398 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t Mij 18, 1873. 



nary temperature did not affect the development of eggs, lie 

 buried some eggs in a freezing mixture of ice and ordinary salt. 

 Of any three or four treated thus one or other always breaks its 

 Bhell; and the contents both of these and of the unbroken ones 

 were found solidly frozen. After remaining one or two hours 

 in the mixture (the temperature of which quickly went down 

 to — 7° to — 10" for 30 to 40 minutes, rising again to — 4', or — 5° 

 by the end of the second hour), the unbroken eggs were taken 

 out, washed and dried, and placed in the hatching oven, haviug 

 a temperature between 3GS and 40"; and after ten days they 

 were examined. In every case a normal embryo was found to be 

 developed, without the least trace of anomaly. They were in 

 all respects like the normal embryos of eggs that had been placed 

 in the hatching oven without previous exposure to colj. M. Cola- 

 santi remarks that the fact is in harmony with a large number 

 of other natural history facts, which altogether show that the 

 germs of organisms possess a considerably greater power of re- 

 sistance than the completed organisms themselves. — {English 

 Mechanic.) 



"Clarissa" wishes to know why the poultry she kills at 

 home is hard although young, while that which she buys is 

 tender ? 



The easiest answer we can give is, that very often the fowls 

 are not killed till the company has arrived or expected. They 

 are then still rigid from death, and nothing will overcome it. 

 It may be difficult to find in a private house poultry as good as 

 that to be bought in London, but there is no reason why the 

 difference should be so great. As it is necessary chickens should 

 be killed when they arc fit, and before they get hard, there is 

 no reason why there should not always be a couple of good 

 chickens hanging in the larder of a house. They will keep 

 three or four days in the summer, ten days or a fortnight in the 

 winter. This has been often thought impossible, but it needs 

 only a little management and the knowledge of how it is to be 

 done. As a rule the chickens are spoiled not by the weather 

 but by the food in the body, which ferments and causes cor- 

 ruption. The chickens should be cut off from food or water for 

 twelve or fourteen hours before they are killed. They should 

 be picked at once ; a picked fowl keeps better and longer than 

 one in its feathers. It should be hung in a cool place where 

 there is a moderate draught, and kept there till it is quite limp, 

 and it will then be quite tender to eat. 



I am lately a resident in E'lsex. I keep poultry, and among 

 other things I have Geese. How long do they sit? Does the 

 period vary ? Has the east wind anything to do with it ? They 

 say it has here, bat I never heard it in Surrey. — Donmow. 



POULTRY CLUBS. 



In your Journal I see an article referring to the Leghorn 

 Club, and advocating the formation of a national poultry club 

 with many branches, each being a club for the fanciers of each 

 variety of poultry. With the first idea I cordially agree, and 

 shall be glad at any time to join a real national club, for I am 

 certain it would be a very great advantage to the poultry world 

 generally ; but I fail to see what advantage there would be in 

 having branches, and certainly it would entail much needless 

 expense, for each would require its own machinery. I think 

 when there is no national club it is a wise plan for us Leghorn 

 fanciers to unite for a common object, and I am sure our action 

 is by no means a foolish one, and the fanciers of other new 

 breeds would find the benefit of similar action ; but I am sure 

 most of our members would be willing to merge into a national 

 club, if such be formed, when our chief objects are attained — 

 namely, the adoption of a standard and the obtaining of classes 

 at the best shows. I shall be glad to hear why you think it 

 would be better to have variety branches, as it might alter our 

 mode of action if your plan is worthy of adoption. — Edward 

 Bkown, 24, Gloucester Boad, Neivcastle-on-Tyne. 



[We advocate the formation of clubs among the fanciers of 

 the different varieties, because we feel sure that with one national 

 club alone the benefit which they seek for would never arise. 

 For example, were there a national club only and no Leghorn 

 club, we feel quite certain that that breed would never have the 

 justice done to it which its admirers now require. In the mass 

 of other business of a national club, with breeders and exhibitors 

 of more cultivated breeds clammering for attention, the Leg- 

 horn would be less easily able to take its place in the fancy, 

 which we believe it now will do. The branch clubs would be 

 to promote the cultivation of their varieties and to induce 

 societies to do their duty by their supporters. The national 

 club, which would embrace all the members of the branch 

 clubs, would afford opportunity for all fanciers to meet together 

 once or twice a-year and discuss any questions of importance to 

 the fancy, such as wrong awards and wanton neglect on the 

 part of secretaries and committees. Mr. Brown says, " when 

 our chi';f objec's are attained" we shall probably be most of us 

 willing to merge into a national club. We think that he would 

 never attain his objects unless he had his branch club ; and 



why should not Cochins or Dorkings, which wo often find dis- 

 gracefully used in schedules, be the means of gathering their 

 admirers together for their further cultivation ? It would cer- 

 tainly not cause either the national or the Leghorn Club "much 

 needless expense," being simply for the admirers of those 

 breeds, who would keep their cluba alive. — W.] 



HENS AND CHICKENS. 



When your hens want to sit let them sit in the nests they lay 

 in. This can be easily done by putting a piece of wood similar 

 to the one that divides the nests at the end of the 30-inoh piece, 

 and making two holes through the lid, into which you can put 

 two 2 inch nails to keep the board in its place. By this means 

 the sitting hen will have pleuty of light and air, and the other 

 fowls will not be able to annoy her. 



The largest profit with the least trouble is made with eggs. 

 A good hen under ordinary circumstances will lay 180 eggs in a 

 year. The best breeds are the Leghorns, Spangled Hamburghs, 

 and Black Spanish. The Hamburgh lays the largest number, 

 but its eggs are small. The others lay fine large eggs, and two 

 hundred per annum is not an enormous yield for one hen if 

 properly boused and well fed in winter. 



One bushel of Indian corn will feed one fowl of the last-men- 

 tioned breeds well for a year if it has a run where it can get 

 grass and insects. If you do not want to keep any particular 

 breed choose birds with large combs, black legs, white ears, 

 colour perfectly black. Avoid yellow legs, red ears, and crooked 

 breast bones. Take the feet in your hand, and if they feel stiff 

 and hard reject the bird ; they should feel soft and smooth. If 

 the comb is not red examine it closely to see that there is no 

 disease about it. 



If you want chickens give the preference to the Light Brahmas. 

 In choosing get plenty of Dorking blood in them, though when 

 mixed slightly with the Cochin they are more vigorous than 

 pure Dorkings. Always avoid yellow legs and crooked breasts. 

 But the most profitable of all chicks are young Ducks. In ten 

 weeks they are fit for the market, and should be killed at that 

 age. They bring as high a price as a four or five-month chicken. 

 Ton can also take them away from the hen as soon as hatched, 

 and have her laying again five or six weeks sooner than with 

 chickens. The best Duck for this process is the White Ayles- 

 bury; it grows quickly. The Roman Grey and Cayuga Black 

 are good Ducks, but to kill before they shoot the second feather, 

 give the preference to the Aylesbury. 



Game hens in the second year are the best for sitting. The 

 Brahmas often sit well. If yon have any doubt about a hen 

 sitting put dummies under her for two cr three days with the 

 end board up. This will make the hens that laid in the same 

 nest find another. If yon then find her bust feel hot to the 

 hand take out the dummies and put the eggs under her, first 

 marking them so as to detect any stray eggs that may be laid 

 amongst them. Remove the end board every night and morning 

 when you feed, and put it up again when the hen has returned 

 to the nest. Never take her oil ; let her consult her own con- 

 venience in that respect and act accordingly. If you set a 

 number of hens put two or three to sit at the same time. You 

 can then if you have small clutches put two to one hen. Put 

 the other hen under a crate, and she will forget the chicks in 

 two or three days. Or, yon can take a lamp into the pen after 

 dark when your hens have been laying nine or ten days, and ex- 

 amine the eggs ; take out all the bad ones and put all the good 

 ones under two hens. Put fresh eggs under the third. The 

 good eggs are easily distinguished from the bad by being opaque 

 when held between the eye and the lamp, the bad ones being 

 clear. Put the bad eggs in a cool place, and if they have not 

 been set more than nine or ten days you can boil them hard for 

 the chicks when they hatch. By this means you can almost 

 invariably get good clutches. 



If you keep only a small number of fowls the Black Red 

 Games are good birds (if not mixed with Malay). They sit well, 

 lay well, are good hardy fowls. If well managed one hen will 

 hatch one clutch of Ducks early, one of chickens late, and lay 

 over one hundred eggs in the year. 



When you commence buy at once if you can all the fowls yon 

 want, or even more. Do not purchase a few now and again, as 

 every time you add fresh ones the others are disturbed. By 

 having a few extra you can remove some you do not like, and 

 still have the desired number. Keep one cock to every ten or 

 twelve hens. Set one about two or three years old, and have 

 the other chickens. If your neighbours keep fowls close by, 

 let your old cock be good and strong in order that he may be 

 able to prevent depredators from gaining an entrance. If a 

 strange cock should enter he will surely be followed by his 

 hens, and these, by mixing with yours, will as surely stop them 

 from laying. 



In feeding the first consideration is grit. The best grit is 

 smooth water-washed stones about the size of barleycorns. If 

 your fowls are allowed to roam at will tbey can generally in 

 summer get sufficient, but not always ; and if many an un- 



