July 28, 1870. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



71 



sustained in this way, he contends, is far more than over-balanced by 

 the good which they do in destroying grubs and insects. 



Well, then, we say, for poultry to be remunerative, there must be 

 good management. And what constitutes good management ? In 

 the first place the poultry house must b3 properly constructed, suffi- 

 ciently large for the birds contained within it, dry and warm in winter, 

 and well ventilated in summer; it must be kept scrupulously clean, 

 the walls whitewashed with lime two or three times during the sum- 

 mer ; then there must be a bath-room, simply a dust heap, protected 

 from the rain by a shed or covering, and open in front to the sun's 

 rays. This dust heap should be composed of finely-sifted ashes, Band, 

 or soil, and kept perfectly dry. Here the birds will constantly repair 

 to luxuriate in their bath, and rid themselves of the numerous para- 

 sites to which they are much subjected. Of course, the birds must be 

 fed, and fed at fixed times. If their meals are scanty, let them be 

 regular. They must have a grass run, and a constant supply of pure 

 water. When these few essentials are provided, poultry will thrive 

 and do well ; and surely when we reflect how useful these domesticated 

 animals are to us, we mutt a< knowledge that it i3 an imperative duty 

 on those who keep poultry to supply them with whatever may be neces- 

 sary to their health and comfort. In that admirable paper, read by 

 Mr. Kerr a month since, admirable for the useful hints which it con- 

 veyed, there was much which most of you could grasp and appreciate 

 better than I could; but there was one portion which delighted me on 

 account of the humane sentiments which pervaded it. Mr. Kerr 

 deprecated all rough usage of cows, and pleaded for kind and gentle 

 treatment. Let me put in a like plea for fowls. Certainly it is one 

 of the most pleasing signs of the times in which we live, that kindly 

 treatment of the so-called animal world is, among educated persons at 

 least, fally recognised and taught, and we may hope that anything like 

 cruel or harsh treatment of domesticated animals will soon be blotted 

 from the things that be. 



Then as to the particular breed of fowls which it is the most profit- 

 able to keep. If eggs are wanted, Hamburghs, or everlasting layers as 

 some term them, are unquestionably the best ; for young birds of this 

 breed will lay, on the average, more than two hundred egys each in 

 the year ; they are never broody, their eggs are small, but so long as 

 the stupid custom obtains of selling eggs by number, instead of by 

 weight, this circumstance inflicts no loss upon the seller, whatever it J 

 may do on the buyer. There are five varieties of Hamburghs — the 

 Gold and Silver-spangled, the Gold and Silver-pencilled, and the : 

 Black. Mongrel varieties are to be found in almost every farmyard in ! 

 the neighbourhood. They have an abundance of names, as Pheasants, 

 Moonies, Dutch Chitteprats, Bolton Greys, and several others. When j 

 pure, with their markings perfect and regular, Hamburghs are very j 

 beautiful birds, but they are small, and not of much value as birds 

 for the table. 



If chickens are required, some other breed must be kept ; and as to ; 

 the best bird for this purpose, I suppose a jury of matrons would pro- 

 nounce in favour of the Grey Dorking. Dorkings are large and heavy ! 

 birds ; their flesh is white and firm, abounding particularly on those I 

 parts which are most esteemed — viz., the breast, wings, and merry- 

 thoughts. As chickens, they grow rapidly, and come to maturity 

 early. These are qualities which commend them to all good house- 

 wives, and fully account for the character which for generations the 

 Dorking has had as the table fowl, par excellence. Some writers 

 claim for this bird a very ancient lineage, averring that the Dorking 

 cock strutted on the British dnnghill when the Romans occupied this 

 country. Dorkings are not prolific in the production of eggs, and 

 they are unfortunately of a tender constitution, and will never succeed 

 on wet or cold soils. If a fit of cold or wet weather assails their 

 chickenhood, they droop and die with fearful rapidity. This is a 

 serious drawback npon their merits, and poultry-breeders have long 

 been seeking to find a table fowl which will combine the good qualities 

 of the Dorking with a greater degree of hardiness. Game fowls are 

 hardy and handsome ; they are great favourites with many as table 

 fowls, but they are small, and have, generally, a tendency to yellow- 

 ness in the skin. Epicurians, however, assert that the flavour of a 

 Game fowl is superior to that of any other breed ; but, then, tastes are 

 fanciful and capricious. A gentleman, well known to you all, keeps a 

 breed of Game fowls upon his farm. His wife favours Dorkings, and, 

 consequently, Dorkings are kept at the hall where these worthy folks 

 reside. One day last autumn the lady and gentleman in question sat 

 down to dinner, the bill of fare including a roast fowl, which was in 

 due time carved and discussed. " Did this fowl come from the farm ?" 

 inquired the gentleman ; the lady answered " Yes." " Ah ! I thought 

 so ; I never tasted anything like it, the flavour is delicious. Yon may 

 say what yon like, but there's no kind of fowl equal to that of Game 

 for flavour." " Except Dorkings," mildly suggested the lady. " Dork- 

 ings ! pooh, pooh," says he, " they have no flavour at all." And then 

 the lady laughed loud at her lord — " Why, my dear, this deliciously- 

 flavoured fowl, which charms your palate so much, is a Dorking 

 hatched at the farm from eggs which I sent from here." So you see 

 how a person may be beguiled by his fancy. 



A few years ago there was quite a mania for Cochins, which mania 

 afforded the artists of Mr. Punch materials for a number of humour- 

 ous illustrations ; and Mr. Roebuck, I remembef, when he returned 

 from France, on that memorable occasion when the Qtieen, accom- 

 panied by so many members of Parliament, paid a visit to the Em- 

 peror of the French, Baid " the ' Mosoos/ in their peg-top trousers, 



reminded him of nothing so mach as a lot of Cochin-China fowls." 

 Cochins possess many good qualities ; they are hardy, are easily kept 

 in confinement, and they are good wintor layers ; but as fowls for the 

 table they do not hold a good position, the yellowness of their skin and 

 fat is not prepossessing, and the flesh is coarse. The Hon. Mrs. 

 Arbuthnot some years ago — then Mrs. Fergusson Blair — published a 

 little book, entitled "The Hen Wife," in which she strongly recom- 

 mends, as decidedly the most profitable fowl for farmers, a cross 

 between Grey Dorkings and Black Brahmas. Brahmas are largo 

 birds, very hardy; the flesh, if not so white as that of the Dorking, is, 

 said by connoisseurs to possess a peculiar juiciness, which is highly 

 prized. They are quiet and docile ; have no propensity to fly ; they 

 live contentedly and healthy in a confined space, and are never trouble- 

 some in getting into gardens or fields. As egg-producers they are 

 commendable ; not so prolific as Hamburghs, but then their eggs are 

 much larger, and, like Cochins, they lay freely in winter. Their 

 chickens are particularly hardy, and easily reared ; the pullets com- 

 mence laying early ; they are capital mothers, and after hatching a 

 brood of chickens will resume their laying within a month, and they 

 are by no means such heavy feeders as Cochins. Mrs. Arbuthnot re- 

 commends Brahma hens to be mated with a Dorking cock ; from this 

 cross table fowls may be obtained which, as she says, " look like young 

 Turkeys." 



There is a very wide diversity of opinion among poultry-keepers aa 

 to what is the best food for poultry. In the winter season there is, 

 perhaps, nothing belter than barley, but in summer, and more par- 

 ticularly in hot weather, barley is too heating, and wheat, what is 

 termed LL tail wheat," is then much better. But whatever may be tho 

 main article of food, there should be a frequent change of diet. Indian 

 corn, barleymeal and potatoes, turnips, and beetroot boiled, are all 

 good for this purpose. In France buckwheat is almost exclusively 

 used. It is cheap, and is considered by some authorities to be the very 

 best poultry food. Lime in some shape must be provided, to fnrnish 

 material for the construction of the shell of the egg. 



The proper management of Bitting hens is bo well known, that it is 

 unnecessary to say much on that head. Nature is the best and surest 

 guide in such matters, and it is always the best to allow the hens to 

 follow the direction of their own instincts as much as possible. Too 

 much irteiference irritates ihe birds, and it often frustrates our suc- 

 cess. To give an illustration. In February or March last year two or 

 three of us — birds of a feather — met on the platform of the Whitby 

 Railway Station, and straightway began to compare notes as to our 

 poultry. Each, in turn, gave a recital of his ill-luck in hatching, and 

 in summing-up and taking the average the result showed that we 

 had got about one bird out of every ten eggs. Mr. Cooper, the station- 

 master, hearing or surmising the subject of our discourse, accosted ua 

 — •' You are talking about chickens, just come with me." We walked 

 on to the goods station. "There," says Mr. Cooper, pointing with 

 pardonable pride to a hen and seventeen chickens, " what do you think 

 of that?" Aye, what indeed! We had been reading and cramming 

 onrselves with poultry lore, had been nursing our much-prized sitting 

 hens with every imaginable care, administering their diet on the most 

 scientific principles, lifting them off their nests daily, and sprinkling 

 their eggs with tepid water, and, in short, using " all appliances and 

 means to boot," only to reap the disappointment and mortification 

 which I have mentioned ; and here was a mongrel thing of a hen, 

 which had " stolen her nest," a3 the phrase goes ; secreting in some 

 snug corner, she had deposited and hatched her eggs. She had been 

 missed from her accustomed place, was supposed to have been stolen, 

 when one morning she came back clucking with seventeen fine chickens 

 at her heels. 



You will meet with persons who tell you they can correctly predict 

 the sex of the future chickens from the peculiar shape of the egg. 

 Some eggs, as you know, are more elongated, and some more round 

 than others, and the long and the round forms have been held to be 

 each indicative of a certain sex. Others again, have pretended to 

 discover the sex from the position of the air bubble at the larger end 

 of the egg. These are all fallacies which have existed hundreds of 

 years, and although proved to be fallacies hundreds of times, they 

 still exist. Not only is it impossible to predict the sex, but it is im- 

 possible even to tell, before the egg has been sat upon for a short time, 

 whether it has been fecundated. A friend told me that the subject of 

 determining the sex of the chicken beforehand was discussed at great 

 length at an anniversary meeting of one of the Shipping Insurance 

 Clubs in our town last winter — an odd subject certainly for a maritime 

 party, reminding me by its very incongruity of an incident which 

 occurred some time ago. A gentleman on going into the smoke-room 

 of the Angel Hotel found two master- mariners in their shirt sleeves, 

 engaged in fistyenffs. The combatants were parted, and, on investi- 

 gation, it turned that their fight had originated in a difference of 

 opinion as to " whether the Wesleyans or the Congregationalists had 

 the better collection of hymns." But speaking of eggs, it may sur- 

 prise some to be told that the strongest man in this room is not strong 

 enough to crush an egg when it is placed endways between the palms 

 of his hands. The shell of an egg is composed of small particles of 

 carbonate of lime, arranged somewhat in the same manner as bricks, 

 and placed in an arch, and have an enormous strength, but during the 

 incubation the particles of lime lose that regularity of arrangement, 

 and become confused, and the same egg, which before resisted your 

 utmost strength, is now easily crushed by a chili. 



