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FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



an intelligent practical farmer, but his ambitious father 

 wanted him to take a profession, and he said to me one day: 

 "What would you do with the boy; for he is constantly 

 urging me to order such ol' such blooded stock or improved 

 tools and machinery, the history of which he learns and 

 gives in his letters?" My answer was: "Let him come 

 back to this home; bring to this library the best agricul- 

 tural books in the world ; instruct him to study the several 

 parts, and then go out upon the farm to superintend their 

 practical operation." But before that father died he sorely 

 regretted that he had urged the boy against his inclination, 

 although it had all been done in true Christian kindness. 

 Yet the son broke down, and, instead of occupying for a 

 a home one of the finest farms in the State, he. is now the 

 care of two fond sisters, whereas, as I view it, he. might 

 have been their support ; but now even trips to Europe are 

 unavailing, and the last I heard from them the sisters were 

 bending beneath their load of care, being overtasked with 

 anxiety and care on account of a much-loved brother. I 

 know that it is a delicate and critical charge we have, to 

 hold the minds instrusted to our training in the persons of 

 our children into the right way of living ; therefore we 

 need great wisdom and carefulness in order to properly ad- 

 just their plastic and elastic spirits to circumstances that 

 they make the most of an earthly existence. There is ad- 

 monition in the fact that ardent pet-loving children rarely, 

 if ever, become criminals. 



But I find I have let my pen run over considerable paper, 

 and I will quit, committing all that I have said to you. If 

 you use it my only hope is that it do good to some of your 

 numerous and intelligent readers. 



William Atwood. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



TAILLESS FOWLS. 



Friend Wade. 



I notice in a late issue of your Journal, inquiries con- 

 cerning tailless fowls. Perhaps I can give some informa- 

 tion on that subject. Forty years ago I was on a visit to 

 the coast of Ayrishire, in Scotland, — even then I was a fan- 

 cier. There I saw the "Rumpies," as they named them. 

 On inquiry, I was told that they came from Arreen, a large 

 island in the Firth of Clyde, which is opposite Ardessan, a 

 very wild rocky place. Years after I saw them in Argyl- 

 shire, where they were not preserved as any particular breed. 

 I saw them of different colors, but they were all called by 

 the same name — " Rumpies." They were not more plenty 

 there than in Ayrishire. As to whether nature was origi- 

 nally so niggardly as to afford them scarce a stump instead 

 of a respectable tail, or whether like Labans cattle " in ye 

 olden time" the breeding stock is so susceptible as to be 

 guided by sight of patterns in the formation of progeny, I 

 cannot say, as nature may be forcibly perverted, and yet be 

 nature still ; but these thoughts will, if indulged, lead us to 

 the inopportune, but important study of " stirpiculture," and 

 I will return to the facts which I wish to present for your 

 consideration, "like produces like." In the highlands of 

 Scotland the women who have the care of the fowls, consider 

 it a sure sign of a careless keeper, when the fowls are seen 

 with long tails, and they are sure to pull them out; so would 

 my mother do whenever she could catch my Games in those 

 days. Now is it not possible that such a practice is the 

 original cause of the progeny eventually appearing minus 

 tail. It is well enough understood by Game breeders, that 



if they breed from fowls that have been out for fighting, 

 that the chickens will preserve the likeness, or prove defi- 

 cient in similar respects; so firmly is this believed by the 

 best breeders in England, that when they select their breed- 

 ing stock, they never even cut their combs. In the accep- 

 tance or rejection of these ideas, of course you may use your 

 own judgment. I presume the effect which I have described 

 in regard to the "Rumpies," may have been owing to a 

 long course of treatment, by pulling out the original tails. 



I continue to regard your Journal as a very valuable 

 and important adjunct to fanciers literature, and to the 

 advertising necessities of breeders and dealers, owing to its 

 frequent visits, and I will gladly contribute for dissemina- 

 tion through its columns, any information which I may 

 possess. Truly yours, 



Dkacut, Mass., April, 1874. Neil THOMPSON. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



"WHAT I KNOW ABOUT ROUP;' 



Having read with much interest the article from the pen 

 of T. F. Lamb, in No. 1, and also the one from J. Y. Bick- 

 nell's in No. 16, under the above caption, it may not be 

 amiss for me to give my experience with the affection. I 

 rather incline to agree with Mr. Lamb, that it is the result 

 of cold — perhaps not always — but I believe nine times out 

 of ten it is produced by cold. Some time ago I had occa- 

 sion to move my Silver Spangled Hamburgs ; the day was 

 pleasant with a cold wind from the north, that I had to face, 

 and although I had not half a mile to go, yet before I 

 reached home some of them showed signs of roup; this was 

 in the morning, and by evening two-thirds of them had it 

 bad. They were perfectly well when I went after them, 

 and never had any symptoms of the affection before. They 

 could not have been exposed to the disease, as that was im- 

 possible. Again, a shutter was blown open from the win- 

 dow of the house, containing Brahmas ; the next day some 

 of them were affected with the disease. I find the affection 

 much easier managed among the Asiatics, than the more 

 delicate kinds; in fact, I have no fears of it with Brahmas 

 or Cochins, but with the more tender kinds I find it more 

 troublesome, although I have not lost one in two years, or 

 since I adopted the following treatment ; nor do I even re- 

 move the affected one from the rest, unless the house is 

 crowded, and then only for the benefit of the patient. 



I take alum pulverized, and dissolve all that I ean in a 

 given amount of water (say an ounce), and give the patient 

 a teaspoonful at a dose, once, twice, or four times a day, 

 according to the severity of attack. If canker shows itself 

 in the mouth or throat, I then pulverize chlorate of potassa, 

 say half a teaspoonful in the alum water, and give as above. 

 This treatment in my hands has had the happiest results. 

 Marlboko, Ohio. W. H. Pardee. 



Jjgg- The other day in San Francisco, at the foot of one of 

 the wharves, a sinister-looking individual appeared with a 

 sack in his hand. His mysterious movements excited sus- 

 picion, and he was watched. When, as he supposed, not 

 observed, he quietly slipped the sack into the water, and it 

 immediately disappeared, the man rapidly making his way 

 up town. The watchers, supposing that some mysterious 

 tragedy had been enacted, dragged the mud, recovered the 

 sack, and discovered within it — five suffocated kittens. 



