FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



POULTRY ON A LARGE SCALE. 



It seems to be conceded that the general result in attempt- 

 ing to breed poultry on a large scale has been unfortunate. 

 At the same time it is also apparent that in nearly all these 

 experiments the true conditions of success have not been- 

 observed. The proportion of care and room given to small 

 flocks has not usually been extended to these large ones, and 

 hence epidemics were more easily engendered, and when 

 started, spread with such power and rapidity as to break up 

 the plan, and discourage others from attempting it. The 

 cost of feeding a large flock is an item calculated to frighten 

 timid breeders without abundant capital, particularly during 

 seasons when fowls are not remunerative, and this had aided 

 not a little in prematurely closing up some establishments 

 where more or less of success might have been achieved. 



"What I have seen of these experiments on a large scale, 

 I remember only one instance where the space assigned a 

 large flock seemed at all adequate— that of "Warren Leland, 

 who gave his flock fifteen acres of rough land, and provided 

 them with ample shelter for bad weather, and all the con- 

 veniences for laying and hatching without unnecessary 

 crowding. This was sensible ; and it certainly seems plausi- 

 ble that if others would do likewise as to space and care, 

 this problem of poultry as an occasional specialty in farm- 

 ing might receive a satisfactory solution. The kind of land 

 needed in poultry farming does not matter much ; what is 

 wanted more than anything else is room — a wide range. If 

 rough, rocky and bushy, no matter ; if there are streams 

 through it, so much the better ; if the land is good enough 

 for grain or grass, it becomes simply a question of profit be- 

 tween cultivated crops or a crop of chickens, and that can 

 be tested. Until proof is brought to the contrary, I have 

 faith to believe that if chickens are ever profitable in flocks 

 exceeding a size sufficient to dispose of the table refuse 

 usually given them, and the grain and insects they can pick 

 up in their ordinary range — they will also be profitable in 

 the case of a man who will manage them in the same liberal 

 spirit with which cattle are managed. Due regard must be 

 had to the value of the land assigned them, but in regions 

 where rough land is plenty, as in New England, and much 

 of it literally good for nothing at all except to grow bushes 

 or furnish a range for something which needs space more 

 than cattle do, plenty of poultry farms might be established, 

 and that on a basis which would lift the business out of its 

 present haphazard category. It will of course require' skill 

 and patience, close observation as to habits and breeds, a 

 judicious selection of stock, good judgment in feeding 

 and the rearing of chickens, and above all, a thorough taste 

 — natural or acquired — for such work ; but with these con- 

 ditions, who will say that it will not succeed? — Country Gen- 

 tleman. 



enough, the next year she adopted two cock chickens ; but 

 when they began to crow she was as much alarmed as she 

 had been by the waywardness of the ducklings, and always 

 suppressed, by some manner of discipline, every such at- 

 tempt! 



If we consider the injury we should suffer if the vermin 

 on which the cat preys were allowed to increase without 

 that check, her domestication will appear of no slight im- 

 portance. The estimation in which Whittington's famous 

 cat was held by the foreign king is quite credible. The ser- 

 vice which this sly, prowling character renders, is an inter- 

 esting illustration of the inherent virtue, in the great plan 

 of natune, of elements which appear from some points of 

 view unmitigatedly evil. 



The taming of solitary specimens of different species is 

 not uncommon. Though the taming itself is easy, the lack 

 of hereditary familiarity and subjection gives the creature's 

 manners much eccentricity ; and his moral conduct as a 

 member of civilized society is rather exceptionable. He is 

 continually relapsing into the old paganism, and his in- 

 stincts break out in a very amusing manner. 



The beaver is easily made a household pet ; but he will 

 set himself at work, with many a wise look, in the proper 

 season, at building a dam — perhaps across a corner of the 

 parlor, with toys, books, newspapers, and whatever else he 

 can lay paws upon. The crow is very proficient under 

 training ; but his hereditary propensities do not forsake him, 

 and he becomes an adroit "snapper-up of unconsidered tri- 

 fles." A tame woodehuck, I knew of, was wont to bury 

 himself on the hearth, leaving only the tip of his nose visible 

 out of the ashes. 



"We have been told of an old negro who had built his 

 house in a wild and mountainous place at a distance from 

 other dwellings. -He was a singular, lonely man ; but he 

 enticed numerous wild creatures out of the woods for com- 

 panionship. Hares, gray squirrels, flying squirrels, birds of 

 various kinds, foxes, raccoons, &c, were his household pets. 

 But such of his rude neighbors as occasionally came to his 

 house, began to shrug their shoulders at the appearance of a 

 formidable-looking rattlesnake in the midst of the happy 

 family. — Germantown Telegraph. 



DOMESTICATING ANIMALS. 



Whatever of original instinct remains with domestic 

 animals, is generally shown in full force in the case of their 

 young ; and, so strong is the maternal affection, that instances 

 have occurred of their voluntarily adopting others than their 

 own. I have known a cat to adopt a squirrel among her 

 kittens. A remarkable story is told of a terrier which took 

 charge of a brood of young ducks, having lost her own young. 

 She was greatly alarmed, however, when they went into 

 the water, and when they came to land she took them up, 

 one by one, and carried them to her kennel. Singularly 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



CHILDREN'S LITERATURE. 



Does any one that has the control of children (either pa- 

 rent or guardian) stop for a moment to consider the bad 

 effect that the stupid nonsense contained in the children's 

 literature of the present day has upon the minds of their 

 little ones ? Mother Goose's Melodies, Jack the Giant-Killer, 

 and other trash of the same order are, in my opinion, merely 

 stepping-stones to such works as Jack Sheppard, Dick Tur- 

 pin, &c. Nor do they stop here. "We even find in our Sunday- 

 schools, books that are but a type of the above-mentioned 

 works (although under a different name), wherein the wri- 

 ters toy (by working up their imagination to the highest 

 pitch), to tell how good little Harry, after living a few 

 years in this wicked world, was brought on his death-bed, 

 and after converting a drunken father, was suddenly spirited 

 away to some far-off place, beyond the bounds of time and 

 space ; or how bad Dick lived to be a man, and after killing 

 some friend in a street fight, met himself some horrible fate, 

 ending by being consigned to some subterranean place (the 

 exact locality not mentioned) to be tortured forever. 



