FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



57 



which day after day grows in interest as it grows in life ? 

 It may be a favorite fruit tree, a melon-patch ; or it may be 

 a dog, a rabbit, a pair of doves, or some pet fowls. What- 

 ever it may be, let the boy or the girl have undisputed pos- 

 session and ownership. Will not the boy cherish it ? Ah ! 

 how I remember the Shanghai fever of years ago and the 

 interest I took in it. I was a boy of nine or ten, and when 

 my brother presented me with a pair of snow-white ones I 

 think I was one of the happiest boys in the world. Day 

 after day I worked with dull hatchet and saw, shaping and 

 fitting up a- sugar-hogshead as their coop, and then as care- 

 fully and patiently built about it a fence. Both the coop 

 and the fence were original, nay, uncouth in design, but 

 then the work was my own, and I looked on it with no little 

 pride. And that first egg ; yes, that first clutch of eggs ; 

 how eagerly I waited till I found a proper nest and a care- 

 ful mother to whose care to intrust them. And then all the 

 weary watching and waiting, till the eggs should chip, and 

 when nine little downy balls of snow rolled from the shells 

 and began to cheep ; I doubt if there was a prouder and 

 happier boy to be found anywhere. Why, the receipt of 

 my annual salary, while it may give me greater permanent 

 satisfaction, never gave me half the pleasure I experienced 

 as I lifted that hen with her nine little chicks from the nest 

 and carried her to a coop prepared for her. And then, 

 again, when I could not get a hatching-hen at home, haven't 

 I carried my eggs for miles to some farmer's wife, who 

 promised to lend me one for the time being ? Nor was my 

 experience as a boy in any way different from that of other 

 boys under similar circumstances. 



Can you find a boy anywhere prouder than the one who 

 drives his span of goats down the street, or makes old Carlo 

 haul him round the yard ? But, beyond this, your boys or 

 girls will still more gladly accept and care for such pets as 

 pigeons or fowls; pets which, while they give them great 

 pleasure, will at the same time yield them a substantial 

 profit when properly cared for. And, by all means, permit 

 them to glean the profits for themselves. It will teach them 

 business, and they will love their homes all the better. 

 Give your little folks pets, and teach them to love and cher- 

 ish their homes above all other places on earth. 



A. N. E. 



Lock Haven, Pa. 



success, and in my opinion there is no better destroyer of 

 the insects so common to pigeons. Last summer my birds 

 were infested with the small red lice, and had they not been 

 taken in hand in good time, lsrge numbers of young birds 

 would have been lost, by the lice getting in their ears. I 

 tried everything for their extermination that I could think 

 of, and, as a last resort, turned to tobacco ; and, after reduc- 

 ing it to a fine dust, spread it on the birds and nests with a 

 generous hand, and in an instant the bugs were running in 

 all directions. I then followed the matter up by having the 

 coop well whitewashed, and have not seen up to this time a 

 single insect, having effectually put a stop to one of the 

 pigeons' greatest enemies. 



Yours truly, B. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 

 How many pigeons may be successfully kept in a loft 

 10 x 14 feet, and well lighted? Should they be confined to 

 one variety ? or would it be safe to keep two or three varie- 

 ties in such a place, providing they were properly mated 

 before putting them in the loft ? What varieties bear con- 

 finement best, as it is unsafe to fly them in this locality ? 



R. J. H. 



Watektowk, N. Y., Jan. 7, 1874. 



New York, January 8, 1874. 

 Mr. Joseph M. Wade. 



Peak Sir: In your valuable journal of the 8th instant, 



I noticed an article by your correspondent, J. G., in which 



the writer speaks of tobacco as being a fine agent as the 



destroyer of the lice on pigeons. Permit me to say, as a 



sufferer from the above infliction, that I have used tobacco, 



well dusted on the birds and in the nests, with the greatest 



Milleksbukg, Pa., December 31, 1873. 

 Jos» M. Wade. 



Dear Sir : The Fanciers' Journal and Poultry Exchange 

 is a decided "hit." Please find inclosed $2.50, for which 

 send it to my address for one year. 



Permit me through the columns of the same to say some- 

 thing about the advice which is sometimes given by persons 

 who have not tried the remedies which they propose. I 

 heard or read that coal oil is just the thing to kill lice on 

 fowls. I tried it with the following results: It surely killed 

 lice, but it also killed a valuable rooster, and crippled two 

 hens, so that I was tempted to kill them, in order to rid 

 them of their suffering. 



Now it does seem to me necessary to warn all interested 

 not to employ such a remedy to destroy lice in cases where 

 animal life must be sacrificed, which they also wish to pre- 

 serve. 



I find tobacco to be far better, and not so injurious to the 

 fowls. H. A. Neitz. 



Note. — We have no doubt that tobacco is a better and 

 safer remedy than coal oil, excepting the latter is used with 

 skill and care. We presume that those who have tried coal 

 oil with success forgot to state how it should be used. It is 

 necessary to mix with it a larger proportion of lard or other 

 oil, and then employ the mixture with discretion. It is one 

 of the best cures that we know of for scurvy legs. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



Editor Poultry Pancier: An account of how Carlie, 

 Eddie, and their papa spent the first hour of daylight in the 

 New Year, may not be i?iappropo to the object of your paper. 



The engrossing pleasures and labors of the last week of 

 the old year, had induced the neglect of our usual daily 

 attention to the poultry-house; but on New Year's morning 

 we determined it should have a thorough cleansing, and be 

 put in readiness to receive New Year's calls, and to make a 

 respectable entre upon 1874. We ought here to give you 

 an idea of our somewhat unique poultry-house. In a future 

 paper we will endeavor to give you some descriptive draw- 

 ings of it, without which only a very imperfect notion of 

 the structure can be given. Suffice it for the present, that 

 the house consists of three parts : the day, or living-room., 

 the chamber, and the hall. 



The first is quite a large apartment, and is promenade, 

 sitting-room, and dining hall combined. Between this apart- 

 ment and the hall, and extending the whole length of the 

 building, excepting a small space for a door, is first on the 

 floor, a row of movable nest-boxes, each with a small open- 

 ing on the side next to the hall, and a large one on the side 



