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JOXJENAL OF HORTICUIiTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ March 2!<, 186S. 



POTJLTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



THE COLD WEATHER. 

 We have been surprised to find how little our chickens 

 have been afl'ected by the cold weather. Perhaps it is, that 

 being so few in number, they are tended with more than 

 usual care. The old birds have suffered much, and although 

 well fed, they liavc proved but scanty layers. "We hear from 

 all qxiarters, the great want is broody hens. We know 

 places where there should be from two to three hundred 

 chickens, and where there are but twenty or thirty. Pheasants 

 and Partridges are affected by this weather, and if it lasted 

 till their laying season, they would be a week or ten days 

 late in laying. They are not so affected by vicissitudes as 

 ordinary poultry, because they are subject to one season. 

 Nevertheless, those we have in confinement are not more 

 forward than they appeared to be in January. Their one 

 season will come, but some of us want two seasons out of 

 our hens, and all want to rear as many early (?) chickens as 

 they can. As soon as there is a change of the horrible 

 weather everything will start into life All the hens will 

 lay, many will want to sit. Days are getting longer, nights 

 are getting shorter, the sun is gaining power, the necessity 

 no longer exists for restricting the hens to small numbers of 

 chickens, and March and April must do the work that 

 January and February have left undone. Some of the good 

 ladies of the poultry-yard must allow their progeny to be 

 put out to wet-nurse. 



Put eggs under three hens at the same time, a full number, 



thii-teen. .Should they all come out, each hen must keep 



her lot. If they only partially hatch, put all the chickens 



at once to two hens, and let the third be one of three more 



put on fresh eggs, taking care that the second time she is 



allowed to hover those she has hatched. But in order to 



reduce hatching almost to a certainty, the eggs should be 



examined at the end of a week or ten days. All the bad 



should be thrown away, the good ones put under hens that 



were nested at the same time. It may be done in this way. 



Choose a sunny morning, and the middle of the day. Hold 



the eg'/ against any small opening in the door or other part 



of the building, where there is a strong concentrated ray of 



light. Look at it through both hands placed telescope 



fashion. If the light comes clearly through it, and the 



whole of the egg is of one uniform warm bright colour like 



the sun, it will never produce a chicken ; but if like the 



moon it has dark shades and spots it is good. These may 



be seen at the end of four days. Then when the eggs are 



within two days of hatching get a pailfuU of warm water, 



and choosing the time when the hen is feeding, put the 



eggs into it. They all swim, and after a minute or two, one 



wiU give a sort of jerk, liecause he feels the warmth, another 



and another will do the same, till they are all dancing the 



most extraordinary quadrille ever seen. They elbow, kick, 



and bang each other, and seem to enjoy it so heartily, that 



one is almost tempted to put the ear down to the water, in 



the expectation of hearing laughter inside the shell of a 



merry one, or a deep " gluck, gluck, gluok," like the 



Dominie in "Jacob Faithful," from some staid and steady 



chick that is obliged to laugh, but thinks it in/m dig. The 



egge seem to enjoy it immensely, and our conviction founded 



on considerable experience, is, that the chickens hatch all 



the better. The softening of the shell renders their exit 



easier, and they come into the world stronger. The tn-o 



or three sulky eggs that take the blows and return none 



may be discarded. It may be truly said they have no life in 



them. These little precautions make hatching almost a 



certainty, and by discarding the bad eggs at the end of a 



■week, and just before hatching, time is saved. Perhaps 



after the wateriest, one-third of the eggs submitted to it 



are rejected. All the good and lively ones are put under 



two hc:!H, and the third in put on fresh egge. Spite of all 



these precautions some will fail, but where they are adopted 



there ia little disappointment. 



held on the 6th and 7th of April next. All the ponltiy, and 

 Pigeons also, will be exhibited at the same elevation, and 

 not tier above tier as heretofore, while every specimen will 

 be exhibited under cover, Ihe omission of which precaution 

 at former lueetings left all the birds to take their chance 

 of weather, and, consequently, limited the entries accord- 

 ingly. As the prize schedule is much increased, we hope to 

 lind the coming Show greatly improved both as to quality 

 and quantity. 



POULTRY AND EGG-PRESERVING COMPANY. 



Whatetek differences of opinion may exist as to whether 

 poultry can be kept profitably in England from a strictly 

 commercial point of view or not, it is certain that this 

 subject will never be satisfactorily decided by any amount of 

 mere theoretical assertions jpro or con; nor will the problem 

 ever be solved in a national point of view by the success of 

 one or more private persons, whose balance-sheet would be 

 discredited by many sceptics, as we have had ample evidence, 

 in improved farming, the results of which were published 

 year after year by Mr. Mechi and other pioneers. Moreover, 

 to render poultry-breeding profitable in England it must be 

 evident to most persons that the system cannot be carried 

 on as it is now ; also that the trial must be made on a some- 

 what extensive scale to allow of growing or purchasing food at 

 a cheap rate, and of a subdivision oi? labour, and last, but 

 not least, for establishing a profitable outlet for the produce. 

 Now there are many undertakings which cannot well be 

 tested on a small scale in order to prove what the result 

 would be on a large one, and we believe that poultry- 

 breeding in England is one of them. 



It is too much to expect that any private gentleman would 

 run the risk of an outlay of some thousands of poiinds to 

 ascertain the value of a new plan of breeding poultry in 

 order to benefit the nation ; but as the subject is really one 

 of national importance it is highly desirable that it should 

 command a fair trial. This can be best accomplished by 

 a jjublic company whose accounts would be audited by inde- 

 pendent accountants, and the statistics of which would be 

 reliable, and, consequently', valuable to the country at large. 



In a former Number it was stated that plans were afoot 

 which would, in all probability, result in calling public atten- 

 tion to the subject and in giving the question a fair trial on 

 a large scale. Since then the preliminary prospectus and the 

 plans have been issued. 



Mr. Geyelin has evidently the utmost confidence in the 

 success of the undertaking, as he has taken on himself the 

 trouble and expense of bringing this subject fairly before 

 the public, and he gives the free use of his inventions to the 

 Company, not for a cash consideration, but for shares the 

 value of which must entirely depend on the profitable result 

 of his system of poultry-keeping. 



A Company of this description requires only half a dozen 

 gentlemen earnest in their efforts to carry out the proposed 

 system. On our part we shall watch the result of this long 

 vexed question. Can poultry be bred profitably in England ? 

 with great interest, for if successful, poultry will bo sold, as 

 it ought to be, by weight, like other articles of food. 



The Accbinotov PouLTinr Show. — We have been re- 

 quested to make public a great contemplated improvement 

 in the management of the Accrington Poultry Show, to be 



EXTENSIVE POULTRY-KEEPING. 



YouK correspondent "Nemo " deserves the thanks of the 

 readers of The Journal of Hokticultuke for his sensible 

 and well-timed remarks on the proposed Poultry Company. 

 If others as well qualified to pass an opinion on the matter 

 would give their advice as candidly and unreservedly, 

 valuable service would be rendered to your subscribers — 

 valuable in either case as encouragement or warning. What 

 Kays your excellent contributor " Wiltshire Kectok?" The 

 expression of his opinion would comina-ad respect. Not 

 every one who gives the public the benefit of hia experience 

 assumes to himself the fuuctions of a, "public Mentor." 

 That exalted title would ajijily rather to him who should 

 instruct us in the art of producing such enormous profits by 

 poultry-k(;eping. Wo and our grandmotlicrH, it seems, have 

 to be taught at last "how to suck eggs." Lot us bo 

 teachable. 



My own opinion, gathered from personal observation, is 



