396 



THR OE1VESEE FARMER 



Decemher 17, lR3i- 



coiWiuvic\novs 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



SMALL ANIMALS— PIGEONS. 

 (Continued from page 324.) 



Ill my last communication, 1 described the Er- 

 uiine Tumbler, the Horseman, the Dragoon, the 

 Pouter, Dutch Cropper, Parisian Pouter, the Jac- 

 obine, and the Ruff, I will HOW eisse Ely des- 

 cription of pigeons, by the following selections. 

 The Trumpeter. 



This pigeon is nearly as large as the Runt., and 

 very like it in shape and make ; its legs and feet 

 are covered with feathers ; the crown of its head 

 is round, and the larger it is, the more it is esteem 

 ed. It is in general pearl eyed, and black mot- 

 tled; but the surest mark to distinguish a good 

 Trumpeter, is the tuft of feathers which sprouts 

 from the root of its beak; the larger this tuft 

 grows, the greater is the value set upon the bird. 

 It derives its name from imitating the sound of a 

 trumpet, which it always does in the spring of 

 the year; those who wish to hear them at other 

 times, feed them very high with hempseed, which 

 always has the desired fleet. 



The Leghorn Runt. 



This is a large pigeon, r lose feathered, short in 

 the back, and broad chested; it carries its tail up, 

 is goose headed, and hollow eyed; the eye is en- 

 circled with a thick skin ; the beak is very short, 

 with a small watde over its nostrils, and the up- 

 per chop projects a little over the under. They 

 are much hardier biros than many imagine, and i 

 breed tolerably well ; but they are bad nurses, and , 

 ought not to be Buffered to bring up their young j 

 Ones; therefore it is proper to shift their eggs toj 

 some other bird. They are frequently of a griz I 

 zled color, ermined around the neck ; those most 



this decreases their value, though they often rear 

 as pure birds as those which are perfect. The 

 Nun should have a pearl eye, with a small beak 

 and head; and the larger the tuft or hood is, the 

 more valuable the bird. 



The Helmet. 



The Helmet is rather larger than the Nun; the 

 head, tail and flight are generally uniform, either 

 red, yellow, blue or black ; all the rest of the body 

 is usually white; it has no hood, but its head is 

 ornamented with a fine soft tuft of feathers, of a 

 different color from those of the body, and slightly 

 resembling a helmet. Helmets are very pretty 

 birds, but are by no means good flyers. Like 

 most of the minor varieties, they are not much 

 esteemed when compared with the Tumblers, 

 Carriers, Pouters, &c. 



The Turbit. 



This pigeon is very little larger than a Jaco- 

 bine ; it has a round head and a tuft of feathers 

 growing from the breast, which opens and spreads 

 both ways like the frill of a shirt; this is called 

 the purle; it has also a gullet which reaches from 

 beak to purle, and it is admired according to the 

 largeness of its purle and shortness of its beak 

 There are yellow, dun, red, blue, black and pied 

 Turbits. The back of their wings and tails 

 should be. of one color, except the yellow and red 

 colored ones, whose tads should be white. They 

 become very fine flyers, if properly trained. — 

 Some of this species of a uniform color, such 

 as black, blue or white, have frequently been mis- 

 taken for die owl. 



The Owl. 



The Owl is rather less than the Jacobine, with 

 a gravel eye and a very short crooked beak, much 

 resembling that of an Owl ; from which circum- 

 stance this bird derives its name. The purle of 



would be absolutely impossible to enumerate the 

 numerous tricks that are played oft' to deceive the 

 ignorant, by the dealers, in England and New- 

 York. Vou should always take with you some 

 friend who is experienced, in making your pur- 

 chases. An English Fancier observes, "■ that iu, 

 London, there is not on«-.-mh pari >o muehjocfe 

 eyship, (to compare small tilings with great,) a- 

 mong horse-dealers, as pig on-sellers." In the 

 City of New-York fancy pigeons are exposed for 

 sale, at the Fulton and Bear Markets, and often- 

 times very fine birds, but generally they art of 

 mi.ted varieties, and called by all sorts of names 

 which the sellers please to give them. It is ex- 

 ceedingly difticult to obtain the genuine varieties, 

 and when they are offered, you are in danger of 

 being cheated in their ages Pigeons after they 

 are 4 or 5 years old, are good for nothing fin 

 breeding. Last season, Vandyke, the mustard 

 manufacturer in Biooklyn, had a fine collection of 

 Pigeons, and most of them apparently genuine. 

 There was also a very extensive collection in 

 Grand Street, in N. York. 



Lastly, I advise young fanciers, to obtain the 

 .finest, birds, and not to begin with what are called 

 "the Toys," such as Barbs, S/ifts, Mavmits, 

 Uphpers, &c. At the outset the breeding of them 

 will require considerable attention, and it is hard 

 ly worth the time to commence breeding inferior 

 birds. 



In my next, I shall conclude this whole subject, 

 by a few remarks upon their feeding, mating, 

 diseases, remedies, lofts, &c. ***• 



esteemed are either red, white or black mottled 

 This species is of greater value than any other'! the ° wl is ™ lher lai 'S er > and expands more like a 

 kind of Runt. Many persons greatly admire rose than that of the Turbit; but in other respects 

 these birds, while others think them too clumsy. || this blrd is so 1Ute a Turblt > Ule beak ^"Pted, as 

 The RuntofFriesland. j, to render any further description need] ss. Par- 



This bird is a native of Friesland, and is some-li ticular care shouid be taken t0 kee P tn Ceding 

 What larger than a common Runt; its feadiers ! , P laces of these birds dark mld P rivate . ' ,s llie least 

 are aU inverted, or turned the wrong way. None I n0ise afi »g» ts 'hem, and they leave their nests. 



The Barb. 

 This pigeon was originally a native of Bar- 

 bary ; it is rather larger than the Jacobine, has a 

 short thick beak, with a small wattle and a naked 



of these birds are reared in the United States to 

 my Knowledge. There are several other kinds 

 of Runts mentioned by fanciers, as the leather 

 fool .1 Runt of Smyrna, a middle sized pigeon 

 with feathers sprouting from the outside of its |j circle of thick spongy, red skin round about its 

 feet having the appearance of small wings. The ' eyes : when the feathers of the pinion incline toa 

 Spanish Runt also, is a short, thick legged, loose- J ! dark color, the insides of its eyes are pearl: but 

 feathered bird, with a long body, with plumage when the pinion feathers are white, the sidrs are 

 uncertain. The Roman Runt is often so large red. The wider the circle of flesh round the eye 

 and unwieldy, that it can scarcely fly. I would spreads, and the redder its color, the greater value 

 have remarked, that there is a large bird, called is set upon the bird. This circle is very narrow 

 by the New York fanciers, the Moguadore, which at fiist, and does not arrive at its full size, till the 



i suppose is a variety of the Runt. 

 The Nun. 

 Thi3 little pigeon attracts great notice from the 

 pleasing contrast in its feathers. Its head is al- 

 most covered with a veil of white feathers, like 

 the top-not foul, which gives it the name of Nun. 

 Its body is chiefly white; its head, tail, and the 

 six flight feathers of its wings should be red, yel- 

 low or black; and they an- railed according to 

 the fact, cither red headed, yellow headed, or black 

 headed Nuns. Whenever the feathers differ 

 from this rule, they are termed faul-headed or foul- 

 flighted, as the case may be. The best of them 

 have,, however, frequently a few foul feathers; 



bird is four years old. Some of this species are 

 ornamented with a pretty tuft of feathers sprout- 

 ing from the back of the crown of its head. 



There are many other varieties of Pigeons, 

 such as the Vploper, the Fntiback, the Lace, the 

 Finikin, the Turner, the Laugher, the Capu- 

 chin, the Spot, the Mawmct, &c. &c. &c, which 

 .are of an inferior character, and are termed by 

 Fanciers, " Toys " — I will omit their description, 

 and conclude by a few hints to those who wish 

 to purchase or breed these beautiful birds. 



In the first place, 1 udvise them when buying 

 for stock, tp beware with whom they deal. It 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



' PRECAU riON IN PLANTING POTA- 

 TOES.' 



Sir — In reference to an article under this head, 

 m your Farmer of Nov. 26, I state an experimenl 

 of my own, made this year, which presents a re- 

 sult widely at variance with the ' experiments,' 

 said to have been made in Holland. 



On the 12th of July last, a square of around in 

 my garden, which had borne a crop of peas, was 

 dug, the pea vines and weeds all being buried m 

 the soil. It was intended for another crop, but on 

 finding the seed bad, concluded to plant it with 

 Potatoes. As we had been sometime diggin» 

 j our early potatoes, the old ones had been neglect- 

 ed, and had white roots, and tops of 1 to 2 or 3 

 feet in length, lying in a very dry cellar, though, 

 ion examination, the bulbs remained pretty hard 

 and sound. On planting, I put in 1 potato to a 

 lull, whole, my usual mode, and covered them 

 with 1 foot of earth, so that the surface was all 

 level, dressed off with a garden rake, left white- 

 ned with quick lime. In one row, I put the pota- 

 toes with the sprouts; in the next, only the pota- 

 toes, having [Milled oft' the sprouts, alternate, and 

 designated them by stakes at one end, for experi 

 ment. I hoed them once, hilled up a little, and 

 on the 15th of Nov. dug them, very carefully. — - 

 The crop was of as good quality as I ever had, 

 averaging nearly a peck to a hill, and alike, 

 each row, except that the white potatoes, the 

 English white, yielded most. The produce was 

 at the rate of 10 bushels toa square of 20 feet: 

 another square, same size, planted May 23, but of 

 the black rusty coat, from Nova Scotia, a very 

 superior bulb, yielded but 8 bushels. In this ex- 

 periment, the tops were much more numerous^ 



