334 



JOUBNAIi OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ Mar i> UK- 



POULTRY. BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE- 



RAILWAY CIIAKGKS FOR POl'LTRV. 



TuK following is a cory of the memorial Bcnt by the Poultry 

 Club to the Directors of various railways. We hope it will be 

 sustained by other memorials, for the greater the ntiinber the 

 more likely is the object to be attained : — 



" The breeders and exhibitors of poultry whose names are 

 herennto attached, being members of the Poultry Club resident 

 in diffi'reut parts of the kingdom, beg respectfully to call the 

 attention of your Board to the grievances under which they 

 labour. The high rates chargeable for carriage on poultry 

 going to or coming from agricultural meetings aud poultry 

 shows are felt by them as a serious obstacle to the extension of 

 such exhibitions. In many cases exhibitors living at the ex- 

 treme ends of the kingdom, and even those not very far distant 

 from the shows, are deterred from sending their poultry by the 

 high charges made for carriage. They would respectfully sug- 

 gest either of the following plans for the consideration of the 

 Directors, as meeting their wants and tending to increase 

 traffic, both of poultry and visitors, to shows throughout the 

 kingdom, either — 



"First, To permit such packages to be sent to shows at the 

 nsual full rates, and to be returned, when unsold, free of charge ; 



" Second, To allow them to go and return at half the usual 

 rates when unsold ; 



" Third, To carry all poultry to and from every show at van- 

 parcels rate, hut by express or passenger trains ; 



"Fourth, To adopt a uniform rate of one halfpenny per 

 pound for the first hundred miles, and one farthing per pound 

 for each hundred miles after, for conveyance by express or 

 passenger train. The two latter would be, probably, the most 

 easy to accomplish, as they would not interfere with general 

 arrangements, and would be a great boon to your memorialists. 



" The objections to sending by slow or luggage trains are, 

 that the poultry would be so long on the road, and it is of the 

 ntmost importance that they should be deli%'ered with the 

 greatest dispatch at their destinations. 



" Your memorialists would call special attention to the ano- 

 malous and uncertain nature of the charges made, wide dif- 

 ferences often occurring between the outward and homeward 

 charge on the same package, as well as in the rate of charge 

 from different stations, thus debarring your memorialists from 

 making any calculation as to the probuble end of their expenses 

 when entering their specimens for exhibition. 



" Your memorialists hope that, considering the national im- 

 portance that poultry-breeding is assuming in the present time 

 of scarcity of animal food, the amount of traffic which such 

 exhibitions promote upon your lines, and the jirobable increase 

 both of the pens exhibited and of the exhibitions, you will take 

 their case into your favourable consideration." [Here follow 

 the names of the members.] 



My notice last week relative to this subject promised the 

 concluding list in the course of a few weeks. Since sending 

 the same to "our Editors" circumstances have taken place 

 which induce me to alter my determination. The facts are 

 simply these : It will be in the recollection of the readers of 

 " our Journal," that in my first papers on this subject I urged 

 the propriety of the Poultry Club taking this matter up, and 

 Mr. Tudman brought the matter before the meeting at Roch- 

 dale. Though absent I was his supporter on that occasion, 

 but I also urged a memorial independent of the Club ; but I 

 think all must have understood that I meant our memorial to 

 be in support of that of the Club, not to cut away the ground 

 from it, and certainly in no spirit of opposition — this, indeed, 

 ■would have been utter folly. To this end 1 entered into com- 

 munication with the Secretary of the Club, asking him to sign, 

 and begging him, as I could not be at Kochdale, to procure 

 me some signatures to the independent memorial. To this I 

 received no reply, and on a second appeal I found that the 

 Secretary did not like to have his name appended to two me- 

 morials. I then asked what the Poultry Club intended to pro- 

 pose to the railway companies, that we might ask the same, 

 and strive for the same end. The reply said that the memorial 

 would soon be completed, and that I should hear further shortly. 

 Accordingly, last week I had a few lines to say that the me- 

 morial would be published on Saturday the 21st ! I was not 

 piepaied for this, aud I can hardly gather whether the memo- 



rial has been presented or not ; but I feel that if it bare onrs 

 ought immediately to follow. Accordingly, I propose to fasTe 

 the following lithographed, with the names of those who haTe 

 permitted me to sign their names attached to it, and to forward 

 the same as soon as possible to the head-quarters of thoTorions 

 companies. This is not exactly the plan I wished to adopt, 

 but I am willing to sink any minor differences. I feel that the 

 signatures appended to our memorial are well known in the 

 poultry world, and must carry some weight ; so we must laonch 

 our venture and hope for the best. We will wish the PotUtry 

 Club all success in their effort. 



" Gentlemen, — The breeders and exhibitors of poultry whose 

 names are attached to this memorial beg respeclfully to draw 

 your attention to the hardships they have to complain of. 

 Poulti-y exhibitions are now very general over the country. 

 Their establishment has materially increased the passenger 

 traffic and added to the revenue of railways, whilst the exhi- 

 bitors themselves, in the support of the various exhibitions, 

 have already hea\'y expenses to bear. The varied rates for the 

 carriage of the baskets, the different rates charged for the same 

 hampers on the same journey, the delay that frequently arises 

 in transit, — all tend to disgust exhibitors, and lessen the nmu- 

 ber both of exhibitions and entries. Y'our memorialists are 

 aware that the National Poultry Club have forwarded yon a 

 memorial on this subject ; and as they agree with the tenor of 

 that memorial, they trust that your Board will favourably con- 

 sider the subject and give them some relief. 



" Your memorialists beg respectfully to suggest that a mode- 

 rate rate, the same on all lines throughout the country, would 

 best meet the difficulties of the case ; but either the third or 

 fourth proposition of the Poultry Club would be a great boon, 

 and would be gratefully appreciated by all those who are inter- 

 ested in the welfare and stability of these exhibitions. — We 

 are, &c." 



I intend to enclose with this a note from myself, stating that 

 the documents authorising the appending of these signatures 

 are in my possession. 



There will probably be time for other names to be added 

 if any other exhibitors choose to write me. I have beard in 

 the affirmative from 



Mrs. HajTic, 10«. M. 

 Mr. .1. .J. Fos. 

 Mr. T. Wnlmslpy, 10s. 6d. 

 Mr. E. Sheerman, 5x. pnid. 



— JosEPU HiNTON (Y. E. A. Z.), Hintoii, near Bath. 



Mr. F. Parlctt, 5». piiil. 



Mr. E. Ilntton. 



Mr. J. R. Jossop, 5i. paid. 



IIOUDAN, LA FLECHE, AND CREVE CffiUR 

 FOWLS. 



As I have imported some very choice specimens of La Flfche, 

 Crcve Cicur, and Houdau fowls, I am much interested by your 

 mention of those breeds in your article on " ComparatiTe 

 Healthiness." I find, with you, that the Houdan are certainly 

 the most hardy, and thrive excellently in confinement, and 

 mine are now laying at the rate of six eggs in seven days. 

 The La Fleche have also rapidly acclimatised themselves, and 

 with me the Creve Ca-ur have proved the most delicate. 



You may be interested to know that a sitting of Houdan eggs 

 that I put under a hen some days ago weighed 29} ozs. troy, 

 the four largest being short of 2.i ozs. each, respectively 8, 49, 

 CO, and 83 grains. I fancy few English breeds lav such fine 

 eggs.— A. H. S. W. 



[The weight of the eggs is much less than that of the Spanish, 

 whose eggs average 3J ozs. — Ens.] 



BEWARE OF PICK-BOXES. 



It is not Bernard, the fox, that, as he does on the Continent, 

 tliins a poultry yard in England — he is too well taken care of, 

 and is seldom obliged to eke out his breakfast with a yotmg 

 chicken — neither is it the marten, nor the cat, nor the roup, 

 that is most to be feared. In all these cases prevention is not 

 quite out of the question ; but, when the birds disappear from 

 the hamper or the box whilst left at the mercy of " queer fre- 

 quenters " of railway stations, then it is that safety becomes 

 quite a matter of chance. 



In the first week in April I received a box from the Con- 

 tinent, that ought to have contained five pairs of Pigeons, but 

 there were only four ; and an almost irreparable loss, the only 

 pair of the rarest of crested yellow Tumblers, was conspicuous 

 by its absence. The thief must have had ample time to forcibly 



