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FANCIEES' JOURNAL AND POULTEY EXCHANGE. 



In size thoy far exceeded the hen producing them. In 

 color they were excessively darker than the hen which pro- 

 duced them, while their shape conformed more closely to 

 the Pheasant. 



The, hybrid bred between the Pheasant and Spanish hen 

 at adult age was black, and of a dull sooty hue, with yellow 

 eyes, and weighed nearly seven pounds. Around the face, 

 instead of being white, presented the velvety appearance 

 peculiar to the Pheasant. 



In the cross between the Black-breasted Red Game hen, 

 the scapular and breast feathers were penciled with as much 

 regularity as in the male Pheasant. The ground color was 

 exceedingly dark, and these pencilings were not visible. The 

 face of this hybrid was plain and feathered to the eyelid. 

 The eyes were of a deep hazel. Its weight was about six 

 and a half pounds. 



In describing the other three crosses, as much dissimi- 

 larity was observed as in those described. Mr. Hewitt 

 remarks that the markings were as variable as they could 

 be, and the birds as pugnacious as it is possible to imagine, 

 and were always sterile and unsociable. 



Another interesting hybrid is a cross between the Musk 

 drake and the Common duck, which produces a mule of 

 symmetrical form and of various colors. They are only useful 

 for table consumption, and when fattened far excel any other 

 variety. They are also sterile. 



A specimen of a cross between the domestic hen and Par- 

 tridge cock was owned in this city by Mr. Charles. It was 

 a hen, and weighed two and a half pounds. In color it was 

 yellow, finely penciled with black, had a single comb, and 

 was compactly built; and, as Mr. Charles remarked, was 

 heavily meated across the thighs. The flesh was quite dark, 

 like the Partridge. It legs were blue and slightly feathered. 

 She resembled a young game cock about the head. The 

 feathers under the wings were heavily barred like a Par- 

 tridge. The story is thus related in reference to the produc- 

 tion of this hen : Mr. James Sickles, of Long Island, owned 

 an old yellow hen which disappeared in the spring, he sup- 

 posing that she had died. In the fall she returned with a 

 brood of chickens, followed by a Partridge cock, who, when 

 disturbed, flew in an adjacent tree-top. A hired man ob- 

 serving him, and not comprehending the circumstance, shot 

 at him ; but, missing his mark, the Partridge disappeared 

 and never returned. There were several other chicks in 

 this brood, and every one of the cockerels manifested de- 

 cidedly game properties. One of them immediately engaged 

 with a game cock, and gained decided advantage, although 

 destitute of spurs. This cross was very productive when 

 bred with domestic fowls. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



THE AMERICAN STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE. 



At the time of writing I have received two copies, and 

 have paid two dollars for them. 



Here is where the rub comes. If I had paid twenty-five, 

 or even fifty cents a piece for such pamphlets, containing as 

 they do really valuable matter, and a kind that no poultry 

 breeder can do without, I should not have complained ; but, 

 after working for several days at Buffalo in assisting to em- 

 body, in plain language, the points and characteristics that 

 should belong to fowls, to entitle them to a, place in a poul- 

 try exhibition; and after objecting to putting the price at 

 one dollar each: and having been told that we wanted a 



good nice book, one that all America would be proud of, 

 especially the members of the American Poultry Associa- 

 tion, who were to own and publish it; — I say, after all of the 

 above, to have such a miserable little pamphlet sent me as 

 the American Standard of excellence that I have received, 

 and for which the American Poultry Association obliged me 

 to pay a dollar, I confess I was something more than disap- 

 pointed — " a little riled." Now, Mr. Editor, I dont know 

 who makes the profit, but there must be a comfortable one 

 somewhere. 



There are one hundred thousand standards wanted to- 

 day ; fifty thousand at twenty-five cents each, like these one 

 dollar ones, and there is profit enough at that; and fifty 

 thousand bound in leather covers, that might be got up in 

 good shape and sold at one dollar each, and a good profit 

 made on them. 



You will meet some who will call me a croaker and other 

 pet names, for saying these things ; tell them I am a mem- 

 ber of the American Poultry Association, and am ashamed 

 to charge one dollar for a poorly gotten up pamphlet that I 

 can furnish as good — ten thousand copies — for the sum of 

 one thousand dollars, or ten cents a copy ; and I want to 

 know who gets the profit? and also, who has the right to 

 impose upon the members of the American Association in 

 such a manner? 



Now I am aware of the truth of the old adage, that "the 

 weakness of the material is the strength of the trade;" still 

 I would advise the American Poultry Association to do as 

 some street sellers of rolls of salve and other patent things 

 do ; as they cannot sell a standard for less than a dollar, to 

 make every person that buys one of these — their still born 

 edition — a present of a good, substantial, readable standard, 

 with an alphabetical index in it. A Member. 



B@p The Baobab. — The baobab is a plant of monstrous 

 size, the most colossal and most ancient vegetable monument 

 on earth ; has round, woolly leaves, which consist of from 

 three to seven leaflets radiating from a common centre, and 

 giving tbem somewhat the appearance of a hand, and mag- 

 nificent white flower. It is an enormous tree, holding amorig 

 plants the place that the elephant holds among animals — a 

 hoary witness of the last changes which the earth has under- 

 gone, and deluges that have buried beneath their waves the 

 productions of early ages. Several baobabs that have been 

 measured were found to be from seventy to seventy-seven 

 feet in circumference. Prom its branches hang, at times, 

 colossal nets, three feet in length, and resembling large oval 

 baskets open at the bottom, and looking from the distance 

 like so many signal flags. 



It would take fifteen men, with their arms extended, to 

 embrace the trunk of one of these great trees, which, in the 

 countries through which the Senegal flows, are venerated as 

 sacred monuments. Enormous branches are given off from 

 the central stem a few feet from the ground and spread out 

 horizontally, giving the tree a diameter of over one hundred 

 feet. "Each of these branches," says Mr. Danton, "would 

 be a monster tree elsewhere, and taken together, they seem 

 to make up a forest rather than a tree." 



It is only at the age of eight hundred years that the bao- 

 babs attain their full size, and then cease to grow. 



The fruit of this tree is oblong ; the color of the shell 

 passes in ripening from green to yellow and brown. The 

 fruit is called "monkey bread." It contains a spongy sub- 

 stance, paler than chocolate, and filled with abundant juice. 



The bark is ashy gray in color, and almost an inch in 

 thickness. The negroes of the Senegal grind it down to 

 powder, and in this state they use it to season their food, 

 and to maintain a moderately free perspiration, which en- 

 ables them the more easily to withstand the heat. It serves 

 also as an antidote for certain fevers. — The Wonders of Veg- 

 etation. 



