January 20. 1870. 1 JODBNAL OF HOBTIOOIiTURE AND COIIAGE GABDENEB. 



61 



Into England ; and from gentlemen who h&vc seen them there 

 and who knew what thty were saying, we learn that they very 

 much differ from the cross-bred and siuglo-combed Silky as 

 found in Great Britain. 



Writing, however, on the question of crosaea with tMa breed, 

 ■we can thoroughly recommend for sitting purposes a oioss be- 

 tween a Silky cock or cockerel and (lime hens. No doubt a 

 Silky cross with other breeda.would makeainefiil race of sitters, 

 but of the result of the Game cross we can speak with certainty. 

 The chickens from them would be active well-made pullets 

 as large as a Game hen with thick warm plumage. They would 

 cover nine or eleven eggs of the larger breeds, and would be 

 remarkable for their close attention to their eggs and caro of 

 their chickens. In these days when broody hens are scarce, it 

 is worth while knowing what will make a good crosa for incubat- 

 ing parpoaes, as Dorkinga, Cochins, or Brahmas, pure bred or 

 crossed, are generally too heavy and lumpy to perform this duty 

 well. We recommend this cross to those who want something 

 larger than a Silky generally is ; but those who are content 

 with a hen that will cover six or seven large ejgs, or only want 

 them to rear Bantams and Pheasants, there is no bird in exist- 

 ence to equal a pure-bred Silky hen for the purpose. We apeak 

 from experience, for during the past five years we have used 

 them extensively, and have recommended them to friends, who 

 one and all report the same satisfactory results. 



Silkies, too, have other great features for making them 

 popular. So many people in the suburbs of the large towna who 

 like a few fresh eggs, and can only spare a modest portion of 

 their little gardens, do not know what breed to keep. They 

 want some variety which is ornamental and yet useful, but 

 especially which w 11 bear confinement well. Silkies are the 

 birds for them : they do well iu a tiny pen, are very hardy, 

 small feeders, and fair layers of moderately-sized eggs, about 

 halfway between a Bantam and a Himburgh. As for hardiness 

 nothing surpasses them. With ordinary feeding and care they 

 do admirably, and though in the last five or six years we have 

 reared cloEe on two hundred of them, we have never had one 

 die from illness. They do not seem to mind wet or cold, and 

 yet ours have had the rudest, roughest sort of protection. The 

 warm silky down seems to protect them and impart much more 

 warmth than ordinary feathering, and hence, of course, their 

 great value for rearing early broods and delicate chickens. 



For table purposes they perhaps are objectionable, but then 

 only because of the colour of their skin and bonea. Once get 

 over this and they make as delicious eating as any other 

 chickens. We have known them scrved-up with a thick white 

 sauce, when the contrast is striking between it and the colour 

 of their skin, and they so malio a peculiar and ornamental dish. 

 In crossing Silkies, however, breeders must be careful not to 

 have any of the blood into their yards for rearing table birds, as 

 in the second ganeration the skin will be an ugly and dusky 

 colour, and it is impossible to make such look well on the table 

 whether boiled or roasted. Care must consequently be taken 

 to keep isolated the birds penned for producing table chickens. 



The eggs of Silkies are sometimes a pale pink, sometimes a 

 pale buff, and often nearly white. The hens often do not lay 

 more than ten or twelve eggs before desiring to sit, but if nob 

 allowed to perform this duty they will generally lay again in a 

 week. Their shells are very brittle, and will break very quickly. 

 We know of no eggs which want so much moisture while the 

 process of incubation is going on, for their shells are liable to 

 become quite dry and brittle, when they will about the nine- 

 teenth or twentieth day entirely crack and peel off, leaving the 

 chicken merely in the skin of the shell, which must, of course, 

 be crushed by the other eggs or the feet of the hen. A damp 

 place or a sprinkling of warm water every throe or four days 

 will, however, entirely do away with this diiiiculty. 



Silkies are too often liable to elephantiasis or scaly legs. 

 This is generally at first brought on by damp, but if not checked 

 at ouce it rapidly spreads and grows into large lumps all up the 

 legs, totally destroying the leg-feathering. In thia staoe it is 

 infectious, and often when once it is rooted among the birds 

 ia very difficult to eradicate. At the first symptoms, which 

 can always be discovered by the back of the lega looking as if 

 dusted with flour or some white powder, then it is beat to steep 

 the legs in warm water, and then apply compound sulphur 

 ointment, which will generally nip the disease in its 'infancy. 

 When steeping the legs, however, care must be taken, as the 

 action of the hot water on the delicate leg feathering will some- 

 times cause the whole or greater part of it to fall out rapidly, 

 leaving the legs nearly bare. 



EEIGATE SHOW OF POULTRY, &e. 



" 'Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good." The Keigate 

 Agricultural Society after having collected their subscriptions, 

 and that, too, from those who subscribed on account of the 

 poultry classes, determined at a late date to strike poultry out 

 ef their prize list. As the sequel proved, this was the best 

 thing they could have done for the fanciers of Surrey, because it 



left them free to act on their own account without fear of tread- 

 ing on the toes of others, and with a substantial grievance to 

 spur them on iu getting up a show for their feathered favourites, 

 iu which no bucolic grumblings might be heard of money 

 diverted from beef, and mutton, and pork, and wasted on a 

 " parcel of useless feathers." 



The Rev. J. P. Wright of St. Luke's Parsonage, and his plucky 

 fellow-workers, deserve the thanks of all the fanciers of the 

 county for having made the most of their opportunity. Though, 

 as might bo expected in a first attempt, there were many things 

 which should, and doubtless will be, altered for the better an- 

 other year. The arrangements before and during the Show 

 were on the whole most satisfactory. The Exhibition was very 

 good in quantity and quality. Every attention waa paid to the 

 wants of the birds; and every facility offered to the visitors, 

 more of whom might have taken advantage of the return tickets 

 iasued by the S.E.R. Co. at single fares ; the attendance on the 

 first day being rather meagre. 



We have before called attention to the want of management 

 at the close of many shows, and the delay in the dispatch of birds 

 from thence. From some shows, though distant many miles 

 from home, our birds always return in good time and together, 

 even when they have to be handed over from one railway com- 

 pany to another in the course of their journey, as is the case 

 unfortunately with most exhibitions to which we send. We 

 wish we could say this of all of them. Swindon was a shocking 

 delinquent. The Show closed on the Friday; our birda reached 

 home more dead than alive from cold and want at 8 30 p.m. on 

 the following Monday evening. On inquiry we discovered that 

 they had been dispatched from Swindon station at 2 20 .i m. on 

 Sunday. A lame excuse was pleaded that the dogs gave so 

 much trouble, &c. We do not intend to exhibit again at these 

 mixed-medley shows, where cats and dogs call off the attention 

 of all concerned. By the way, Mr. Swindon Secretary, we are 

 looking forward with an eager and curious longing to the arrival 

 by post of the illuminated prize card for which you deducted 

 that shilling. We should much prefer the shilling ; but we will 

 not grumble it you will send us a good shilling's worth, and ask 

 the post oflice if they will be so kind as not to stamp it very 

 hard, or the general effect may be spoiled. 



At Reigate we have the same cause of complaint. We do not 

 exactly know whether the fault lies with the Committee or with 

 the portly old gentleman who holds the reins of power at 

 Reigate station. It may be six of one and half a dozen of the 

 other. If the reckoning be by the baker's dozen we should 

 credit the half dozen to the latter, whom we can now picture 

 to ourselves pursuing "the even tenor of his way " unruffled 

 by the cackling, and crowing, and cooing of prisoners impatient 

 to reach their homes and liberty. 



The Show closed on Thursday, January 6th. We not un- 

 reasonably expected that we should find our birds at a station 

 on the same line of railway not twenty miles from Reigate on 

 the evening of Friday the 7lh. We were very much out in our 

 reckoning. Hampers kept dropping in while we waited, one or 

 two at a time (most of them should have gone elsewhere); but 

 ours, oh ! where were they ? One hamper in particular we 

 spotted and pounced on, it was so like ours ; but to our chagrin 

 we found that it was mis-sent, and belonged to a brother fancier 

 iu a distant county. With the consent of the railway officials 

 we regaled the birds with sopped bread, meanwhile devoutly 

 hoping that the lines of our birds had fallen in equally pleasant 

 places. By the last train one of our hampers arrived. Readers, 

 pity the sorrows of a country parsou! We had to face the keen 

 east wind of that Friday night for seven miles on a slippery 

 road, and that one of the most exposed roads in the county, 

 without our most valuable specimens. These we sent for next 

 day ; they reached home on Saturday afternoon at about 3.30 r.sr. 

 That home is less than twenty miles from Reigate. We ask 

 show committees, Do you think that exhibitors will endure this 

 nuisance long? We have made a resolution never to send a 

 second time to shows from which our birds return irregularly. 

 We are disposed to make every allowance possible ; but the un- 

 necessary trouble, annoyance, and expense we have experienced 

 on this score during the past season have almost determined 

 us to give up exhibiting altogether. We ask all true fanciers 

 to join with us iu the same resolution, and to adhere to it. 

 Then, perhaps, when entries fall off, committees will of sheer 

 necessity be compelled to understand that they are bound to 

 make arrangements among themselves and with the railways 

 for the speedy dispatch of birds to their homes at the close of 

 their shows. They are very careful about the arrivals, why not 

 equally so about the departure of the specimens entrusted to 

 their care ? That great suffering must be caused by thc^ present 

 negligence must be apparent enough. Three days' confinement 

 in a hamper without food or water, as in the Swindou case, ia 

 more than the constitution even of a Brahma will stand with 

 impunity; so we find to our cost.— Suebey Parson. 



BoHBNEMouTH Show.— Thero are nine silver cups, and the 

 money prizes good. The show includes poultry, Pigeons, and 



