390 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



fanciers' papers of those years, for hundreds of the contri- 

 butions of G. P. Burnham — say in the N. Y. Spirit of the 

 Times ; Turf, Field and Farm ; Ohio Farmer ; Ohio Union ; 

 New England Cultivator, Boston ; Massachusetts Ploughman ; 

 New England Farmer ; Albany Cultivator ; the Country Gen- 

 tleman; Baltimore Farmer, and host of others that I have 

 forgotten — where my line stock was illustrated and admired, 

 and fully described, by the subscriber, for years. 



And still Mr. Athole is not happy 1 he wants me to " give 

 us something really new." Well, in my articles shortly to 

 appear in the Fanciers' Journal, upon the subject of the 

 " Brahma-Pootras and Lewis Wright," I promise to offer 

 something entirely new ; which no doubt will be vastly edi- 

 fying to such gentlemen as Mr. Athole seems to be. Bead 

 those articles, Mr. A., and tell me if you do not find some- 

 thing new there. 



The assertion about "cocks with spurs on their heads," is 

 very old. Does not Mr. Athole know where that suggestion 

 came from ? I will then inform him, that at the first poultry 

 convention, held at the Massachusetts State House, in Boston, 

 in 1849, where His Excellency, Gov. Geo. N. Briggs, headed 

 the roll of members to the first poultry society organized in 

 America; the gentleman chosen as its first President (then 

 an old and experienced cattle and poultry breeder), stated 

 to that enthusiastic body of "honorables and dignifieds," 

 in the course of an otherwise very good speech, that " it 

 was perfectly easy to breed fowls 'to a feather,' and that 

 it was quite as easy, when you learned how to do it, to breed 

 the spurs of the cock upon his head, between his eyes, as 

 any where else." I never tried this experiment myself, 

 though perhaps Mr. Athole has, and has failed in his at- 

 tempts. But I cannot see why he should grumble at me, 

 about this. I did not originate this silly idea, as he sneer- 

 ingly attempts in his letter to make out I did. 



Finally, Mr. A. concludes his letter with this tub thrown 

 to the whale : " I have every confidence in the A. P. A., 

 and have no doubt they will make all necessary corrections 

 in the standard," etc., etc. And nobody has said that Mr. 

 Athole has not such "confidence," etc. I agree with him 

 in this, too. They are good men and, in my judgment, 

 meant well. I have constantly said this. But some of the 

 sub-committees hurried their work too much, and the result 

 was they spoiled much of the good that the really hard 

 workers did. But there is a prospect that it will now be 

 made all right, by the right authority (after our late health)' 

 criticisms), in a new convention. I trust, Mr. Athole, that 

 "we shall meet at Phillippi," and that you will now be 

 satisfied, after reading this hurried paper, to leave me and 

 the history of the old hen fever alone, for the future; while 

 you keep in mind this ancient proverb, that " Many who go 

 out for wool, are apt to return shorn." 



Yours, good naturedly, 



Geo. P. Burnham. 

 Melhose, Mass., June, 1874. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



A FEW WORDS TO BEGINNERS. 



After the selection of a desirable breed of fowls for 

 stock, it becomes requisite to provide for them a close-built, 

 well-roofed, and commodious house, such being necessary 

 to health and profitableness. 



Most of the diseases that poultry are subject to are occa- 

 sioned either by dampness, exposure to sudden change in 

 temperature, or want of cleanliness. In the construction of 



a poultry-house it therefore becomes needful to obviate such 

 injurious causes, and so plan and build that the structure 

 shall be all that is advantageous, in as small a space and 

 with as little expense as possible. 



Fowls properly housed do not require as much food as 

 when in this respect uncared for ; but when they are obliged 

 to roost outside, and thus become exposed to searching 

 winds, cold and stormy weather, they need more and a 

 better quality of food to keep up animal heat and enable 

 them to withstand such exposure, while the food partaken 

 by such as are suitably sheltered is not required for such a 

 purpose, and the advantages resulting are seen in the gen- 

 eral improvement and profit of the fowls. 



A hennery built after the following plan, if in accord- 

 ance with dimensions given, will afford comfortable quarters 

 for from seventy to one hundred birds, but size may be 

 regulated according to the desires of the builder. 



In the construction of a building it does not require any 

 more roofing material to cover two or more stories than is 

 requisite to cover one, while the benefits following, I will 

 attempt to show, are numerous, and in view of which I will 

 make the plan given to include a two-story house. 



The dimensions of this building to be 24 x 13 feet ; height, 

 14 feet one side and 10 feet the other, a difference of 4 feet, 

 which is sufficient slant to permit rain-water to readily pass 

 off the roof. In making a division into stories, let the first 

 be 6J feet high, and divided lengthwise into two apart- 

 ments — the one (L. R.) will then be 6 feet and the other 7 feet 

 wide — so in passing in at entrance (E.) we are in (L. R.) lay- 

 ing-room ; opposite entrance (E.) let doorway be made, as 

 means of access to (S. R.) sitting-room ; then, if boxes for 

 nests be placed on partition side of L. R., and the division 

 boards only allowed to come as low as the top of such boxes, 

 on the selection of a box on the part of a hen as a sitting- 

 nest, she can be set and the box gently pushed into the 

 sitting-room, where the inmate will be free from the annoy- 

 ance of her former associates not so inclined as herself. 

 This plan will do away with changing the sitting-box, or of 

 carrying the one selected into the sitting-room, either of 

 which frequently interferes with the fixed purpose of the 

 hen, making her dissatisfied with her apartment, knowing, 

 as she then does, that the nest is not as it was chosen. T. D. 

 is trap-door leading through L. R. into upper story (R. R.), 

 roosting-room, size of which is 24x13 feet. The entrance 

 for fowls to this room is by ladder (L.) through opening 

 at O. 



The advantages in having fowls, as in this plan, to roost 

 on second floor are that they are then beyond the reach of 



