90 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



Hence we feel the necessity of being strictly honest with 

 our fellow-men, and when a breeder and shipper gulls his 

 customers with inferior birds, he should not only be exposed, 

 but held responsible by the high tribunals of the law for 

 swindling ; then the rascality of unprincipled parties will 

 give way for the dealings of men who love truth and honor 

 above lies and littleness. H. C. 



N. J. C. Stock Farm. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



INCUBATION. 



Mr. Editor. 



By your permission, I will pen a few thoughts which 

 occurred during an investigation into some of the mysteries 

 of producing animal life by heat alone, when properly ap- 

 plied to the fertile eggs of oviparous animals. It is won- 

 derful to note from day to day the life-giving changes which 

 take place in the egg, from the increased lines of blood 

 which radiate over the yolk, to the end of incubation, 

 when the young animals by expansion, and the aid of its 

 horn-like mandible, bursts its way out of its life-giving 

 prison, with all the lineaments of its parents. And how ex- 

 actly it can be made to resemble its parents is now being 

 understood by scientific breeders. But my object is not now 

 to discant upon that phase of the subject, so I will propose 

 a conjecture which was in my mind when I wrote the cap- 

 tion of this short article, viz. : suppose, as in gardening, we 

 should construct a hotbed upon the very same principle as 

 for sprouting vegetables, regulating its temperature by the 

 knowledge of the degree of heat required for hatching eggs, 

 which should be about 90° Fahrenheit, then place the eggs in 

 the hotbed, slightly covering them with some feathery sub- 

 stance under the glass, with air enough for ventilation, not 

 forgeting to turn the eggs once in every twenty-four hours. 



I do not claim that this suggestion will prove successful, 

 but I believe it will, and trust that some one better situated 

 than myself will make the experiment, and report his or 

 her success or failure as the case may be. Surely if it 

 should succeed, and I cannot doubt that it will, it would be 

 a means of obtaining March chickens in abundance, from 

 our non-sitting breeds of poultry, which are now so fash- 

 ionable. V. M. P. 



Dufpields, West "Va. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



Mr. Editor. 



In No. 4 of the Fancier's Journal, which you had the 

 kindness to send me, I discovered that the dream of my 

 life's fancy is in process of realization in your City Zoolog- 

 ical Gardens I Yes, verily. In the United States, after the 

 expiration of its first century, by private enterprise, is to have 

 what has been the charm of all the older nations, a collec- 

 tion of God's animate creatures. An enterprise so grand 

 and so glorious (humanly speaking), ought to be the work 

 of the Government ; or at least to be fostered by a great 

 municipality. New York City, in creating its Park, has 

 and is progressing nobly in the proper direction ; but I 

 think it does not contemplate more than a collection of ani- 

 mals for exhibition. If I can collect from your first ex- 

 position of the contemplated enterprise in your city, it will 

 aim to utalize the " beasts of the field, and the fowls of the 

 air," which the Divine Master has distributed over the 

 earth for man, by acclimating and domesticating the various 

 species of natural history, which come forth and depart, 



seemingly purposeless. We are informed by that eminent 

 naturalist, Cuvier, that there yet exists four untamed mem- 

 bers or species of the horse genera. Only two of the six 

 known species having been domesticated, viz. : the horse 

 and the ass. One of the species, the zebra, has been par- 

 tially domesticated. Of the bovine genera a much larger 

 number of species still roam over the vast areas of Asia and 

 Africa, the cow being all of the genera fully appreciated by 

 man, unless we include the buffalo, which some of the 

 dutch colonists of Africa have partially domesticated. Of 

 sheep and goats, one or two species each have been brought 

 under dominion, whilst of deer not one species, and there 

 are over forty, if I mistake not, many of whom would be 

 great accessions if domesticated. Of the untamed beauties 

 of the feather .and plume, but very few have been brought 

 under domestication. Bravo for Philadelphia. V. M. P. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



ROUP TREATMENT. 



Editor Fanciers' Journal. 



Dear Sir : Will you allow me space in your valuable 

 paper for explanation of and experience with this dreaded 

 disease called Roup. This disease makes its appearance in 

 different characteristics, generally in the West. You can 

 discern the appearance of this disease by the relaxed condi- 

 tion of your fowls. A. watery substance first makes an ap- 

 pearance in the eyes of the fowls, and afterwards a hard 

 mucus appears in the roof of the fowls' mouths. To cure 

 this disease I find it very simple and easily accomplished. 

 When you first see symptoms of roup, at once catch your 

 fowls, remove the hard unmerciful-smelling mucus from 

 their mouths, then take a small dish, one that will hold half 

 a pint of water ; into this put half a pint of ra£?i-water and 

 two tablespoonfuls of genuine cider vinegar. With this 

 wash with a linen rag, mouth, and eyes, and nostrils, three 

 times per day, for two or three days. Keep your fowls in- 

 closed in a dry warm place. On the third or fourth day you 

 will find your patient quite well. I find this treatment has 

 saved more poultry for me than twenty other remedies I 

 have used the past two years. Give it a trial. 



Jas. M. Wills. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



EXTRAORDINARY ATTACHMENT. 



There are so many remarkable stories told of the attach- 

 ment of cats, dogs, &c, that I feel inclined to tell one that 

 is just as remarkable, and just as hard to be believed, al- 

 though strictly true. It is of a small, white Bantam chicken, 

 which had been given when a little chick to a little girl who 

 was lame, and whose health compelled her to spend most of 

 her time on a couch. Her family were poor, and the little 

 chicken was her substitute for dolls and toys. It staid with 

 her on the couch, followed her wherever she went, ate from 

 her hands, made its nest and laid its eggs by her side on the 

 couch. The little girl was taken suddenly ill and died. The 

 chicken refused all food after she could not feed it, and in a 

 few days was dead too ; dying of grief, who can doubt. I 

 had these facts from the child's mother, and know her to be 

 truthful. W. W. Lewis. 



Lexington, Va., January 6th, 1874. 



fig?" Sportsmen who have returned from Virginia and 

 North Carolina, state that game was never before in this 

 generation so plentiful. Deer, ducks and wild turkeys abound. 



