May 6, 1875. 1 



JOTJBNAL OF HORTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEb. 



339 



Each egg which I have reserved for inspection, after making 

 a small hole iu the side, being perfectlyaweet and the yolka per- 

 fect, and not br.iken or mixed up. My opinion goea with " W." 

 that if an egg has been fertilised, and after forty-eight houra* 

 sitting aigna of life are evident upon breaking the egg ; and if 

 through too long exposure by hen or other cause, the life being 

 destroyed, the egg becomes putrid, hence the appellation 

 " addled ;" whereaa if, altboa^h cocka do run with hena, the 

 eggs are not fertilised, after twenty-one days' hard sitting they 

 are almost as aweet, as far as the yolk goes, as when they were 

 laid. I can guarantee that each hen waa sat in a separate place, 

 with the board at front of the nest removed each morning, and 

 never allowed off more than ten minu^e8, and food, water, and 

 aahes ready for immediate use. To this matter of hatching I 

 give my own personal attention for fear of neglect. 



Now, on the other hand, I had a sitting of eggs from Instone, 

 Devonshire, by error first sent to London, afterwards here, and 

 out of thirteen eggs I have twelve chickens. Out of twenty-six 

 eggs sent direct from the United States of America, travelling 

 upwards of four hundred miles iu the cars, then across the 

 Atlantic, passing through the Custom House, and then through 

 two railway offices in England, twenty-four hatched. I had 

 also a sitting of Partridge Cochins from Woburn, Bedfordshire, 

 and five hatched ; and I almost think this sufficient proof that 

 if eggs are fertile and fresh that carriage, if properly packed, 

 haa little to do with failure in hatching. 



Now, " W." and the managers of other poultry papers recom- 

 mend each egg to be wrapped in paper, then separately in a 

 wisp of hay. I contend the less the eggs are handled the better ; 

 and to first roll them in paper, then roll them in hay, afterwards 

 laying them down, then picking-up and packing, all tend to 

 shake the egg, and when packed it seems to me that each egg 

 then has a separate tendency to be shaken, being, as it were, on 

 a spring mattresa byitaelf; whereas if ahort-chopped hay and 

 straw mixed, say three-quarters of an inch long, be used, and the 

 eggs as laid be packed in that no shaking will hurt them if suffi- 

 cient to fill the package is used, as one straw remaining between 

 two eggs will prevent the friction, and this chopped hay and 

 straw the more shaken the greater the tendency to form a solid 

 mass. Bran, sawdust, sand, and other such articles, all go into 

 smaller compass with very little shaking, and if a package is full 

 to excess at starting on a journey, it is more than probable it 

 occupies a sixth or eighth less space on arrival at its destination, 

 and the eggs most likely shell against shell, and in most oases 

 broken. This plan of packing was adopted iu above satisfactory 

 cases, and is now by me in sending eggs; and although I have 

 sent them to all parts of England this spring, I have most 

 favourable reports of the hatchings. 



I for one do not hold with advertisers offering second sittings 

 at half price, as it appears on the face too great a temptation to 

 ill-disposed persona to send bad or tampered eggs the first time 

 to insure a second order. I believe it eventually will come to 

 legitimate breedera warranting the greater portion of eggs 

 fertile, and in future I shall purchase from no one who will not 

 give a guarantee I dare to give myaelf. 



Most poultry fanciers know how much more certain eggs are 

 to hatch in May and after mouths, and half the fault I believe — 

 as I cannot thiuk, bad as my luck in bought eggs this spring 

 has been, that they have been tampered with — lies in the fact 

 that during the cold months of spring the fowls are not fed 

 with warmth-producing and sufficiently stimulating food. I have 

 now alive and well, hatched from my own fowls' eggs, nearly 

 150 chickens and ducklings, and thirty-two hens sitting to hatch 

 within the next ten days, and have found but three tiufertile 

 eggs. I do not speak of the early Docks, ai drakes are very 

 liable to object, perhaps, to the best laying Duck, and my hena 

 have laid throughout the winter an extraordinary quantity of 

 eggs, and out of the large number I keep have this spring been 

 able to keep them from becoming broody until quite recently. — 

 Hasipipn-in-Aeden. 



RUSSIAN TRUMPETERS. 



As Mr. Tire's account of the easineaa with which these birds 

 breed and rear young may cause-some disappointment in those 

 who intend to keep prize birds in Englaud, I will quote the 

 letter of a geutleman in Ireland who keeps these Trumpeters, 

 and has taken prizes even when Mr. Fulton has exhibited. 



I have before stated that a great Trumpeter fancier cannot 

 get two imported prize birds to breed aucceasfoUy. Now for 

 the details of the Irish fancier : " Two-thirds, if not three-fourths, 

 of the young (of imported birds) have not been reared, or have 

 died in their first moult." 01 the doings of a pair of thorough- 

 bred birds this season the gentleman writes, " They have hatched 

 two sets of eggs, but all four birds have died at about five days 

 old, although changed under undeniably good feeders. I do not 

 know why they died, as they hatched out strong without any 

 assistance, and they did not die from any fault of the feeders. 

 The firat year I bad three sets of young; all died in the same 

 unaccountable way, not from cold, as the old birds had not left 



off Bitting on them. The old foreign birds are excellent feeders, 

 as they invariably rear the feedera' young birds if allowed, 

 although their own young die under the feedera." These 

 foreign birds " are evidently very much inbred, and in conse- 

 quence some individuals are barren. 



" I have now two foreign birds of my own breeding, both 

 sterile ; the hen only laid one small egg last season, and haa 

 never laid another. They have both been tried with various 

 half-bred hens and cocks without success, but their brothers 

 and sisters are now breeding freely." Again, " I have not as 

 yet reared a thoroughbred bird this season." Again, "When 

 once reared and over the first moult they seem healthy enough. " 

 It would seem, then, that there ia a special difficulty in inducing 

 theae birds to breed successfully. Probably Scotland does beat 

 for them, being nearer home. 



I would thus sum-up the result of my inquiries ; Foreign 

 Trumpeters breed in England very badly, many hens will not 

 lay, a very large proportion of the young die in the nest, and a 

 large proportion of those which survive the nest die at their 

 firat moult. — Wiltshibe Rector. 



On reading " Wiltshire Rector's " remarks on Russian 

 Trumpeters I felt sure he had been misinformed. This bird is 

 not the only foreign Pigeon that used to be thought useless for 

 breeding purposes in Britain, and I think I can give the reason. 

 I have had more than once Fantaila from India, useless but for 

 show, aplendid birda of the kind, and on inquiry where they 

 were obtained I found they had been bought in the market of 

 Calcutta. 



Now the public market ia like the auction room in thia respect, 

 that what you buy you take with all faults. In countries where 

 fine birds are bred it ia only the worn-out, barren, or otherwiae 

 useless birds that are sent for sale to the public market (occa- 

 sionally a sound and good bird may be bought there), and this 

 I think accounts for the fact that so many birda brought to this 

 country by aailora are found to be non-breedera. Those birds, 

 however, received from regular importers, though the price 

 may be a little higher, aa a rule breed well. Certainly even 

 importers may have a useless bird thrown on their hands, but 

 their purchases may be depended uiJou, as they buy not in the 

 public market but from breeders. 



The Trumpeter has always been a favourite of mine. His 

 characteristics are so prominent; and one of them, hia note, is 

 most pleasing to me. Recording notes on the Trumpeters 

 brings to my recollection a bird I used to have many years ago, 

 but which I have not seen since— viz., the Laugher. The birds 

 I had came from Jerusalem ; they were brought by a sailor, and 

 did not breed, but were grand feeders of Pouters. The Laugher 

 is one of the old 'Toys, about the size of the Russian Trumpeter. 

 The flight feathers were very long, no crest or rose, legs and 

 feet free from feathers ; and ihoae I had, three in number, were 

 mottled not unlike the Almond Tumbler, but with a greyiah- 

 white ground. When cooing to hia mate the male bird would 

 break into what resembled a very hearty laugh, and repeat this 

 laugh three or four times. 



The resemblance to the human laugh waa so striking as to be 

 utterly ludicrous, and caused myaelf and friends who heard 

 them to join in chorus. I shall be glad to learn that Mr. Baily 

 succeeds in securing some of this old and remarkable Toy 

 Pigeon. I should like a pair, breedera if possible. — James Huie. 



CANARIES. 



When writing my notes on these birda in a previous iasue of 

 our Journal I unintentionally omitted to name one variety 

 which I always had a great fancy for, and which I think ia well 

 worth the attention of Canary breeders, quite as much so as the 

 Lizard, being a marked bird of handsome form— that is, the 

 London Fancy Canary. 



There is a fineness about thia variety possessed by none of 

 thoae I named. Young birda when displaying their black 

 tlighta and tail have quite an exotic appearauce, and their 

 colours and form present the results of careful and high breed- 

 iug. Like the Belgian it must have taken many years, perhaps 

 mauy generations, to bring them to the perfection at which 

 they now are. 



I trust the breeders of the liOndoii Fancy will not stoop to 

 artificial colouring in any form, but continue to produce birda 

 intense in colour (as I have seen them) by means of careful 

 selection. — James Huie. 



Poultry Prizes at the Bath and West of England Show. 

 — We have received the prize schedule of the Bath and West 

 of Eugland Society's Show, to be held at Croydon on the lat of 

 June and three following days. As heretofore the list is a 

 liberal O'le, fifty classes being devoted to poultry, with prizes of 

 £'2 and £1 in each class, beaidea fifteen silver cups valued at 

 £ij each, the winners of these cups receiving them in lieu of first 

 prizes. There are sixteen clasaea for Pigeons, the premiums 

 in each instance being £1 and 10s. The entries closed on the 4th. 



