FANCIERS' JOUENAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



297 



weighs eigbty-two grains, and measures nine-tenths of an 

 inch in length ; the other weighs ninety-eight grains, and 

 measures one and one-tenth inches in length. The other 

 pullet lays an egg about the same size as that of a Guinea 

 fowl. 



I find your paper a welcome visitor, and should feel that 

 I had lost a friend if it should cease coming. Pull of in- 

 terest and instmction, it is worth much more than its sub- 

 scription price. Respectfully yours, 



George W. Bell. 

 Salisbury, Md, April 24, 1874. 



[The eggs arrived safely, and having doubts about them 

 being perfect, we opened the larger one, and found it to 

 contain nothing but the tread. They are what some people 

 call "cock's eggs," and are not at all uncommon. We 

 have had the largest Brahmas lay them occasionally. — Ed.] 



8©* A Hyde Park man has slaughtered 150 rabbits the 

 past winter. 



fi@°" A woman in Manchester, England, was recently 

 choked to death by an oyster. 



J8@f A woman at Bolton, England, was bitten by a cat, 

 and shortly afterwards symptoms of hydrophobia showed 

 themselves, resulting in death. 



J8©- The United States of Colombia have an immense 

 source of revenue in the cancho trees, which grow thickly in 

 Darien. One forest is worth a million dollars. 



gggs- An undescribed monster is said to have appeared in 

 Lake Harney, Fla. Twenty feet of it was seen by the pas- 

 sengers on the steamboat Lollie Boy, and it spouted water 

 like a whale. 



J5@* A large gondola was launched at Belfast, Me., the 

 other day, that was built five miles back in the country, and 

 hauled to salt water on shores by a team of 14 yoke of oxen 

 and two span of horses. 



8@- Major Pease of Bozeman, Montana, having failed as 

 a civilizer of Indians, is domesticating buffalo, elk, moose, 

 and other animals. He is breaking elk to harness, and is 

 driving them before a sledge. 



ftfgg° A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial says 

 that there is no better fishing ground than at Kenawha Palls, 

 West Virginia. They take there catfish, black bass, and 

 pike as well as trout, mud cat, and eels. 



J(j@^- In Lancaster County, recently, a boy named John 

 Rhoads, while driving a pair of horses attached to a field 

 roller, slipped from his seat, and falling in front of the rol- 

 ler, it passed over him, crushing him to death. 



J8®" - The Massachusetts Anglers' Association having be- 

 come convinced, from the result of their investigations, that 

 smelt during the spawning season are not healthy food, 

 since they then are full of parasites, have procured the pas- 

 sage of a law to prevent taking them at that time. 



8@~ At Lansing, Michigan, a cat recently saved a family 

 of five children from being burned to death. They were 

 asleep at the time the fire occured, no other person being in 

 the house, when the cat, by clawing the faces of the children, 

 roused them in time for them to escape the threatened dan- 

 ger. 



J8@f Boston expects that the grand stallion race for the 

 championship of the United States, to be trotted at Mystic 

 Park, September 15, will be the turf event of the season. 

 The purse is $10,000, and four gold medals will be offered. 



g@* Sturgeon fishing in the Delaware is unusually good, 

 and the fishermen are doing a profitable business. Two 

 dollars is the average price of a sturgeon, without the roes, 

 which are removed and retained to be converted into caviare 

 at one dollar each fish, by the manufacturers along the 

 river. 



i?Mt aud Entail git §e\mxtmtnt. 



j03?~A11 communications and contributions intended for this depart- 

 ment should he addressed to HOWARD I. IRELAND, Concordville, 

 Delaware County, Pa. 



GUINEA PIGS vs. RATS. 



>^c~^ ^V V Hill 



Seeing some remarks upon this subject, I wish to state that 

 a friend informs me that when he kept Rabbits in a place 

 much infested by rats, he employed Guinea pigs for the pro- 

 tection of his young stock, knowing that there were some 

 traditions on the subject. He had frequent opportunities of 

 noticing the results. As soon as a rat showed itself in the 

 neighborhood they at once gave battle en tnasse, upon the 

 principle that I'icnion fait la force. Single encounters, how- 

 ever, were by no means rare ; in this case the Guinea pig 

 would go about his work in a business-like manner, follow- 

 ing the tactics of a ferret, and if he did not kill his foe 

 would drive him bleeding from the field. Certainly, if we 

 examine a fine buck Guinea pig, he seems perfectly capable 

 of coping with any animal of his size, his strength and 

 agility being remarkable. My own experience is as follows : 

 — I used to keep Rabbits rather extensively in a large, dry, 

 and well-ventilated cellar or basement, in which I had fre- 

 quently seen rats. A portion of this was railed ofT for the 

 use of newly-weaned Rabbits, a rat's peculiar weakness, as 

 fanciers know well, taking the precaution to allow two or 

 three Guinea pigs to keep them company ; and during the 

 whole time (some two or three years) I never had a single 

 one killed, and never saw the nose of a rat in my rabbitry, 

 though there were plenty in the other cellars, and even holes 

 communicating with the one I used. Whether their peculiar 

 odor was the deterrent or not I cannot say. I think that 

 these cases show that the idea is not quite such a delusion as 

 our worthy editors suppose. 



