FOREST AND STREAM 



401 



Igfaodhnd, S* 1 ™ m ^ $**&*&• 



Poultry.— In order to have fine fowls, -whether the breeder 

 desires to raise them for market or for exhibition purposes, it 

 is of the greatest importance that lie choose a good breed and 

 have it properly oared for. If you raise fowls for market 

 begin right by procuring at the outset some of the larger 

 breeds, viz.: Brahmas, or Plymouth Rocks. The Plymouth 

 Bocks, for market purposes, are generally favorites, having 

 proved themselves good layers, and also a good table fowl, 

 maturing earlier than the Brahmas. They originated, it is 

 said, by crossing the black Java fowl wtth the American 

 Dominique. In plumage they resemble the Dominique, but 

 have a single, comb. Suitable quarters for the fowls should be 

 provided. Build your hennery with a southern exposure, 

 that it may be -warm in winter, and do not fail to give it proper 

 ventilation, as this is highly necessary to the health of your 

 fowls. Do not keep too many fowls together in the^same 

 building if you wish them to thrive. Keep their quarters 

 clean, and their bodies free from vermin. Give them a dust 

 box filled with road dust, in which place a little sulphur, and 

 place it where it will be exposed to the sun's rays. Occasion- 

 ally apply a little kerosene to the roosts to dostroy the lice. 

 Give your fowls, if possible, a good range, and they will do 

 at least 50 per cent, better than if you had limited them to a 

 small run. Set your hens in the evening, and by the next 

 morning they will be accustomed to the eggs, and more likely 

 to remain contentedly on the nest. Early in the season do not 

 place as many eggs under a hen as you would In warm 

 weather. Nine or ten are as many as she can cover and 

 hatch during January and February ; later than this thirteen 

 is the usual number. A great many breeders do not let the 

 mother brood the chicks, but take them away when hatched, 

 and after drying by the fire, place them under a false mother, 

 and bring them up by hand. A neighbor who, this season, 

 has tried this method, says his losses have been very small- 

 much less than When he allowed the mother to care for them. 

 1 am expecting to use an incubator this winter to hatch eggs 

 with, and thus do away with the trouble of hunting up- broody 

 bens, which always command a high price early in the season. 

 Incubators thus far, I think, have been generally expensive, 

 and most of them are so complicated, and require so careful 

 management, that they are far from being a success. A gen- 

 tleman in New Haven is now perfecting an incubator which is 

 very simple in construction, easily managed, and can be sold 

 at a price within the reach of all. For food give your fowls 

 Corn, rye, wheat and oats, and occasionally cooked soft food, 

 To fatten fowls in four or five days, confine them in close 

 dark quarters, and place rice over the fire with skimmed 

 milk— only as much as will be consumed in one day ; let it 

 boil till the rice is quite swelled out ; you may add a tea- 

 spoonful of sugar, but it will do without. Be careful and not 

 give them sour feed, as it will prevent them from fattening. 

 A quantity of charcoal broken in small pieces will increase 

 their appetite, promote digestion, and expedite their fattening. 

 No food should be given for twelve hours or so before killing. 



NuTMEG. 



Gardens in the Sky.— The Denver (Colorado) News gives 

 the following brief summary of an attempt last summer to 

 grow vegetables at Summit, Rio Grande County, an altitude 

 of 11,300 feet ; latitude 37 deg. 28m. 18s. north ; longitude 

 100 deg. 30m. west. We do not remember to have seen any 

 similar statistics published in respect to any part of the globe: 



J une 26. — Maine, Mexican beans, dwarf peas, Irish potatoes, 

 beets, kohlrabi, nasturtium, parsley and spinach seed planted. 



June 2!).— Lettuce sown. 



July 13.— Peas up. 



July 20.— Potatoes up. 



July 25.— Corn, beets and spinach up. 



July 31.— Redishes ripe. 



August 1. — Nasturtiums up. 



September 1. — Frost destroyed maize, Mexican beans, nas- 

 turtiums and foliage of potatoes. 



September 7. — Ground covered with snow. 



September 9. — Heavy frost, blighting tops of beets and 

 peas. 



September 20.— Everything in garden dead, except lettuce 

 and spinach, latter holding out best. Redishes grew to be 

 five inches long and half an inch thick, turnips to be three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter, maize (stalks) to be three 

 inches high, Mexican beans, three inches high j peas five 

 inches high and blossomed, but produced no fruit. Potatoes 

 (stems) grew to be six inches high. Three-quarters of an 

 inch was the largest diameter of tubers j beets four inches 

 long and one-third of an inch thick. Kohlrabi and parsley 

 did not come up. Nasturtiums grew to be one and -one-half 

 inches high. Spinach and lettuce grew three inches high, 

 and shows about one-half green and one-half dead leaves, on 

 this date, October 1. No snow on the ground. 



The growing season, it seems, is limited to two months and 

 three days— from June 36 to September 1. The highest tem- 

 perature during this period was 61 deg. and the lowest 20 deg. 

 Rain or snow fell on eleven days, equal to a rain- fall of 14 

 inches. The United States has a signal station at Summit, in 

 charge of C. E. Bobbins, who made the foregoing observa- 

 tions. He has concluded to buy what vegetables he needs 

 and not try to raise any more. 



Burning Green Wood Greatly Wasteful. —Water pass- 

 ing into vapor absorbs and hides nearly 1,000 degrees of heat. 

 A cord of green wood produces just as much heat as a cord 

 of the same wood dry. In burning the dry wood we get 

 nearly all the heat, but in bin-mug the same wood green, from 

 one-half to three-fourths of the heat produced goes off latent 

 and useless iu the evaporating sap or water. Chemistry 

 shows this, and why, very plainly. Therefore, get the win- 

 ter's wood for-fuel or kindlings, and let it be seasoning, as 



soon as possible, and put it under cover in time to be dry 

 when used. It will, of course, season or dry much faster 



when split fine A solid foot of ijreen elm wood weighs GO 



to 651bs., of which 30 to 351bs. is sap or water. As ordinarily 

 piled up, if we allow half a cord to be lost in the spaces be- 

 tween the sticks, we will have a weight of about two tons to 

 the cord, of which nearly one ton is water, or sap. Such 

 wood affords very little useful heat ; it goes off in the ton of 

 sap. The great saving of hauling it home dry is evident, as 

 we get the same amount of real fuel for half the team work. 

 Beech wood loses one-eighth to one-fifth its weight in drying; 

 oak, one-quarter to two-fifths.— American Aurimlturut for 

 December. 



Paoking Cut Fi.owkbs.— " Cut flowers," says an English 

 contemporary, "will travel safely hundreds of miles by rail 

 in common tin biscuit boxes, if tie stems are placed in water 

 for an hour before packing." 



Seton for Distemper.— A correspondent, Mr. H. F. Hyde, 

 writes from Galesburg, 111., that, having read in this paper the 

 article recommending a seton for distemper, he was induced 

 to try it upon a pointer puppy which he had almost given up, 

 having first tried every remedy known to him. In a few days 

 it commenced to discharge, the puppy was relieved, and is 

 now as bright and lively as ever. 



Daisy.— We print this week a portrait of the black setter 

 bitch Daisy, belonging to Dr. E. J. Forster, of Boston, Secre- 

 tary of the Massachusetts Kennel Club. Daisy was sired by 

 Copeland's (late Jerome's) champion imported Gordon setter 

 dog Shot, out of E. F. Chapin's Nellie (black and white). 

 Nellie is by J. W. F. Willson's Scot (black and white) out of 

 H. W. Smith's bitch. Daisy is "English " in shape of head, 

 form, etc, and is jet black with the exception of a snow 

 white spot on her heart. She was whelped April 8, 1877, and 

 was bred on October 16, of this year, to Mr. Luther Adams' 

 Champion Drake. She was broken by Fred A. Taft, of 

 Dedham, who has used her in the field the past autumn, and 

 reports her as very staunch with a good nose. The engraving 

 is from a prime drawing by F. W. Rogers, of Boston, who 

 has made a good portrait. 



certain field, persisted in doing so by force, and were sum- 

 moned for trespass and assault. They were convicted by the 

 magistrate, but appealed, and the case being brought before 

 Lord Coleridge on an appeal, be confirmed the first decision. 

 In delivering judgment, he said that the Game Act, 1st and 

 2d William IV., did not apply to the case of fox hunting, and 

 with regard to the real question in this case, whether the cir- 

 cumstances justified the respondent in resisting the entry of 

 the appellants after they had been forbidden, he was clearly 

 of opinion that he was, and that fox hunting could not be ex- 

 ercised adversely to the owner of the land. No such right 

 existed, but it must be carried on like all other sport, subject 

 to the general rights of mankind with reference to the ordi- 

 nary and established rights of property. There was nothing 

 to justify a field of fox hunters entering a gentleman's garden, 

 trampling it down, and destroying the flowers and plants. No 

 such right [existed at common law. The opponents of fox 

 hunting in England— and they are increasing in number — will 

 hold on to this case as a precedent in their arguments against 

 the national sport. We believe, however, that many genera- 

 tions will pass away before any appreciably decadenco in fox 

 hunting will be perceptible. 



Canine Ovariotomy. — A correspondent in Bangor, Maine, 

 writes: "I have read several articles in the Country on 

 canine ovariotomy, the last one by a contributor signing him- 

 self " M. B.," iu the issue of June 8th. The procedure he 

 recommends sounds extremely well, and I have no doubt is 

 very good, but to those who, like myself, are unacquainted 

 with canine anatomy, the question still occurs : ' How recog- 

 nize the ovary when you see it, what relation of position does 

 it bear to the uterus itself ? If Mr. B. will kindly answer 

 these questions he will much oblige the writer, and I doubt 

 not many other readers, also W. W. S." 



[We are of the opinion that any person not a surgeon would 

 have great difficulty in performing the operation he alludes 

 to, certainly until he had witnessed it done and had had some 

 practical instructions.— Ed.J 



A Long Chase. — A Virginia correspondent sends us the 

 following: As my neighbor, Mr. Edward Terrill, who 

 keeps a small but very choice pack of fox hounds, was return- 

 ing home from a neighbor's plantation last Thursday af ter- 



English Kennel Club Dog Show.— The dog show of the 

 English Kennel Club, which has been held during the past 

 week at the Alexandra Palace, near London, was one of the 

 largest ever known, there being over 1,300 entries. Never 

 were so many bull dogs or so many collies seen together, there 

 being 47 of the former and 84 of the latter. The fox terrier 

 class was, as usual, the largest, although the figures in this 

 class did not equal those of former years, there being but 

 140. There were also 30 bloodhounds,, 67 mastiffs, 65 St. 

 Bernards, 80 setters, 30 bull terriers, 54 retrievers, 55 spaniels, 

 40 pointers, 34 dachshunde, 26 pugs, 18 Skyes and 41 litters 

 of puppies. 



Testimonial to Mr. Lout. — Mr. Lort's popularity as a 

 judge in England was made manifest when on the 15th inst., 

 at the Alexandra Palace, a testimonial subscribed for by 

 breeders and exhibitors all over the country was presented to 

 him. The testimonial comprised, in part, a full length por- 

 trait, painted by Charles Luytens, which is said to be a most 

 excellent likeness. There was also a silver'soup tureen and side 

 dishes, and an illuminated address with the names of the sub- 

 scribers on vellum. The many friends of Mr. Lort in this 

 country will be pleased to hear of this public recognition of 

 his worth as a judge and a gentleman. In this connection 

 we call to mind the very pertinent remarks of the London 

 Fancier's Gazette, where it says : 



" Judges and breeders have their partialities; one prefers 

 one type, another some other. While it is so, different men 

 will never precisely agree as to the true type of beauty. But 

 their honesty is not to be impeached on that account, any 

 more than a mother may be called dishonest because she 

 thinks her very ordinary bady the prettiest in the world." 



Interesting to Fox Hunters. — A case wsb recently de- 

 cided in England which decides the question as to whether 

 fox hunters in that country have a right to ride over anybody's 

 land without making themselves liable for an action for tres- 

 pass. Two horsemen, having been warned against crossing'a 



noon his dogs struck the trail of a deer. They first ran to the 

 southwest for nearly three miles, circled back to the starting, 

 point and then straightaway east into the heart of the Virginia 

 Wilderness. The dogs followed the trail all night and killed 

 the deer in the morning near Parker's store, which is eighteen 

 miles from here as the crow flies. The dogs must have run 

 at least thirty miles from start to finish. 



I am fully convinced as to the merits of the Forest and 

 Stream as an advertising medium. A few weeks ago in the 

 "Answers to Correspondents " column was stated the simple 

 fact that I had imported some choice English beagles. In 

 less than a week I received ten letters inquiring if I had any 

 for sale. Unfortunately I have not, as I have only one litter 

 as yet, and those I wish to keep. The advertising columnB of 

 the Forest and Stream will be sure to announce the fact of 

 my having any for disposal. Wm. L. Bradbury. 



Mason, Orange Co., Va. 



Training the Collie.— A writer in Wis Poultry Bulletin— 

 D. Z. Evans, Jr. — gives the following description'of how the 

 collie should be trained : 



There has been much said and written about the great intel- 

 ligence and sagacity of the shepherd dog, particularly the 

 Scotch collie, and yet his merits are not over-estimated in the 

 least. We have known and have bred them for years, have 

 sent them to almost all parts of the country, and have always 

 received favorable reports from the purchasers. In all reason- 

 able things the Scotch collie will give unbounded satisfaction, 

 and no more trusty or faithful friend can be had than he will 

 invariably prove himself to be ; but those who expect him to 

 do their work in their own particular way, without having 

 first been taught how it should be doDe, will be disappointed. 

 These dogs will herd, drive and tend sheep naturally, for they 

 have been bred for this purpose for so many years that it had 

 become an inherent propensity, but they must be accustomeo 

 tothe stock and the stock to them, and must be brought to 

 understand just how you wish your particular work done be- 

 fore you can expect them to prove entirely satisfactory. 

 This is one of the greatest troubles which is experienced by 

 purchasers of trained dogs, for they expect to have them start 

 in, the first morning they arrive, and drive the stock well, 

 and they disappoint their owner, as any one would well know 

 they would if he would give the subject any thought. 



Generally, much better satisfaction is experienced by pur- 

 chasing a pup and then gradually accustoming him to your 

 own particular work than in buying a well-trained dog. The 



