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FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



at the different exhibitions the following winter should, as 

 fast as they become broody, be allowed to sit and to hatch 

 and rear a brood of chickens. If this is not desirable, they 

 should be allowod to sit for six weeks on wooden or porcelain 

 nest-eggs. If this latter plan is adopted, the hen should be 

 taken off the nest once daily during the last three weeks, 

 and fed with corn or buckwheat, to prevent her becoming 

 too much reduced in flesh, as hatching and rearing their 

 young is one of the strongest instincts of this breed. I 

 think each hen should be allowed to hatch and rear one 

 brood as soon after the first of June as she will take to the 

 nest. This will give to her reproductive organs the much 

 needed rest after a protracted season of continuous laying, 

 as chicks that are hatched after June rarely make show birds, 

 and require care through the following winter to bring them 

 to full size. I think it best to let nature have her way. I 

 have always found hens treated in the foregoing manner to 

 get through the moulting season much sooner, and appa- 

 rently much more vigorous and healthy, generally being in 

 full feather and lit to be shown in December. 



Although moulting is not a disease, it is a critical period, 

 in which I think the fowls need extra care given them, 

 especially those that are slow in shedding, and do not com- 

 mence till late in the fall. Under no circumstance should a 

 cock be allowed with the hens when either is moulting. They 

 should be provided with an absolutely dry house or shed, in 

 which they can seek shelter from cold or rain. They should 

 be given plenty of stimulating food ; meat of some kind 

 ought to be fed to them once daily. A little hemp seed fed 

 occasionally is very beneficial. A piece of rusty iron or a 

 few nails should be kept in their drinking fountain ; or, 

 what is better, take a half pound sulphate of iron (copperas), 

 and dissolve it in two quarts of water, add one half ounce 

 sulphuric acid, put the mixture in a jug or bottle, and keep 

 for use. Dose : To every pint of water that the drinking 

 vessel holds put one teaspoonful of the mixture into it. This 

 is the celebrated Douglas mixture for strengthening and in- 

 vigorating fowls during the moulting season. The original 

 recipe says two gallons of water, but I think two quarts is 

 sufficient, the other making it too weak to be of much bene- 

 fit. By pursuing the above method, I think the fancier 

 will experience little difficulty in bringing his fowls safely 

 through the moult in time for the early winter shows. 



W. E. Flower. 



April 25, 1874. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



PLATA DUCKS. 



Mr. Jos. M. Wade. 



Dear Sir: I notice, in No. 15 of Fanciers' Journal, an 

 inquiry from "E. W." regarding the difference between 

 Muscovy and Plata Ducks. As I introduced the latter 

 variety to public notice, I reply to your correspondent. 



About 1864 or '65, Mr. J. T. Crooker, residing near me, 

 brought a trio of this variety home with him from near 

 Glen Cove, L. I. His account of them is as follows : The 

 party from whom he procured them was a custom-house 

 officer, who found several of these ducks on board of a ship 

 that had just arrived from the Rio Plata, in Buenos Ayres, 

 S. A. I purchased a trio of them of Mr. Crooker in the 

 spring of 1866, and raised quite a flock of them. During 

 the fall, Col. M. C.Weld, then associate editor of the Ameri- 

 can Agriculturist, visited me. After giving him a history 

 of the ducks, I asked him what I should call them. My 



flock being nearly all pure silvery white, he suggested " La 

 Plata," and I shortly after advertised in the Agriculturist 

 under the name of " Plata Ducks." 



The original stock were mostly white, with some mark- 

 ings of a light lead color ; by selection I got my flock nearly 

 all pure white. While possessing many of the character- 

 istics of the Muscovy, they were still essentially different. 

 They had the same carunculated excrescences about the head 

 and neck, the same peculiar hissing quack, and a musky 

 smell perceivable in the old birds, but not in the young. 



As to their points of difference, they never roosted on 

 fences, trees, or buildings, which the Muscovys nearly 

 always will ; they were more fond of the water than the 

 latter ; they were most excellent eating, being tender, juicy, 

 and fine flavored, which I cannot say of the Muscovys ; and 

 lastly, they were fully fifty per cent, larger. I have many 

 times dressed young drakes for the table, which, at six 

 months old, weighed sixteen pounds with head and feathers 

 off. The old drake brought here by Mr. Crooker, I bought 

 in 1868. We had some trouble in catching him, and as we 

 put him in the box he threw himself over on his back, gave 

 a few kicks and died; he had probably ruptured a blood-- 

 vessel in his struggles. We weighed him half an hour 

 after, and he turned the scales at a little over twenty-two 

 pounds. This was the largest duck of any variety I ever 

 saw, and weighed fully eight pounds more than the heaviest 

 Muscovy I ever owned or heard of. 



The ducks are quite small compared with the drakes, the 

 average weight being not over six pounds, although appa- 

 rently much heavier. When young the ducks are almost as 

 light on the wing as a pigeon. I have seen them fly half a 

 mile down the brook and return without seeming to exert 

 themselves at all. After one year old they fly but seldom, 

 and then only short distances. The drakes never fly, being 

 too heavy. In this they are totally different from the 

 Muscovys, which fly at all times and all ages. I do not 

 know where there are any Platas now that are pure; they 

 have been crossed with the Muscovys until they have lost 

 their distinctive traits. Tours truly, 



A. M. Halsted. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



SEX OP EGGS-A TEST. 



Mr. Wade. 



Sir : I here give you the result of a hatching of thirteen 

 eggs purchased of Mr. William J. Pyle. I requested him to 

 select the eggs so as not to have more than one cock, and 

 when hatched there were eleven pullets and one cock. They 

 are now grown so that the sex can be distinguished readily. 

 I now think his theory of testing the eggs is no humbug, 

 but, on the contrary, really something worth knowing to 

 poultry raisers. Yours, &c, John W. Ferrell. 



West Chester, April 22, 1874. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



EGGS-LOSS OF WEIGHT DURING INCUBATION. 



Mr. Wade. 



I send you another account of my experience with eggs 

 relative to the difference of weight before and during incu- 

 bation. I selected a fresh-laid egg of medium size, which 

 weighed two ounces and five pennyweights. After standing 

 on the small end twenty days it had evaporated one penny- 

 weight. It was then put under a hen for hatching. At the 

 end of seven days it had lost five pennyweights and twenty 



