THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 













173 



^-SS.getioa lilhftt of seeing another person profit- 

 ^Ifenioying hinmU in one's own neighbourhood, 



•* 



^loroau attentions which make society agree- 

 This is one reas >n why I should say that of all 

 isA rf property, land is the most enjoyable, because 

 TZTwx in a position of being upon good terms with 

 around vou— it affords you the opportunity of 

 much good— and also imparts to you the pleasure 

 iv i n . T a great deal of kindness and attention in 

 (Hear, hear.) I quite agree that "property 

 lt s duties as well as its rights;*' but whilst I 

 tout to do my duty, of course I expect that no 

 ^ seek to infringe upon my rights. (Applause.) 

 SLim-* the neatest success to this institution, 1 beg to 



re*m 

 has 



each succeeding book being 



$tebieto& 



foatstk Fowl and Ornamental Poultry; their Natural 



ffiitory. Origin, and Treatment in Health and Disease. 

 By H. D. Richardson. A new edition. Much enlarged. 

 London: Wra. S. Orr and Co. (No date.) Pp. 160. 

 Wb were glad to hear of a fresh publication of Richard- 

 •oa's " Domestic Fowl." He really seems to have been 

 amiable man, whose unfortunate destiny it was to 

 take to authorship. His widow and children were left 

 but scantily provided for by the profits of his various 

 hastily- written little treatises. The pamphlet under 

 present consideration at one time appeared to be threat- 

 ened with u assimilation," after the boa-constrictor 

 fashion, bv Mr. Nolan, as a matter of right ; Richardson 

 was dead, and Nolan appeared likely to be his Buddha, — 

 absorbing him, body and soul ; for he summed up his 

 ovn and his predecessor's comparative merits in the 

 following modest terms : — " In conclusion I beg to say, 

 it is now nearly half a century since the appearance of 

 die first edition of Mowbray, on Domestic Fowl, and 

 although since that time several new varieties have 

 been introduced, they J 

 period, totally unnoticed 



!y a servile copy of its predecessor, and some 

 professing originality with less than moderate acquaint- 

 ance with the subject — until Richardson (an easy writer, 

 v [induced to commence the subject, and furnished 

 with materials, and my birds to have drawings and 

 engravings made,) no one treated of the new varieties, 

 anil even the old ones were imperfectly described ; but 

 Mr. Richardson, not being a practical man, in the way 

 of fowl, has fallen into many errors, when attempting to 

 describe, without the assistance of others ; to remedy 

 which I have been induced to lay, in the foregoing pages, 

 my practical experience before an enlightened and 

 discerning public,and hope for their indulgence." (P.191.) 

 We therefore expected to see no more editions of 

 "Domestic Fowl;" but a new editor has taken it in 

 ban 1, and rescued it from oblivion, bringing to his task 

 no i literary skill, as our readers will perceive from 

 its opening paragraph :— 



^ '-Poultry- keeping is an amusement in which all 

 classes can and do indulge. The space needed is not 

 great ; the cost of food for a few head insignificant, and 

 the luxury of fresh eggs or home-fatted chickens and 

 clucks not to be despised. In a large collection of poultry 

 may be read the geography and progress of the world. 

 Ihe peacock represents India; the golden pheasant, and 

 • tribe of ducks, China; the turkey, pride of our yard 

 and our table, is one of our many debts [which we do 

 not repudiate], to America ; the black swan, rival of the 

 »owy monarch of our lakes, reminds us of our Aus- 

 tralian discoveries ; while Canada and Egypt have each 

 weir goose. The large fat white ducks-models of 

 *tot a duck should be— are triumphs of British breed- 

 L affording a specimen of one of the best productions 

 oi Buckinghamshire since John Hampden; while the 

 stoning green-black ones at once fly away with us to 

 waos Ayres and Dictator Rosas. And when we turn 

 to the fowl varieties, Spain and Hamburgh, Poland and 

 ^Cflm China, Friesland and Bantam, Java and Negro- 

 ni beside our native Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Suffolk, 

 ua Lancashire, have each a cock to crow for them." 



lue most important feature in this reprint, in the 

 eyes of practical amateurs and dealers at least, will be 

 «e reformation of the nomenclature, and the rectifying 

 fo 1 v er confusion respecting Hamburgh and Polish 



ft * ; i W ' tlle fowls with to P- knots a re united under 

 we title of Polish, and that of Hamburgh only applied 

 » Aoae with rose combs. " " 



live • — ~ w ~ WM * M "' ^ ne alteration was impera- 

 intpir* 3 Jt ^ *° r some ^ me k een adopted by every 



work ^ S? 10 ^' * Iu tUe P revious editions of this 

 a m-V ,' Rlchai% dson was led into error, and described 



the ill r s P an S led varieties of the Polish fowl under 

 m whom S P an ^d Hamburghs." (P.5 1 .) An authority 

 in r*nl v ! Ur readers may place implicit confidence says, 



knUv m a ° Ur * ue8tion ?— " Mr - Richardson has evi- 

 fais *™ ad . e a n ^stake in the spangled Hamburgh fowl 



BambS n f r ?l )resents the Polish ; but the spangled 

 Dutch pvI f , descri bed under the head of the 

 *e varinnl 7 y l ayers ' &c « We have therefore brought 

 ft e fiJJS m * Under the P resent head > transferrin 

 Ffeee°imH n . ame ^ s P ail S led Hamburgh to their proper 

 &^ ^ ^ < P - 55 > Small thanks, 

 fte PolUh ,,„? ! u n J° the g en tleman who first caused 

 re ^ar rank an 5 I? bur Sj r a ™^ to be marshalled in 

 «* «*Sl L^ A ? Uch <*»fi*i°n seems to exist 

 < The pL x e r WK^ Pieties of the domestic 

 *e mh ,l t eV ;, Mr \ Dlxon has attempted to glear up 



more re- 



vr 





P*»ant, to exhibit more of the an'gry spirft 



of rivalry, when criticising the present work, than befits 

 the simplicity and earnestness of the inquirer after 

 truth." (P. 54.) We venture to say that there was no 

 anger in the matter, and, in Irish idiom, less rivalry, 

 though there was -an earnest inquiry after truth, which 

 has not been unsuccessful. The angry passage which ' 

 called forth the rebuke is this : — * Richardson gives the 

 name of Hamburghs to the gold and silver Polands a 

 top- knotted variety. Dickson, in his brief, careless 

 and very loose description, is right in asserting the 

 breeds, both of golden and silver Hamburghs, to be 

 combed." We should call this a case of " drawing it 

 mild." 



The editor of this new edition has carefully studied 

 and freely used the second edition of u Ornamental 

 Poultry," with and without acknowledgment. Of this 

 hardly any author will complain, if it be done in a way 

 not likely to affect his pecuniary interest in his works. 

 To be quoted and copied is a compliment, the sincerity 

 of which cannot be doubted ; but he may complain, or 

 his friends may for him, if he is made responsible for 

 instructions which he never issued. Thus, at p. 81, we 

 find — " Every district seems to have its own peculiar 

 mode of fattening turkeys. Mr. Dixon recommends a 

 mode of diet that I have never seen tried, and wonder 

 much if it be as efficacious as he seems to imagine. * No 

 food makes their flesh whiter and more delicate than 

 kitchen stuff, or the dreys of melted tallow (/), more or 

 less of which must be boiled according to the number 

 that is to be fed ; and being diluted in a boiling kettle, 

 plants (and especially nettles chopped up), and pot- 

 herbs are mixed with it,' " &c, &c. Now, we have 

 searched in vain in the " Ornamental Poultry " for this 

 extraordinary recommendation, but on turning to 

 Walter B. Dickson's " Poultry," at p. 236, we find the 

 passage word for word. Had poor Richardson been 

 alive, he would have blushed at the discovery of such 

 misquotation, and apologised for it to the author. This 

 is not the only place in which Dickson is confounded 

 with Dixon, to the disadvantage of the latter writer, 

 who ought not thus to he made responsible for the 

 faults of others, besides those which he may himself 

 have committed. 



Setting aside these little blemishes, the work is credit- 

 able to Messrs. Orr and Co. It is now the best of the 

 cheap poultry books, and the wonder is how it can be 



There are several additional cuts, 

 some, as at p. 56, of considerable merit. A few slips of 

 the pen will be rectified another time, as at p. 43, where 

 the period of incubation of the turkey is made 31 days ; 

 at p. 98, where " the bernacle goose is still smaller than 

 the brent goose;" and at p. 102, where "there are 

 at present, I understand, only three specimens of this 

 interesting variety (A user albibrons, or white-fronted 

 goose), iu a state of domestication in the British islands." 

 We think, too, that the publisher of the " Ornamental 

 poultry " has a right to find fault with the adoption of 

 the name of his book, even as a second title. He may 

 be inclined to think 



sold for a shilling. 



«( 



Who steals my purse, steals trash ; 'tis something, nothing ; 

 But he that filches from me my good name" 



violates, if not literarv 



etiquette, certainly literary 

 equity by the assumption ; and does as he, perhaps, 

 would not be done by. 



Miscellaneous. 



Insufficient Capital. — The best illustration we have 



seen of the losses arising from insufficient capital, was 

 taken from the experience of the sailor who related it. 

 He had had charge of many vessels on different occasions: 

 when under able and liberal ownership they were well 

 manned and well furnished in every respect; but this 

 was not always the case. The greater economy of such 

 a course was, however, always evident: varying c'rvum- 

 stances of weather could then be taken advantage of or 

 guarded against immediately; and no loss, either of time 

 or of property, occurred by those precautions (or the 

 failure of them) which are necessary where a short 

 number of hands are on board; for in that case, they 

 must commence every operation long before it is needed, 

 and, perhaps, fail to complete ii'in time after all. Just 

 so with the farmer. If he has all the necessities laid 

 upon him which large extent of land imposes, and only 

 the means which a small extent requires, he will be con- 

 tinually behind-hand with his operations, unable to take 

 advantage of favourable circumstances/) and unable to 

 guard against those which are adverse: the one will be 

 past before he is prepared to benefit by them, and the 

 other will be on him before he'is prepared to meet them. 

 J". C. M , in Morton's Cyclopedia of Agriculture. 



Drainage and the Turnip Crop.— The Turnip^has with 

 truth been called u the root of good husbandry." It 

 may be likened to a miner; for it explores the soil, and 

 brings up from it much valuable material, in a Btate" fit 

 to be converted into beef and mutton, while the refuse 

 of that conversion forms food for new tribes of plants. 

 Like a miner, however, it cannot work unless the mine 

 be kept * water free." It cannot be called " the root of 

 good husbandry," when it barely replaces the manure 

 which may have been supplied to it. It is only when it 

 yields fair crops that it is so; and in order to obtain 

 these, the first requisite is to have the land freed from 

 stagnant water. Morton's Cyclopedia of A g ricuUure. 



Short-horn Cattle.— The North Ridinsr is bounded on 



situated along the valleys of the rivers, contain the 

 greatest extent of valuable land. To the eastward lie 

 the Yorkshire moors, comprehending an extent of 

 400,000 acres, and rising from 1000 to 1500 feet above 

 the sea level. On the west the country rises to tho 

 highlands on the borders of Westmoreland, with rich 

 valleys of pasture land skirting the streams which drain 

 that limestone country and flow through the picturesque 

 dales of the North Riding. Much of the best land in 

 the lower portion of the district is kept in permanent 

 pasture, and in the neighbourhood of Northallerton 

 Catterick, and along the southern bank of the Tees 

 are found the most celebrated herds of short-horn 

 cattle which now exist in England. The opposite bank 

 of the Tees, which gave the name to the breed of 

 Durham cattle, has lost its principal men, the Colling^ 

 and the best herds may now be said to be confined*to 

 the south side of Teesdale. There are still to be found 

 men who have been bred from their childhood to study 

 the peculiarities of form and symmetry which, combined 

 with early maturity and great weight, have given the 

 improved short-horn its great celebrity. Seldom 

 leaving home, often the first to see their stock in the 

 morning, and the last to visit them at night, making 

 the health of each individual of the herd a study, and 

 with constant attention enabled by particular manage- 

 ment to encourage the development of such points as 

 they think requisite, while everything else on the farm 

 is made subordinate to the stock— these men have 

 acquired a fame which is the result of such earnest 

 application, and cannot long be maintained without it 

 They succeed ; and to all parts of the United Kingdom 

 is diffused from the hands of not half a dozen men in 

 the North Riding the blood which has improved, and 

 continues to improve, the native breeds of every dis- 

 trict into which it is introduced. Two, three, or four 

 hundred pounds for a bull is no uncommon price, and a 

 cow of rare form and breeding has been bought by a 

 farmer for 300 guineas. Ireland and Lincolnshire 

 borrow for a season the best animals which leave the 

 district, and the Messrs. Booth have at this moment 

 bulls which bring them in 1001. a year each, and are let 

 to the same parties at that rate for a succession of years. 

 But these prizes are only to the most successful for 

 many, tempted by these and similar rates, try the 

 system without counting the cost of patient study, 

 constant application, and liberal outlay, by which suck 

 success has been achieved. It is not merely the first 

 outlay, however lavish, that will place the beginner in 

 the rank of a first-class breeder of short-honis. He 

 must be prepared to sacrifice every other consideration 

 on his farm to their welfare, and after he has collected 

 his herd, and fed and watched them with the utmost 

 care, he must stand the risk and uncertainty attending 

 their management. If too fat, they cease to breed, or 

 they produce dead calves ; if too lean, they lose caste, 

 and their produce sells at second-rate prices. One of 

 the most experienced men in the district— himself an 

 eminent breeder and first-rate judge — informed us that 

 one season 34 of his high-priced and high-bred cows 

 missed having calves, and so great are the risks attend- 

 ing this business that it is every year narrowing itself 

 into fewer hands. — Report on the Agriculture of York- 

 shire, by the Times Commissioner. 



METEOROLOGICAL REPORT.— Fbb.-Maech. 



(Continued from page 140.) 



Date 



4 



Feb. 27 



I I 4 



Tirae._ 1 Max. I Miu. 



Wind.— Weather 



7.15 a.m. 



30.26 



* • 



5,15 p.m. 

 281 7 30 a.m 

 2 p.m. 



30.24 



10.5 p.m. 30.: 



30.23 1 5 

 30*23 



NX W. Fiue, but cold ; light 

 winds. 



5 p.m , dense elonrfs in west. 

 N. and NXE. Bitterly cold- ; 



overcast, with moderate 



breezes. 



Evening, calm. 



March 1 



t 



7.30 a.m 

 5.20 p.m. 



30.20 



• • • 



30.13 



NNW. 



fine, 

 p.m. 



Gentle breezes, and 

 with heavy clouds 



Sun. 2 



-f 



. . . 



7.50 a.m. 

 10.50 p.m.] 30.S0 



30,23 



• • • 



NNW. Brisk breeze : 



a m. ; 



calm. 



cloudy p.m., 



fine 

 and 



* The continued back current of the storm of precedin * davs 

 my opim-.n of which, as expressed in last week's report * is 

 confirmed by more matured reflection. 



f I anticipate a heavy gale, a Ion? way to the westward 

 trom this storm, passing from Newfoundland towards Iceland - 

 the rise of the barometer, which was Fuspended under its teml 

 porary influences, was resumed } on the following day. 



Dorchester, March 5th. F.F.B M 



(To be continued.) 



tr 



the south by the East and West Ridings, on the north 

 by the river Tees, which separates it from Durham, 

 and is traversed by the York and Newcastle Railway 

 from York to the borders of the county near Darling- 

 ton. The central and northern portions of the riding, 



Calendar of Operations, 



MARCH. 

 Lammermuir Sheep Farm, March 1.— February, like every 

 o^her month < f the past winter, has been " uncommonly fine " 

 tnou.h the latter half of it, in this district at least, has had the 

 additional recommendation of being "unusuilly dry ' Th s 

 is of immense importance to hill flocks. A winter may be h «lf 

 over with little frost and no snow storm ; but if, instead of 

 the*e, there has been much rain, sheep may be in rather poor 

 c ndition-a continual course of raw weather subjectine them 

 1 1 the great discomfort of wet skins, with the additional agffra- 

 v&tjoQ of cold damp beds and sodden food. Suoh a state of 

 matt** has, to a considerable extent, characterised the last 

 season, and its enacts are now visible, especially on the twe* 

 which, though far from bein* poverty-stricken ivT^TcZ^ 

 re*h as we would have expected, and certainly, comparatively 

 leaner than the hogs, who.e jackets have been of great service 

 to them Oar crop, of Turnips bein* good, we propose brin^l 

 mg m the shearling Cheviot, and a tew of the thinnest ewfe 

 on the 3 J, and the remainder of the old ewes about the midd'e 



f ™%T^5 f VW' P ° S ; ib,e ' " X week.- Turn?;,™ uS 

 former and ft** to the latter, before the lambing begins. T*e 



work on the arable part of the farm has consisted in pWbin* 



tor Oats after Potatoes and Turnips, and in carting oit manure 





