5% 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOCLTUEB AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ December 31, 1874. 



have been Naukin Bantams, the common Bantams nf that 

 period, and not unfreqnently called " Yellow Bantams." The old- 

 lashioued speckled Booted Bantams were already old-fashioned 

 and scarce, and belonged to a prior age. Then, too, if a lady or 

 gentleman of taste in poultry, for there was always a taste for 

 and in poultry, limited very much to Game among men, and 

 Bantams among ladies — if, I repeat, such a one had said to a 

 friend, " I have just got some very pretty Bantams sent me," 

 they would in all probability have been Sebrights. White and 

 Black there also were, more, I believe, of the former than of the 

 latter. 



Next let me contrast the Nankin Bantam of that day and 

 this. The cock was an upright bird, standing-up as high as he 

 could reach, not in the attitude of the Black Bantam cock of the 

 present day. He reached-up a good way ; and mark you, Bantams 

 were not so small as a rule then as now. The Nankin Bantam 

 cock of the past was, as to colour, red and black. But to take 

 him in detail. Comb, in the best, very double, but there were 

 single ones as well ; eye fiery ; wattle and face very red ; hackle 

 red and fall ; breast black, ditto legs and thighs ; wing bow red, 

 rest of the wing black and very lustrous ; saddle red ; tail black 

 and shiny with sickles splendidly developed; the flight not 

 tucked-up like the Game Bantams, but pointing downwards ; 

 legs blue or dark and without a single feather. Such was the 

 Nankin Bantam cock of the past. Next, the hens that were 

 found with this bird. They were nankin, or nankeen in colour. 

 This was not the colour of the Cochins of the present day, it 

 was not nearly so rich a colour. Nankeen was a sort of cloth 

 imported from China, made of a yellowish cotton. That was 

 nankeen, and that was its colour. Boys of the era wore and 

 were delighted to wear in summer nankin trousers. A good 

 many now middle-aged men and oldish men, have in their boy- 

 hood danced abo it in nankin breeches. The fashion has long 



since passed away, and as nankin trousers and petti s have 



passed away, so has the material I believe ; but worst of all, the 

 true Nankin Bantam is gone too. However, this is forestalling 

 the subject. The Nankin hens were exactly of that colour, not 

 buff, not cinnamon, but naukin, a light pretty hue, sometimes 

 mottled ; the hackle of the hens streaked with black, and the tail 

 also black at the end, the legs blue, the form neat. Such were 

 the Nankin or Nankeen Bantams — very pretty, very interes!ing, 

 an advance upon the Booted, which were the taste or fancy of 

 the eighteenth century. I can see them distinctly in my mind's 

 eye, for I kept many. I had my favourites, the rose-combed 

 among the cocks, and the clearer-plumaged among the hens, 

 and I aver that they were a distinct and true-breediug, aye, and 

 useful little fowl. 



Such were Nankin Bantams of the past. They laid a rich- 

 coloured egg, not over-small, and they laid well and sat well. 

 They and the Sebrights were the taste of the day, and many a 

 farmers' wife or keeper of large fowls yet liked to have a few 

 " Bantys " in the yard as well for pets, or very likely for the 

 amusement of a child who was pleased to find and bring in the 

 little eggs. 



Now for the Nankin Bantams of the present day. As to the 

 cock he seems to have departed altogether, for the bird now 

 shown as a Nankin Bantam cock is in colour not unlike a Buff 

 Cochin cock, and nothing like the bird of a former day. I 

 beUeve the true bird went to make, or rather help to make, the 

 Game Bantam cock; he and the true Game bred together pro- 

 duced dwarf Game fowl. But gone he is, like an old man, last 

 survivor of a firm ; he is taken into a new firm, and his identity 

 ind his individuality are no more seen or known. Fashionable 

 once, he is fashionable no more. Pity 'tis, but true. 



Next as to the Nankin Bantam hens of the present day, they are 

 sill wrong too, being, as far as I have seen them at shows, buff— 

 Cochin-bufi-coloured, and not the least like the hens of thirty 

 years since. 



At provincial shows I have seen a pair or so of these Bantams. 

 At the Palace Show there was a class given, but the result so 

 bad that the first prize was withheld. I believe the original 

 Nankin hen went, like her mate, to help to manufacture the 

 Game dwarfs. The nearest approach I have seen of late years 

 to a proper Nankin hen was thrown from an inferior strain of 

 Duckwiug Game Bantams, one of their chickens being a very 

 fair Nankin. Possihly in some outlandish part, some untravelled 

 byeway in Cornwall, or in Cumberland, or in East Anglia, they 

 may exist; I hope they do, and I wish they could be shown, 

 thoiiKh I fear the Game Bantams have obliterated them. I 

 would rather the two varieties existed, for there was room for 

 them, and the cock and hen breeding diverse colours truly and 

 regularly marked them out as a special and genuine variety. — 



WlLTSHIBE Be C TOR. 



to win and which are not, we may expect only the very cc«am 

 of our poultry-yards to be there. 



Bkistol Poultry and Pigeon Show. — Mr. Cambridge's efforts 

 fco resuscitate the Bristol Show have been remarkably successful 

 30 far. The entries amount to 1-117 pens of poultry and 632 of 

 Pigeons, making a total of !i049 pens ; and as, at this late seaBon 

 of the year, eshibitorB have found which birds are good enough 



THE EXHIBITION DORKING.— No. 4. 



BY T. C. EDRNKLL. 



Having built a house and bought birds, the next question will 

 be what to feed them on, and it will be as well here to go through 

 all the different foods, giving the merits and demerits of each. 



Babley is commonly thought to be the only food that fowls 

 can possibly require, and many wretched birds are shut up in a 

 small yard withnothingbut ascanty allowance of this grain, and, 

 to their owner's astonishment, do not pay. Fowls may be truly 

 said to be omnivorous ; they will eat and enjoy green food, grain, 

 seeds, insects, worms, and a thousand things we wot not of. 

 They also require access to a heap of lime rubbish, which is to 

 them what salt is to us, besides helping to form the egg shells ; 

 and in addition to this they 7iutst have a supply of small stones 

 to grind it all up with, gravel in the gizzard performing the 

 same office for them that teeth do for us. 



It will be at once seen, that however good barley is, it is 

 insufficient by itself to keep birds in good health, and it almost 

 amounts to cruelty to try to do so. For an occasional food it is 

 well enough, but in my opinion is not equal to Wheat. 



The best wheat is at the present time selling at about .58. 6iZ. 

 a bushel, and at this low price is by far the cheapest and beat 

 food we can use. I do not approve of tail or offal wheat, as I am 

 sure with all grain the refuse, though low-priced, is by far the 

 dearest in the end. It is very well for a farmer to use such ■ 

 stuff, for it costs him nothing, but to buy such rubbish is a great 

 mistake, more especially in barley, the lightest of which is all 

 husk, and has no kernel. Good wheat, then, is my idea of a 

 food, and one of which the fowls are particularly fond. They 

 lay and do well upon it, and I think no one can err in giving 

 their fowls one feed a day of it. 



Peas and Beans are not generally used for fowls, but I can 

 strongly recommend them. White peas are the best, and the 

 beans should be cracked in a kibbling machine. They both 

 form a capital occasional food for laying stock, and will bring 

 the birds into splendid feather. They must not be given in 

 excess, nor to chickens which are intended for the table, as they 

 will make the flesh very hard and tough; but as old cocks and 

 hens are generally pretty much this way already, no harm can 

 be done them. 



Maize, or Indian Com as it is called in England, is a large 

 yellow grain of which fowls are particularly fond. There are 

 two sorts — large and small, the latter the moat expensive. Maize 

 is at the present time rather dear, and I do not recommend it 

 except for an occasional change once a week, and then not to 

 the white-featbered birds, or it will most certainly turn their 

 plumage yellow. Some people may laugh at this idea, but such 

 have only to see what cayenne pepper will do for Canaries to be 

 n.t once convinced. Maize is fattening, but is not a good egg or 

 flesh-former, so is one of the worst foods for growing or laying 

 stock ; but it claims one merit^the sparrows cannot possibly 

 swallow it, nor can it be trodden into the mud, and for thia 

 latter reason I generally have it used in wet arid dirty weather. 



Oats will be relished for a change, but they must be sound 

 and heavy or the fowls will not eat them. White oats are pre- 

 ferred, and they should not weigh less than 39 lbs. to the 

 bushel. 



Rice I never use, and though apparently cheap, it will be 

 found very dear in the end, as there is no " heart " in it. 



Buckwheat, a small dark grain very much like hempseed, is 

 strongly recommended by some, but I could never get my 

 birds to eat it ; I have tried it several times, both for old birds 

 and chickens, but it has always ended in waste. I daresay the 

 fowls would eat it if seen, hut none are so blind as those that 

 won't see, and my birds seem determined not to see it even 

 when laid on a white plate. A very little hempseed is not a 

 bad thing in the early part of the year to start the hens laying, 

 but if given in excess it is too forcing, and will cause them to 

 lay eggs without shells. If given in the moulting season it is 

 said to cause the new feathers to come of a darker colour, but 

 as Jio this I cannot speak from experience, for I don't use above 

 a quart of it in a whole year. 



Grain ground up into meal and slaked with water — soft food 

 as it is called — should be given to exhibition birds at least once 

 a day, as, though a little troublesome to manage, it will be very 

 advantageous to the fowls. In cold weather it should be mixed 

 with warm water into a crumbly mass, and if given warm on a 

 winter's morning will greatly promote laying. I always use a 

 zinc bucket and an iron spoon to mix it, first pouring in a little 

 water, and then the meal ; if properly prepared it should not be 

 sticky. 



Ground Oats is generally considered to be the beet staple food, 

 and my own birds have one feed a day of it all the year round. 

 It must be borne in mind that ground oats are not the same as 

 oatmeal, but the whole grain ground up, husk and all ; it is very 

 difficult to obtain good, and I send nearly fifty miles for it, but. 



