4 IMPORTANCE OF 



societies were commenced, with periodical shows, under the 

 auspices of respectable, competent, and uninterested judges, the 

 thing could be made most valuable, the fanciers would have 

 a knowledge of where good fowl were to be had, and the 

 trash that has latterly been exhibited, would be excluded. Such 

 societies, respectably got up, and fairly carried out, would be 

 of immense utility ; they are in every town of note in England. 

 Our abundant potato crop, of former years, caused an accumu- 

 lation of fowl, and since the blight, it has been discovered that 

 there is no substitute for it, as a feeder of pigs or poultry, the 

 small, or refuse, with the insectivorous and vegetable matter found 

 along the ditches and hedges, with dropped corn and grass seeds, 

 affording an abundant supply ; and where there is a convenience 

 to keep waterfowl, the aquatic plants, and coarse grasses, re- 

 jected by other animals are their favourite food, and consequently 

 they are produced at the least possible expense. 



If the gentry would procure some fine specimens of Cochin 

 China, Malay, Chittagong, Spanish, or Dorking, and give, or 

 exchange their eggs, with their tenants, they would do an infinity 

 of service. My much regretted friend, the late William Reilly, 

 Esq., of Belmont, Mullingar, was one of the first, of the gentry, I 

 had the honour of supplying with fine poultry, and never was the 

 thing turned to better account ; if any of his tenants brought a 

 clutch of common eggs, into his farm-yard, they had, in exchange, 

 for them, some of the finest Dorking, Spanish, or Aylesbury 

 duck's eggs, and those poor people realized as many shillings 

 for their fowl, as they had before sold them for pence he was a 

 true benefactor, and a worthy, upright, and intelligent gentle- 

 man, above paltry pretences ; I fear we shall " not look upon 

 his like again." If our gentry would follow his example, and 

 assist, instead of persecuting the poor, there would be a better 

 understanding, all over the country, and they would be, as he was, 

 respected, beloved, and venerated, and the strength and sinews 

 of the land would not be crossing the Atlantic. 



" HI fares the land, to various ills a prey, 

 Where wealth accumulates and men decay; 

 Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade, 

 A breath can make them, as a breath has made, 

 But a bold peasantry, a country's pride, 

 If once destroyed, can never be supplied." 



The brief narrative of the different sorts of fowl, given in the 

 following pages, will enable the breeder of poultry to select his 

 stock ; it is, therefore, unnecessary to give advice on that subject, 



