7 



1851.1 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



105 



frHE LONDON MANURE COMPANY beg to 



X offer, as under, CORN MANURE, most valuable for 

 ■Bring dressing— Concentrated Urate, Superphosphate of Lime, 

 Nitrate of Soda, Sulphate of Ammonia, Fishery and Agricul- 

 tural Salts, Gyp»um, Fossil Bones, Sulphuric Acid, and every 

 other Artificial Manure ; also a constant supply of English 

 and Foreign Linseed-cake. Peruvian Guano, guaranteed the 

 genuine importation of Messrs. A. Gibbs and Sons, dU 10*. per 

 toe or W. 5*> i fl quantities of 5 tons and upwards. 

 ^^ Edward Pusses., Secretary. 



40, Bridge-street, Blackfriars, London. 



ANURES. — The following Manures are manu- 



factored at Mr. La web's Factory, Deptford Creek : 



Clorer Manure, per ton £11 



Turnip Manure, do. .. 7 



Superphosphate of Lime 7 



Sulphuric Acid and CoproHtea 5 



Office, 69, King William-street, City, London. 

 N.B. Peruvian Guano, guaranteed to contain 16 per cent, of 

 Ammonia, 91. 10*. per ton ; and for 5 tons or more, 91. 5s. per 

 ton, in dock. Sulphate of Ammonia, & e. 



R. J. C. NESB1T, F7c7s7F.G.S Consulting and 



Analytical Chemist, Laboratories. 38, Kennington-lane, 

 London.— PRIVATE INSTRUCTIONS in Chemical Analysis, 

 ABd the most approved methods of making ARTIFICIAL 

 J1ANURES. Analyses of Soils, Manures, Minerals, <fcc, per- 

 formed as usual, on moderate terms. 



UANO AND OTHER MAN URES.— Peruvian 



Guauo of the finest quality ; Superphosphate of Lime ; 

 Gvpsurn ; Salt ; Nitrate of Soda ; Moffat's Patent Concentrated 

 City Sewage Manure, and all others of known value. — Apply to 

 JIabe FoTHEBGiLL, 204 , Up per Thames-stree t, Lon don. 



11. S. NEWINGTON'S PATENT DIBBLKS, 



I 



D 



HAND-HOE CULTIVATORS, DRILLS, and other Agri- 

 cultural Implements for effecting a more scientific system of 

 cultivation, and insuring more abundant crops. Early orders 

 must be given to ensure early execution. An illustrated Cata- 

 logue, «fcc. , may be obtained on application to Messrs. Dofadb 

 and Co., sole manufacturers, 21, Ked-lion-square, London. 



FARM TO LET— COUNTY MEATH. 



TO BE LET, from the 25th day of March next, the 

 TOWNLAND OF PONDERLOUGH, containing about 

 196 acres Irish plantation measure, on which stands tne Car- 

 man's Stage at •' The Bush," on the great northern road, 

 within 10 miles of Dublin. 



This farm being within two miles of the Dunshaughliu Work- 

 house, is well situated for the supply of milk to that establish, 

 rnent. The land is also suitable to the growth of Flax and 

 Wheat, and is capable of great improvement in the hands of 

 an industrious, intelligent farmer. 



The farm will be let to a tenant willing to employ a propor- 

 tionate capital in its cultivation, on a lease for such time as 

 may be agreed on, with such conditions as will secure a sep- 

 tennial revision of rent on the market average?, and a full 

 compensation for the increased value at the termination of his 

 occupation. The landlord will also assist in draining such 

 portions of the farm as may be necessary by loan from the 

 Commissioners of the Board of Works. 



Application to be made to John Maheb, Esq., Ballinshula, 

 Ecniscorthy ; Francis Mdbpby, Esq., Kilcairn House, Navan : 

 or Wm. O'Uaba, Esq., 13, Upper Alerrion-street. Dublin.— 

 Feb. 15. * 



NOTICE. 



TVf It. M'INTOSH begs to inform his Friends and the 



J.YX Public, that he has ceased, from the 1st February instant. 

 to edit the HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT of the 

 NORTH BRITISH AGRICULTURIST AND JOURNAL OF 

 HORTICULTURE, and has now no further connection with 

 that journal.— Dalkeith Park, February 15. 





€ht agricultural ©a?em. 



SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1851. 



MEETINGS FOB THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 

 Wkdh mdh, Feb. Is- Agricultural Society of En«laud. 



— 30-Ajp-icu'tural Imp. Soc. of Ireland. 



— 26~ Agricultural Society of England. 



— 27— Agricultural Imp. Soc. of Ireiand. 



THUMD4I, 



WaD.iaaDAT, 

 Tauaaoar, 



It is now notorious to the world that the Agri- 

 cultural Gazette has at command an inexhaustible 

 fund of poultry lore, and that we are ready to dis- 

 tribute our accumulated knowledge at all reasonable 

 applications ; but the drafts made by students of 

 this journal on the stores that are known to be con- 

 tained in its treasury, are sometimes of so incongru- 

 ous a purport that we are obliged to give them merely 

 fragmentary replies. Any attempt to weave a whole 

 packet of them into a continuous essay would result 

 in something resembling the " very tragical mirth " 

 of that logical poem, the opening stanza of which is, 



" Barn y Bodkin broke his nose ; 

 Want of money makes as sad ; 

 Without feet you can't have toes ; 

 Crazy folke are sometimes mad/' 



A less isolated motto for discourse turns up to-day 

 in the inquiry, " What breed of Fowls are to be 

 recommended for profit to the farmer ; and how is 

 te to get them established in his yard ? " 



m Both for appearance and for profit's sake, it is ad- 

 visable that the farmer should keep to some one 

 breed. To retain several breeds in their purity 

 requires more personal attention, hired labour, and 

 choice of outbuildings, than he can usually afford. 

 it is best managed by such country gentlemen as 

 nave three or four lodges to their park, at each one 

 or winch a distinct set of fowls may be maintained, 

 ana another or two quartered upon the gardener 

 »a the gamekeeper, if the former official will sub- 

 out to be plagued with them. In this way things 

 will go on satisfactorily, especially if the people 



25 I* S r ° Ught r t0 , take tt Merest in their charges, 

 and perhaps to feel a little rivalry as to whose stud 



2* • aJ C8t mana ged. A large «• *- 



attain the same object by making 



eggs first laid by each hen. This plan requires 

 constant attention and a pitiless hand to clear off 

 the many good-looking mongrels that will be con- 

 stantly displaying their new-fashioned charms in 

 the yard. The farmer had better decide to keep 

 one pure breed only of cocks and hens. 



" Then, Mr, Editor, which do you advise ? " 

 The advice given must be accommodated to what 

 the farmer wants. Are eggs greatly in demand in 

 his neighbourhood, and does he wish to be spared 

 the trouble and expense of rearing many young 

 birds ? Then let him take some of the non-sitting 

 breeds. At the head of these stand the black 

 Spanish fowls, and their subvariety the Andalusians ; 

 next come the Hamburghs, the races that are so 

 idolatrously worshipped in the midland and northern 

 counties, i.e. the Bolton bays, the Bolton greys, the 

 silver moonies, and the copper moss fowls, accord- 

 ing to the numerous local aliases of the four sub- 

 races ; last in profitableness among the non- sitters, 

 though not in beauty nor in excellence of flesh, are 

 the Polish fowls. But the Spanish fowls are large 

 birds, and consume a good deal ; it is true their 

 eggs are of proportionate size and excellence : but, 

 in the market, an egg is an egg ; and we believe 

 that greater numbers will be obtained, at the same 

 cost of food, by adopting one of the Hamburghs as 

 the established colonist of the farm-yard ; and we 

 beg leave to take the Bolton bays, or golden pen- 

 cilled Hamburghs, by the hand, and introduce them 

 to the favourable consideration of the farmer and his 

 amiable consort. Whichever breed of non-sitting 

 fowls is selected, the stock must annually be kept up 

 by sending out eggs to the neighbouring cottages to 

 be hatched, and paying for all reared a certain 

 amount of head-money at an age agreed upon. 



If Madame the Fermiere can see to the rearing of 

 a good many broods, and has three or four rosy- 

 cheeked sons and daughters to assist her in the 

 amusement, besides a boy and a maid to do the 

 heavier work, then let one of the off-incubating 

 breeds be destined to people her barn-door paradise 

 with a philo-progenitive set of inhabitants. She 

 may honour the Dorkings and the Surrey, or the 

 game fowls, or the Cochin Chinas with her prefer- 

 ence. There cannot be a better sort for the farmer 

 than the family of Surrey fowls known as the cuckoo 

 fowls. They are somewhat dull and quaker-like in 

 plumage, and inactive in their movements — so much 

 the better ; the fowl-stealer cannot spy them out so 

 well in the dusk, and they fatten famously, besides 

 being good layers, sitters, and nurses, and in short 

 possessing every gallinaceous virtue. Game fowls are 

 more beautiful, and are equally good parents ; their 

 flesh too is delicious, but it wants the weight of the 

 cuckoos, and is apt not to dress so white for market. 

 The cocks, as they get old and jealous, are very 

 prone to kill the other male occupants of the poultry- 

 yard, such as turkeys, guinea-fowl, and even drakes, 

 if they fancy themselves insulted. They are more 

 suited to the lodge, the dog-kennel, the coach-house 

 court, or the cottage ornee, than they are to the 

 farm-yard, to which, when very good, they are apt to 

 give a sort of sporting or even flash look. It must 

 be confessed that they are often birds of great 



but the quiet cuckoos are much more 



beauty ; 

 business-like. 



ttagi 



But that is not the 



Ian 



usu 



is ™ «™ ;rT'7 s,5ViUUlu 6 w * *uwwmea parents 



** an airy outbuilding, and rejecting a few of the 



The Cochin Chinas are as yet more in the hands 

 of wealthy amateurs and exhibitors at poultry shows, 

 than available for farmers as a main crop of fowls. 

 The prices asked for specimens that have been cried 

 up by the fancy are, what shall we say 1 Exorbi— 

 very high indeed. Still we have seen one farm-yard 

 entirely peopled with them ; the effect was good, the 

 result stated to be satisfactory. A difficulty in ad- 

 vising the farmer about them lies in there being 

 two or three somewhat different races imported from 

 the East, each asserting that they alone have a right 

 to the title of Cochin Chinas, and that the others are 

 false pretenders, mere bastards, who must yield their 

 claims to the legitimate representative of the house 

 of Cochin China. These disputants have several 

 marks in common, and several merits. They are all 

 excellent for the farmer, if he will but keep his own 

 set pure, though they are a sad bone of contention 

 between breeders, and dealers, and customers, and 

 exhibitors, and those unhappy mortals whom all 

 the rest join in badgering — the judges at the poultry 

 shows; a set of people who ought to think them- 

 selves happy if they are spared the compliments 

 lately paid to Haynau in London. But, we repeat, 

 each of these competing breeds have their great and 

 not very dissimilar merits ; all they want to settle 

 down amicably, is a separate title, which, as the poul- 

 try kingdom has no acknowledged sovereign, it is not 

 easy for any dealer or writer to guarantee and ensure, 

 even if he feel justified in conferring it. Each of these 

 varieties have been imported from Shanghae, and 

 each probably from Cochin China and Java. If one 

 sort would be content to be called Cochin China and 





another proves distinct, all would go on smoothly. 

 The breeds would have their claim to favour acknow- 

 ledged, instead of being in turn depreciated by each 

 other's advocates. In Mr. Dixon's second edition, 

 two are described in an extract from an American 

 correspondent : 



" Some say here that the Queen of England's fowls 

 came from Shanghae. I will give you some idea of the 

 bloods I have at present. I have two varieties, if not 

 breeds, imported in 1847, direct from the city of 

 Shanghae ; the one in the American ship Huntress, the 

 other in the ship Tartar. They differ somewhat from 

 each other ; one being almost smooth -legged, the other 

 heavily feathered on the legs. The colours differ ; the 

 smooth-legged being all, the cocks some shade of yellow 

 or red, the hens some shade of bay ; these weigh — the 

 cocks when grown, 9 lbs. ; the hens, 6 or 6£ lbs. [And 

 a most useful and valuable breed they are.] The 

 heavily feathered on the legs differ from the above as 

 to weight ; the full-grown cock will weigh 12 lbs., and 

 the hen 8 lbs. As to colour, the cocks come, about one- 

 half of the number, a reddish Dominique, the other half 

 red with some black intermingled. Eggs of both kinds 

 very much alike ; the colour a reddish yellow, and 

 would weigh from 2| to 3 oz. each. /. /. A'." 



Mr. Baily, of Mount-street, Grosvenor-square, 

 who deservedly stands very high in his trade, has 

 favoured us with his description of what the Cochin 

 Chinas ought to be (or what ought to be Cochin 

 Chinas) ; and he feels sure that he is correct, as he 

 has taken every opportunity and gone to some 

 expense to see the best imported fowls, and from 

 those he has formed his judgment. 



* The principal features of a pure Cochin China fowl, 

 are a small fine head ; red, thin, and skinny face ; 

 diminutive, erect, single comb, rising from immediately 

 above the nostril ; large body, and very deep from the 

 back downwards ; the outer part of the wing concealed 

 by the covering of the breast feathers ; the flight of the 

 wing turned in under the middle feathers, and the 

 extremities of them all tucked under the saddle feathers. 

 Scarcely any tail ; a few projecting feathers in the hen, 

 and a little tuft turning over like the ostrich in the 

 cock but nothing erect, or sickle fashion, like other cocks ; 

 great rotundity behind, composed of fluffy feathers ; the 

 thighs are also covered with the same, giving them the 

 appearance of great size ; the legs are yellow and 

 feathered ; more distinctness of anatomical division 

 through the feathers, than in any other fowl." 



The farmer and his lady having held a committee, to 

 which, perhaps, the dairy-maid and the bailiff have 

 also been summoned, and having decided what breed 

 of fowl will best fulfil their requirements, must 

 themselves go to market for a cock, and three or 

 four hens of the purest blood, sparing no expense, 

 and applying to a respectable and trustworthy 

 vendor. This is not the place to insert an adver- 

 tisement ; and if it were, we have found the office of 

 recommending buyers and sellers to each other, so 

 thankless, as to be glad to escape it, whenever pos- 

 sible. The same reserve must be maintained here 

 as to prices. The founders of the new population 

 are arrived ; they will be provided with some 

 temporary, but very convenient aviary accommoda- 

 tion ; and then comes the task, which requires a 

 stern purpose to execute efficiently. Of all the cocks 

 aud cockerels on the farm, a merciless Mameluke 

 massacre, or a hopeless transportation for life, 

 must be made instanter. Ditto of all the old hens 

 and immature pullets that cannot be warranted to 

 turn their hand cheerfully to the nursing line. By 

 consuming their eggs, and making them hatch all 

 those produced by the usurpers in the aviary, at the 

 end of the summer the new race will be established, 

 and the nurses themselves must then each be served 

 with a lettre de cachet. And in carrying out this 

 exterminating process is often found the stumbling- 

 block, which renders all previous care nugatory, and 

 purity of blood impossible. Miss Mary's dear little 

 hen, or Master Tommy's bantam, or those two or 

 three pretty fowls that the great lady let us have 

 the eggs for, or cook's chicken, that was left her as 

 a legacy by her grandmother, are pleaded for with 

 the earnestness of despair. It is so cruel to make 

 away with them darling birds ! What harm can two 

 or three do ? Only four or five, perhaps, at most ! 

 Miss Mary cries, Master Tommy sulks, Mamma 

 looks injured and heart-broken, cook gives warning ; 

 the farmer cannot stand all this at once ; he relents, 

 the bantams knock the cuckoo cocks heels over head, 

 cook's chicken brings out some beautiful cross-breds, 

 and the yard of fowls is spoiled ! 





A WORD IN SEASON ; OR, HOW THE CORN 



GROWER MAY YET GROW RICH, 

 Is the title of a little pamphlet, which I would earnestly 

 recommend to the attention of farmers and land- 

 owners. It gives an account of a system of agriculture, 

 attended, as I can bear witness, with extraordinary 

 success ; I have had the pleasure of seeing it in practice, 

 and I consider, whether I view it in the light of a tenant 

 farmer, anxious to gain the largest returns at least cost, 



or of a landowner, desirous to encourage a practice 

 which shall permanently improve the soil, I have never 

 the other Shanghae fowls, and another Java, if \ inspected any cultivation more deserving of attention. 



