228 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 21, 1S71. 



rarity. (Acton Castle).— "We omitted to mention the Monkey Flower, 

 Mimalns cardlnalis, as bein^ one of the plants sent by you to be named. 

 (W. C-jFoto Island). — Bnplemrum fruticosum. Its congeners are known 

 by the English names " Hare's-ear " or " Thorongh-was." [T. M. Skiittle- 

 2corth). — Another interesting and beautiful plant, the Tricyrtia hirta 

 of Hooker, one of Mr. Fortune's introductions from Japan. [M. T.). — 

 The Parple Orach, a variety of Atriples hortensis. (H. T. M.).~l Sem- 

 pervivum Haworthii ; 2. Crassula arborescens ; 3, Eleinia repens ; 4, Sedum 

 hybridum ; 5, Eeineckia japonica variegata ; 6, Campanula garganica; 

 8, Asplenlum flabellifolium. (TF.).— Polygonum cuspidatam, a shrubby 

 Japanese species.— (C. B., Hampshire).~Vh.ys\VLni\iuQ albens, a very in- 

 terestincT tropical American Asclepiad, an old inhabitant of gardens. 

 {Bill).— The Bluebottle, Centaurea Cyanus ; and the Hares's-foot Trefoil, 

 Trifolium arvense. (W. H., Ayr.). — 1, Doiichos lignosus (otherwise 

 D. gibbosus), a native of the Cape of Good Hope; 2, Myoporum parvi- 

 folium, native of southern Australia. {W.C., A Reader). — 1, Polygonum 

 cuspidatum (as above) ; 2, French Honeysuckle, Hedysarnm coronarium ; 

 3, Abutilon Thompson!. 



POTrLTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



HEADS. 



We believe the different types of skulls among fowls to be as 

 distinct as those of the human race. We are not singular in 

 that respect. How often have we heard at shows criticisms on 

 awards and surprise expressed that a prize should be given to 

 such a " coarse-headed brute ?" As a rule, and where competent 

 jadges act, the decision is a right one. Nothing in the shape of 

 the head eins against the requirements of the breed, but it does 

 against beauty. We want in breeding to produce and continue 

 the most perfect specimens of the race. In choosing, then, we 

 should closely examine every point, and none is more important 

 than the head. 



Let us begin with Cochins. The best head we ever saw was 

 one of the earliest among the celebrated strains. It was the 

 Lovell. The name was adopted because the birds were brought 

 from China by a captain of that name. We difier from many 

 of the modern judgments because this character is not suffi- 

 ciently noted and cared for. Large size, great weight, heavily- 

 feathered legs are looked for and rewarded. But they cause a 

 fleshy, wrinMed, and dull face, with an exuberant comb (erect 

 for this show only) to be passed over. We want the small neat 

 head ; the scanty comb, perfectly upright and full of serrations ; 

 the bright eye, almost projecting frcm the face ; and the look of 

 quiet intelligence that is a real characteristic of the breed. We 

 have seen some that had the expression of the Malay, and the 

 cauliflower face of an old Spanish cock. We are bound to 

 admit these belonged to birds of great weight, but they also be- 

 longed to birds of great age. We want the weight that is grace- 

 fully carried by youth accompanied by a smiling face, and not 

 the nnwieldly heaviness of senility. 



Just as much as we admire the intelligence and cheerfulness 

 of the Cochin, so do we appreciate the hard cruel expression of 

 the Malay. He should always look as if he had a concealed 

 creese, and was ready to " run a muck, and tilt at all he met ;" 

 and his mate a sort of cross between Helen McGregor and Mrs. 

 Brownrigg. (A traveller some years since was asked to define 

 a consul, and replied, " He should be a cross between Lord 

 Aberdeen, then Foreign Secretary, and a Bow Street runner.") 

 Anything pleasant in the face of a Malay would be out of place. 

 Everything about them is hard ; the body feels as though it 

 had been dipped in Styx, and the face is the index to the dis- 

 position. Take, again, the Game cock — his sharp fearless look, 

 no cruelty in his eye ; assurance and conceit are there ; and 

 denuded of comb and gills, he walks as it were on tiptoe, that 

 his gait may carry out the promise of his head and face. 



The Spanish cock is the aristocrat of the yard. We fhould 

 not be surprised if some called him the Castilian. His round 

 head, white face, red comb, and piercing black eye tell you he 

 is conscious of his worth and position. It is a different ex- 

 pression from any of the others. Not so intelligent as the 

 Cochin, so cruel as the Malay, so bold and saucy as the Game, 

 he has, nevertheless, an air and sense of dignity that become 

 him and his nation ; and if you were called upon to find a snuff- 

 box-bearer among fowls for one of the old kings of Spain and the 

 Indies, you would fix on the Spanish cock. 



Our old useful friend the Dorking expresses none of these ; 

 there is nothing smiling in his face, but his round head and 

 well-shaped forehead give promise of good qualities, and those 

 who seek them generally find them. His partner is also a 

 thrifty and good helpmate ; she looks as though she performed 

 her duties well, and she does. None of the pride of the 

 Spanish about her ; she does not put her children out to nurse, 

 Bhe brings up her own. The Brahma, with his useful head and 



cheerful face, giving earnest of his good properties, seems to us 

 the Sir Balaam (in his good days) of poultry. 



" Honest, punctnal, and so forth, 

 ^ His word would pass for more than he was worth." 



It is a face of sterling quality, and it does not lie. It, how- 

 ever, when surmounted by his pea comb, does not fail to be 

 quaint. 



If we take the French breeds we have there entirely different 

 types. Take the saucy fussy Houdan. If there be any com- 

 parative physiognomy, and if man and bird can represent the 

 same character, then a Houdan cock and Lemaitre both re- 

 present Eobert Macaire. The likeness is ridiculous. The 

 skull of the Houdan is small, but being bearded and top- 

 knotted it does not show. A qniat, self-possessed, and well- 

 bred fowl is the Creve-CcBur; his large, round, well-shaped 

 head gives promise of good qualities, and he has them. The 

 reverse is true of La Fleche ; he has an ugly mis-shapen head, 

 which promises nothing, and does not disappoint its possessor. 



We purpose making a collection of skulls, and being the 

 Professor Donovan of poultry. 



POULTEY EXPERIENCE PUECHASED. 



HowTEVEK gratifying it may be, when we have climbed that 

 steep hill called Experience, and have at length reached the 

 delightful summit of Perfection, still to come to grief so often 

 on the journey (and we invariably do so just as we appear most 

 certain Of success), is very trying to the best-regulated temper. 



For the benefit of any amateur whose knowledge of poultry 

 lore may have been as limited as my own, let me tell how i 

 "purchased experience," with a splendid White Cochin pullet, 

 that grew and prospered so well that in my fertile imagination 

 1 was already the happy possessor of handsome cups, and first 

 prizes innumerable. Bat one morning while feeding them, I 

 noticed that the bird " on whom my hopes were built," had an 

 unusual protuberance in the breast, and on closer inspection 

 found it was decidedly crop-bound. I gave it several doses of 

 castor oil, yet as day by day went on, it got no better, and I 

 said to myself, "J. K. L., I charge thee ' fling away ambi- 

 tion,' for you never did, and you never will get so much as an 

 ' H. C towards the realisation of all your brilliant visions." 

 Now, I never had the pleasure of a tete-a-tete with a learned 

 poultry-keeper, since I am not acquainted with one, or I 

 should have listened with reverence to his advice, and I obtain 

 no sympathy from the " head of the family," who considers the 

 study of hens and chickens very tame and insipid. " Better study 

 flowers, and Ferns would be a far more lady-like occupation,'" 

 and ends his advice with a parting shot (very much sotto voce, I 

 admit), something about "little things." And really 7 consider, 

 since my poultry cannot get " highly commended," the jadges 

 ought to award something to my unwearied energy and per- 

 severance, because for the last five years, with nothing to back 

 me but my purse and my enthusiasm (and I positively affirm 

 that the two are inseparable), I have slowly learnt my lessons 

 in experience. Again, my invalid neighbour complains of the 

 perpetual cock-crowing, the servants of the extra work " them 

 dirty brutes " make, and I am periodically informed by the 

 "head," that those horrid pets of mine have got into the 

 garden, and for the third time have eaten all the young plants • 

 and all these little drawbacks are calculated to damp the 

 ardourof their warmest friends. But I am digressing; revenons 

 a nos moutons, my crop-bound pullet. 



On referring to "our Journal," I found you had advised 

 "An Anxious Eeadeh," apparently in the same difficulty as 

 myself, "First to secure the bird firmly, clip away the sur- 

 rounding feathers, out open the crop, and remove all the food 

 there, carefully sew up the wound, and for a few days feed the 

 bird on soft food only." These directions I followed to the 

 letter, and I was so deeply impressed by my own skill and 

 ability, that I felt confident I bad only to receive a few lessons at 

 the school in Edinburgh to become a very formidable rival to 

 Messrs. Jeg, Blake, & Co., but my proposition to that effect 

 was so hopelessly quashed by the " head," that I gave up the 

 idisa on the spot. 



Well, my patient seemed to progress favourably, and my 

 hopes were again in the ascendant ; still I noticed she could 

 not hold up her head as formerly, so I imagined the wound 

 must still be very stiff, and that time would restore it ; but 

 time did not, for at the end of three months she still walked 

 about with her neck very much contracted, and we both 

 seemed to lose heart together (only she lost flesh as well), and 

 one day while carelessly looking over a stray number, I dia- 



