FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



247 



If you will cross these with Tumblers, so as to get the 

 coloring of the one and the tumbling of the other thoroughly 

 settled in the one strain, you will have as handsome a flight 

 as ever cleaved the air. A few seasons would be sufficient 

 to accomplish the purpose, and it would be schooling your- 

 self for higher experiments whieh you will wish to try, and 

 for which you will need other knowledge than that found 

 in books. 



The prices for Magpies range from $4 to $15, though I have 

 known $30 paid for a yellow cock.— Dr. W. P. Morgan. 



gttwis gntwwtfag and gumwtafl. 



jjjg^" Engaged for the next set — Hens. 



gg^" Lap-dogs are not worn so much as formerly. 



jJSg-Seth Green is about to introduce the "grayling " as 

 a substitute for trout. At least he caught two of 'em in the 

 Au Sable Eiver, Mich., and says they'll do. 



J^g™ Jenkins told his son, who proposed to buy a cow in 

 partnership, to be sure and buy the hinder half, as it eats 

 nothing and gives all the milk. 



g@- An anxious anti-cruelty-to-animals-inquirer wishes 

 to be informed if such wholesale drowning should be toler- 

 ated, as putting the " City of Peking" into the Delaware? 



$gg~ A golden eagle was recently captured near Chetope, 

 Kansas. The lucky captor was immediately offered ten dol- 

 lars in bank notes for it, which he naturally refused, as he 

 felt entitled to a premium on it. 



8®°" A Spaniel named Curly, is the regular mail carrier 

 between a settlement called Lake of Two Woods, Dakota, 

 and the Minnesota line, twelve miles away. Letters and 

 papers are placed in a sack, and tied about the dog's neck; 

 he is told to go, and never fails to reach his destination. 

 Arriving, the mail is overhauled, the faithful servant is 

 treated to a good dinner, and started on his return trip. 



#§j^° Ex-Marshal Bazaine, now fulfilling his sentence 

 on the island of Sainte Marguerite, only goes out for two 

 hours in the day, walking in the court belonging to his 

 prison, under the surveillance of two keepers. His meals 

 are furnished by the boatman of the island, who is at the 

 same time sutler of the troops. His guard is composed of 

 ninety soldiers of the line and five jailors. 



fjggf "What's hay? " asked a man of an honest granger 

 in Burlington the other morning. The P. of H. told him 

 $13.50, and followed him around the wagon, as he examined 

 the hay very carefully. He expressed himself as perfectly 

 satisfied with the price, and liked the looks of the hay. 

 "Shall I put it into your barn?" asked the granger. 

 " Well, no," the man said, " I have no barn; I only want a 

 good, clean straw to chew." The hay merchant looked as 

 if he would like to make him eat the whole load. 



g@" A spunky hen and an unwise boy caused the total de- 

 struction by fire of a complete set of farm buildings in 

 Greenfield, N. H., on Saturday last. The boy undertook 

 to " break up " a sitting hen, and, after all other plans which 

 his inventive genius could suggest had failed, he deliberately 

 set fire to the nest under her, which was in a barn or shed 

 adjoining. But even this did not conquer or drive her, and 

 the result was that the hen, barn, sheds, and house, which 

 were attached, were entirely consumed. 



J(j@^* A schoolmaster delivered an address to his scholars, 

 of which the following passage is an example : " You boys 

 ought to be kind to your little sisters. I once knew a bad 

 boy who struck his little sister a blow over the eye. Although 

 she did'nt fade and die in early summer time, when the June 

 roses were blowing, with the sweet words of forgiveness on 

 her pallid lips, she rose up and hit him over the head with a 

 rolling pin, so that he couldn't go to school for more than a 

 month, on account of not being able to put his hat on." 



8®= We hear great stories of the mammoth fruits and 

 vegetables of California, but think they will hide their 

 diminished heads at a yam which grew near Tongatabo, 

 Sandwich Islands. This vegetable monster was twelve years 

 in growing, and when ripe weighed a ton. It grew on a 

 spot called Tabud, from a chief of that name who was killed 

 there. The captain of a whale ship obtained permission to 

 take it on board of his ship, but being interdicted from 

 breaking it up on the shore, was forced to leave it. 



Jgg? 5 ' A rather strange affair was discovered in a stable 

 in this place, a few days since. While hunting in its seclu- 

 ded portions, two rat nests were discovered ; one with ten 

 young rats, and the other with eight small rats and two kit- 

 tens, with their eyes yet closed, and appearances indicated 

 that they had been there for some days ; but how they got 

 there was the question — whether stolen and adopted by the 

 head of the rat family, or whether forsaken and carried 

 there by the mother cat ; but to prevent any future trouble 

 they were all destroyed. 



B@* A very simple and yet useful instrument, called an 

 egg-tester, has been gotten up by William J. Pyle, of West 

 Goshen, a successful chicken raiser. It consists of a simple 

 tin tube about six inches long, with one end the size and 

 shape of an egg, tapering off to a smaller size at the other 

 end ; and by placing an egg in the large end, and looking 

 through the tube with a bright light striking on the egg 

 after it had been set upon about a week, you can readily 

 discover whether the egg is a good one, and will hatch or 

 not. The object of it is to examine eggs, being set upon at 

 the end of a week, and to throw out all that are not good, 

 and then remove the good ones to another sitting hen, and 

 put fresh eggs in the place of those removed, thus prevent- 

 ing the disappointment so often experienced at having so 

 few chickens hatched. 



8@?" Breeding High-colored and Dark Crested 

 Canaries. — Select for your breeding stock, high-colored 

 birds, not quite clear, but having some slight marks or ticks 

 about them. An absolutely clear bird is perfection, and to 

 breed from such, is to insure decline. Prom such as I have 

 indicated, you may expect to get high-colored, clear birds. 

 I give this as a general rule, without going into the theory 

 of the matter. Your buff cocks have what are known as 

 gray crests. If you pair them with close-feathered hens 

 having markings about them, you will get plenty of dark 

 crests, and the more exact the marking of the hens, the 

 greater chance there is of getting well marked and crested 

 young ones. By pairing two buff's, you will get feather 

 and compactness of crest, but at a sacrifice of color. All 

 marked canaries are not higher in color than clear birds, 

 but a depth of color is sometimes seen in a marked or ticked 

 bird, which is not attainable in a clear one. — W. A. Blak- 

 ston, in Journal of Horticulture. 



