits of the Creve Cceur and La Flfiche breeds, but numbers 

 will endorse what we write when we sav that even the healthiest 

 undergo a period of sickness, especially the cocks. It is diffi- 

 cult to assign a cause. We have imported them from a low 

 dainp district in France, we have put them on a dry gravelly 

 soil with every appliance we know of that is conducive to 

 health, and yet the cocks sicken unto death ; the hens sicken 

 and swell at the eye and face, but they, nevertheless, are rubi- 

 cund, they lay and do well, and acclimatise. The same cannot 

 be said of the Houdans. We have imported them at the 

 same time with La Flcche and Cri-ve Crenr. It is our duty 

 to try experiments, and we have given them the place where 

 they would be subject to every disadvantage, but they are verit- 

 able gallinaceous Mark Tapleys. They are always jolly. They 

 ail nothing, and nothing ails them. They came frora France 

 together, and they have been left together ; one grew worse, 

 and the other improved in condition daily. 



Our counties that are not in the first "odour for high fann- 

 ing, and that have kept to their own stock are free from cattle 

 ■disease. We have milk to drink, butter to eat, and our stalls 

 are full of calves. Tbey are healthy at night, and we look at 

 them in the morning without misgivings. 



Poultry fanciers are not retrograde people. Professional men 

 swarm among them. These generally draw correct conclusions, 

 and by their help poultry-keepers have done the same. They 

 found certain breeds were prone to pest, and under some cir- 

 cumstances sure to have it. They found others never had it, 

 either spontaneou.sly or from contact. Thev have kept to the 

 latter and eschewed the former. The result is, that which 

 threatened to destroy poultry years ago is almost unknown 

 now. May not the same be true of certain breeds of cattle ? 



was a shock to ray nerves. However, almost by the same post 

 came a letter from one of the largest and most successful 

 exhibitors in Yorkshire, in which he said he had sbown 23'.> 

 pens during the past year, but only sent 63 pens by rail, the 

 cost by this conveyance being so enormous ! Sorely this is a 

 case that speaks volumes. In a month or six weeks I propose 

 to send you the last list. I have therefore to ask all who feel 

 interested in the matter to commnnicate with me. Many have 

 not replied at all. As regards the signing the reqnisition, it is 

 not necessary that a subscription in money should be made 

 in every case. The railway companies will know nothing of 

 these amounts. They are simply published in the columns of 

 " our Journal " as a kind of acknowledgment. If any who 

 have written to me feel themselves aggrieved at not receiving 

 replies I must beg their kind indulgence, as my spare time is 

 taken up in communicating with other exhibitors. — Jossra 

 HiNTos (Y. B. A. Z.J, llinton, near Lath. 



.T. Holme. H. Tomlinson. 



.1. I>. N'cwsome, 10«. M. Mrs. Proctor, lOj. 6d. 



II. Pickles, Jan., 10j.6ii. W. R. Bull. 



n. Tate. •■ Clcricns," 2». M. 



Mrs. YoimR, 5j. I'.ev. F. Wntson. 



Miss E. lieliion. Samuel Shaw, lOi. paid. 



Kuv. F. Tajlor, 10». 6d. .John Gould. 



O. A. Young. • A. R. .Tessop. 5«. 



A. K. Wood. Joseph Wood, 10». M. p»id. 



•T. l)ixon. G. Clcmeuts. 



Rov. W. SerjeantRon. J. Clark, lOi. 6d. paid. 



M. W. Stobart, lOi. Oa. paid. A. B. Dyas, lOt. 6d. paid. 



Wm. Massev. Rev. A. G. Brooke. 



F. Pittis, joii., 10). Sd. paid. Mrs. Hay, 10». GA paid. 



r..VILWAY CHAKGES. 



Is sending you the fourth list of those who have replied in 

 the affirmative, I may mention that several have written to 

 jne expressing their approval of the effort, but declining to do 

 anything in the matter, believing it hopeless. I can very weU 

 understand that an individual effort to alter these charges 

 would be hopeless, but I am not yet convinced that it is so 

 under our present circumstances, and I trust that events may 

 prove the contrary. 1 liave had two or three refusals ; but I 

 have been more than astonished by one letter, containing quite 

 a glowing eulogy of one company. This was, I suppose, to 

 prove how badly exhibitors are treated, for our French neigh- 

 bours say that "the exceptions prove the rule." Certainly it 



THE DISQUALIFIED PEN AT \VIGTON 

 POULTRY SHOW. 



No one can be more sorry than myself that the letter from 

 Mr. A. K. Wood, of Burnside, Kendal, inserted in your last 

 week's Journal, should necessitate still further observation 

 respecting the " disqualified " pen of Silver-spangled Ham- 

 burghs at the late Wigton Show. As, however, this gentle- 

 man's letter conveys, by the most direct inference, to the minds 

 of those of your readers who are tinacquainted with the actual 

 antecedents of this particular bird, that the hen's comb was 

 beforetime firmly set on the head and upright, it becomes my 

 imperative duty, in correction, to reply. 



As the owner openly assures us he is " entirely ignorant of 

 how the needle got into, or who put it into the comb, as those 

 who saw it pulled out, and that he is prepared to make an 

 affidavit to that effect " — I beg to assure Mr. Wood (though 

 personally unknown), the latter course is entirely unnecessary, 

 for I am quite ready to give full credit to his personal assurance 

 alone ; wliilst to my mind affidavits in such cases are altogether 

 misplaced. After .stating •' he is perfectly certain she was not 

 trimmed in any way for the [Wigton] Show, " Mr. Wood pro- 

 ceeds thus : " How long the needle had been in the comb to 

 me is, therefore, a problem I am unable to solve. I am sorry 

 to see your reporter's concluding remark, as it seems to hint 

 that it had been put to keep her comb str.iight. I have re- 

 peatedly been to see her since this, to me, unpleasant affair has 

 happeued, and I confess I cannot see that her comb droops on 

 any side, and I scarcely think the Judge would denj- that the 

 pen was the best, even after the needle was withdrawn. Do 

 not mistake me : I do not complain of losing the prize under 

 the circumstances, as, of course, the Judge and Committee 

 would not be aware of my ignorance of the needle's presence." 

 As to the probability of the needle being imbedded in the 

 comb by accident, the fact is such an occurrence amounts to a 

 sheer impossibility, as any one m.\v individually test by en- 

 deavouring to force a needle lengthwise into the comb of any 

 fowl already killed for the table. The comb's substance, being 

 rather cartilage than muscle, offers a very considerable resist- 

 ance to such an impalement, and the excruciating agony pro- 

 duced if the attempt were made on a living fowl could only 

 augment the difficulty. I find that though the extracted 

 needle appeared to unassisted vision las was described in your 

 report) '• broken off abruptly at the eye," by the additional aid 

 of a very powerful microscope in my possession, it evidently 

 proves to have been not broken off at all, but nipped off with a 

 pair of very sharp-cutting pincers. This renders the proba- 

 bility of mischance more remote than ever. As an arbitrator, it 

 certainly in no way devolves en myself, as a duty, to seek out 

 the actual transgressor, but simply to unreservedly expose the 

 deception practised. Still, as Mr. Wood declares himself 

 " unable to solve the problem of how long the needle had been 



