FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



231 



Here was one with a poor Starling, tied to his finger with a 

 bit of string ; another with a small basket or tray of ground- 

 sel ; there a man with an odd rooster under his arm, others 

 with Pigeons, and even down to a poor Sparrow. 



Last, but not least, the fanciers themselves; and, sad to say, 

 did we require to find human beings the lowest in the social 

 scale, I verily believe they are to be found in the scene I have 

 attempted to describe. Dickens's description of " the young 

 noblemen at Dotheboys Hall " occurred to me more than 

 once, and as I write I see again the "pale and haggard faces, 

 lank and bony figures: children with the countenances of 

 old men, some young lives which from the earliest dawn of 

 infancy had been one of horrible endurance of cruelty and 

 neglect. There were faces which should have been handsome 

 darkened with the scowl of sullen dogged suffering." And 

 amid all this a banner with a scriptural text borne by a few 

 supporting a street preacher, and as the various sounds catch 

 the ear I find mixed with the hymn of praise the bitter curse 

 of the drunkard and the foul oath of the blasphemer. It 

 was a scene I shall not soon forget ; and as the carriage rolled 

 along westward, and the contrast became greater, thoughts 

 rose to me especially of the young children, children who, 

 from the force of circumstances, and from no cause of their 

 own, have been nursed in the lap of vice and misery, and are 

 left there by those who are quarreling how they should be 

 taught. — Journal of Horticulture. 



jggj^- A kangaroo is a curious chap ; — when it's wide 

 awake it's leaping. 



flgp"- A. J. Fox, Mascher Street, above Thompson, this 

 city, has just killed the Holstein bull, imported and owned 

 by the Doylestown Agricultural Society. Being too large 

 for further service they decided to kill him. His weight 

 was 2850 pounds. 



JJgST" Said a great Congregational preacher 



To a hen : " You're a beautiful creature !" 

 - The hen just for that 

 Laid two eggs in his hat — 

 And thus did the Hen-re- ward Beecher ! 



— Boston Advertiser. 

 Igsg" Frozen Eggs. — It often happens that eggs will get 

 frozen so as to crack the shells in severe cold weather, and 

 are of course unfit to sell ; but if they are kept frozen until 

 needed for use, and then brought into a warm room and 

 boiling water poured over them, then left till cool, the egg 

 will be uninjured, and will heat as nicely as if it had not 

 been chilled, and is just as good for any use. After being 

 once thawed, it must be used immediately; if allowed to 

 stand a day or two, it will not be fresh or nice. 



gg^- The seventh annual report of the State Fish Com- 

 missioners pronounces the breeding works on the Penobscot 

 among the best in the world. The establishment is now 

 hatching 2,225,000 eggs, and has a capacity of 4,000,000. It 

 is patronized by all the New England and some of the Wes- 

 tern States. The state has made its first experiment in 

 hatching shad the past year ; the number hatched is 100,000. 

 About 15,000 salmon have been caught on Penobscot Kiver 

 and Bay during the year. The Commissioners call for strin- 

 gent fish and game laws, and state that the moose and other 

 large animals are almost extinct. 



JB®° Fifty thousand trout are to be placed in Ossipee lake 

 and Six-mile pond in Ossipee, N. H. 



BSD?" A queer hog story comes from Salem, Oregon. The 

 owner of the ferry at Buena Vista had two hogs which 

 mysteriously disappeared about three months ago, at which 

 time they weighed about three hundred pounds apiece, 

 about that time a new warehouse was built near the ferry at 

 Buena Vista, and filled with wheat, which was shipped a 

 week ago, when the temporary structure was removed, and 

 under the floor were found the missing swine, alive, but not 

 weighing near so much as when last seen. They had evi- 

 dently gone under the warehouse to find wheat which leaked 

 through the floor, and were detained there by the settling 

 of the building. They lived on what wheat leaked through 

 a crack, and occupied a circular place they had worn for 

 themselves, but during all that time they must have been 

 without water. 



{tigfThe Turf, Field, and Farm says: In a small town 

 near the Alleghany mountains, in front of a tavern, there 

 was a pump with a large trough, which was for watering 

 horses. The handle of the pump, when not in use, was 

 forced up, and all that was necessary was to draw it down 

 to make the water flow into the trough. On a particular 

 day, at the time the wagons reached the tavern, there was 

 but little water in the trough, not nearly enough to supply 

 the horses. When one of the horses that was first unhar- 

 nessed got to the pump, he laid his head over the handle, 

 pressed it down, and made the water issue from the spout. 

 As he raised his head, the handle would spring up; but 

 down again he would press it, and force the water into the 

 trough. In this manner that horse kept pumping with his 

 head, until all the horses had finished drinking. Ho then 

 left the handle, went round to the trough, drank as much as 

 he wanted himself, and then deliberately walked into the 

 stable and took his place in one of the stalls. 



J6@" Sporting in Texas. — Sportsmen find an agreeable 

 abiding place in Texas. On the prairies almost every kind 

 of wild animals abound. In the Northwest are the wild 

 horse or mustang, and the fierce buffalo. The deer and the 

 antelope, and the mountain goat are plentiful, not to mention 

 the jaguars, the pumas, wildcat, black bears, ocelots, wolves 

 and foxes, and such smaller game as peccaries, opossums, 

 raccoons, hares, rabbits, and squirrels. A special feature of 

 wild life is the prairie dog or marmot, dwelling in holes 

 burrowed in the ground. Their numbers are so great that 

 the traveller may sometimes journey for days together with- 

 out losing sight of them. The feathered tribe are also abun- 

 dant, including birds of prey, and birds of sport. There is 

 the bald-headed eagle and the Mexican eagle, vultures, owls, 

 hawks, wild turkeys, wild geese, prairie hens, canvas-back 

 and other ducks, teal, brandt, pheasants, quails, grouse, wood- 

 cocks, pigeons, partridges, snipes, plovers, red birds, and 

 turtle doves. By the waters are also found the crane, the 

 swan, the pelican, the water turkey, and the kingfisher. The 

 smaller birds are numerous, and among them many of the 

 most brilliant plumage, as the oriole, the paroquet, the car- 

 dinal, the whippoorwill, and the sweet-toned mocking bird. 

 Blackbirds abound, and the wood-peckers, blue-jays, starl- 

 ings, red-birds, swallows, martens, and wrens. In the rivers 

 and bays there are all the varieties of water-life from alliga- 

 tors to perch, pike, trout, green turtles, and oysters. — Cor- 

 respondence of the Baltimore American. 



