262 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 6, 1871. 



water, beginning at the top and washing down, going over the wall a 

 second time, and then painting the bottom of the wall with a cordon, 

 say 3 inches wide, of tar and oil. Strong lime water and guano make 

 them go off with us. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHEONICLE. 



WHAT ARE THE USES OF POULTEY SHOWS? 



There is no doubt whatever that good, poultry shows have 

 done for the breeds of fowls in general — that is, as far as con- 

 cerns their economic value, they are practically of little use. 

 They encourage the various breeds to excel in the apparently 

 useful qualities peculiar to each ; but it is in the paying so 

 much attention to these very points that the fowl itself be- 

 c:ime3 deteriorated. Of course, I am speaking of the prize fowl, 

 the upper ten thousand of the feathered race. I do not deny 

 that shows have some advantage, for they do keep up races de- 

 scended from ancestors of real usefulness, so that by crossing 

 with birds of lower pedigree or different variety, the good qua- 

 lities may be regained. 



This deterioration is occasioned partly by the judges and 

 partly by the prize-devouring exhibitor. 



Th-3 judge, perhaps, sees certain points that want developing; 

 he lays stress on, and unduly encourages them, till he, perhaps, 

 gets beyond what he originally expected to be attained, and at 

 the expense of other properties. To supply the demand for 

 the prize fowl, the ardent or covetous fancier rears a fowl for 

 the judge, and all minor considerations are laid aside. 



The lordly Dorking may only rear half its brood, it may 

 scorn the noble art of laying, and die in great honour with a 

 bumble foot ; but if it has only won a silver cup that is enough. 

 The haughty (exhibition) Game fowl stalks about in most 

 brilliant attire on legs admirably adapted for running away, 

 propagates a roupv but prize-winning set of chickens, goes the 

 round of a number of shows with great success perhaps, in 

 intervalsof health, and dies at last of some mysterious disorder. 



Dare I couple the Brahma with these typical exhibition 

 fowls? when its enthusiastic patrons tell us " here we have a 

 fowl fit for exhibition and everything else we can desire ; it is 

 large, handsome, amiable, contented and industrious, hardy 

 and prolific, delicious eating, if eaten at exactly the proper 

 time of its existence" (which is hard to hit on) — fowls, they 

 say, that come home victoriously from a fatiguing show only to 

 lay admirable eggs with redoubled energy, and to rear in an ex- 

 emplary manner chickens, which make up for going about 

 utterly destitute of feathers in an early part of their existence, 

 hj wearing a superabundance where they are of no earthly 

 use in after life. 



The Brahma, however, being a new and still improving 

 variety, has not arrived yet at a standstill, for in many of the 

 breeds, both in fowls and Ducks, the limit of weight seems to 

 have been attained, and in the feather varieties where weight 

 is not of such importance, constitution is lost by in-breeding, 

 while the Game fowl is no longer that hardy, compact bird with 

 fighting qualities, and constitution which also made it useful 

 as a farmyard fowl, but is bred like a cage bird. So that my 

 opinion is, that poultry shews, beyond being a means of grati- 

 ■fying a pleasant hobby, are of no real value in encouraging the 

 breeding of poultry in its development as a source of food for 

 the nation at large. — Chakybdis. 



[We read the foregoing to a well-kuown poultry exhibitor, 

 and he exclaimed, " You surely wo'n't publish that !" and he 

 put on his hat and departed when we replied that we should 

 place it first in the " Poultry Chronicle." There is much 

 ■truth, but not the whole truth among " CniKYEDis's " clever 

 sarcasms, and the whole truth, had he told it, would have been 

 the SejUa to those sarcasms. 



" Errors like straws upon the surface flow, 

 He that would search for pearls must dive below." 



It is quite true that many of the finest Brahmas and Cochins 

 are vulture-hocked ; many noble Game fowls have legs not 

 agreeing in colour with the plumage ; many pure Dorkings 

 having diverse combs in a pen ; many good Hambnrghs having 

 hen tails, have been on account of those trivial peculiarities 

 disqualified by judges, and rightly disqualified, because certain 

 rules are laid down declaring all those peculiarities defects. As 

 a matter of taste we admire vulture-hocked Brahmas, and the 

 other disqualifications are trivial — but what then? Certain 

 characteristics must be rendered peremptory, or the breeder for 

 ■exhibition and the j udge would be more eccentric even than they 



occasionally are. But let us " dive below " and seek for an 

 answer to this query — Since poultry shows have largely ex- 

 tended, is not the supply of eggs and market fowls largely in- 

 creased ? — Eds.] 



MY POULTRY BALANCE SHEET FOR 1870. 



PouLTKY is my hobby, and I make it pay. I am sure others 

 may do so, and in many cases poultry-keeping may make a 

 very nice little addition to the yearly income. Let everyone 

 piaise the bridge that carries him over the river. I find it 

 pays me, and I am not ashamed to say so — nay, on the con- 

 trary, by doing so I hope to lead others to become poultry- 

 keepers, as my experience has led me to the conclusion that 

 anyone with attention and a nice grass run can make a very 

 useful addition to his income, if limited ; if not, there are others 

 who have plenty, and still want something to occupy their 

 time. What more delightful than their breeding and rearing 

 poultry, and letting the poor reap the fruits of their endea- 

 vours ? 



To beginners I say, and to all who keep poultry, Eead Mr. 

 L. Wright's letters. He is a perfect stranger to me ; therefore 

 1 may be allowed to say that his communications have in them 

 that which we rarely meet with — a thorough practical know- 

 ledge, and from no one have I ever found such useful hints as 

 from him. 



I have mentioned a grass run : all poultry are better for it. 

 There are sorts that may be reared without it, but I keep 

 Dorkings solely, and to them a grass run is indispensable. 



In January, 1870, my stock consisted of eight hens and two 

 cocks ; from these I reared seventy-seven chickens. Many of 

 these were weeded out, and sold for the table. Birds sold and 

 prizes won left me £65 17s. lid. The whole of my expenditure, 

 including entrance fees, &c., amounted to £15 17s. lOd. The 

 clear balance was therefore £50 Id. Everything is entered 

 in my book, except the eggs used in my house. 



I am also a bee-keeper, but let me warn poultry-keepers about 

 having bees near their fowls. I have had several chickens 

 stung to death ; therefore I am determined to be rid of them. 

 I do not find them pay anything like poultry, and I find them 

 a great nuisance in very hot weather to ladies or people un- 

 accustomed to them. In fact, although having had twenty 

 hives at a time, and, therefore, having had some experience, I 

 have had to go to town on important business twice with an eye 

 swollen up. Bot pleasant. I found when I went to an hotel the 

 waiters looked with great suspicion on me, and I felt anything 

 but comfortable. — T. E. Kell, Wetherhij. 



A POULTRY EXPERIMENT, AND AN ODD 

 MOUSETRAP. 



Just now poultry fanciers are dreaming of broody hens and 

 of coming chickens, counting the latter, perhaps, before they 

 are hatched, in spite of the old proverb. As to Canary fanciers 

 they are all in a flutter with whitewashing, and nest-material 

 collecting, and putting this bird into that bird's cage, and 

 thinking they will make a nice pair, and then altering arrange- 

 ments and forbidding tenderness about to begin. Some ai-e re- 

 reading Blakston's " Commentaries," vide vol. xir. of " our 

 Journal;" some shaking the maw-seed tin, and peeping into 

 the box that contains nest baskets, extra perches, sulphur, tar, 

 cage-divisions, &c. Some, if we are to believe " B. B.," which 

 I for one do not, are teasing their wives with their arrange- 

 ments for their pets. But good wives are never teased, but 

 pleased to join-in with their husbands' innocent recreations. 

 And the bad ones are like people really intending suicide ; they 

 do not talk or write about it. Well, considering then this time 

 of year, and all that is going on in ponltry-house and in bird- 

 room, in all sorts of in-the-way and out-of-the-way places, I will 

 relate two circumstances that occurred last season, the first for 

 the benefit of the poultry people, and the second for the class 

 of Canary lovers. 



First, then, for the poultry experiment. I removed two hens 

 from a cock bird of quite a different breed, and placed them 

 with a cock of their own breed, making a note of the date. I 

 then sent into the kitchen every egg laid until that day six 

 weeks, and then saved a sitting of eggs and placed them under 

 a hen. Every one came true, and in no chicken was there a 

 trace of the breed of the former cock. So now it need not be 

 " about six weeks, or, probably, a little more than six weeks' 

 separation ;" but the fact is established, that six weeks are 

 suflicie.nt. Such was my experiment, and such its results. 



