324 



FOREST ANDISTREAM. 



—Among the variations from the normal markings in 

 butterflies and moths, lately observed in England, W. A. 

 Forbes has exhibited to the members of the British Ento- 

 mological Society, as reported in Nature, a specimen of 

 %ygaena Mpendula with yellow spots. J. M. Wood, of 

 London, has reared a variety of \Vanessaio without the mi- 

 nute black striae on the costa of the fore wings, and on the 

 whole under surface, which is somewhat lighter in color 

 than usual, some of the nervures being marked with a 

 light ochreous tint. 



—Prof. F. H. Snow, of Lawrence, Kansas, has found a 

 full sized horny crest, hitherto supposed peculiar to the 

 male, upon the beak of a female white pelican {Pelecanus 

 erythrorhynchus.) 



—According to the abstract of the report of the English 

 Fish Commissioner on the fishes of Norfolk, given in Nature, 

 it appears, as a remarkable fact, that large numbers of 

 sea trout are annually caught off the coasts of that county, 

 though the rivers which flow through it are naturally in- 

 capable of producing Salmonidce. The fish thus caught are 

 visitors from the salmon rivers in the north, viz. : theTyne, 

 the Tees, the Coquet, and the Tweed. The object of this 

 visit to the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk is to find food, 

 which exists in abundance in the shape of the spawn and 

 fry of the many varieties of fish which abound in those 

 waters. 



— The weather was extraordinarily warm last week, the 

 mercury rising almost to 60°. As a consequence the bats 

 recovered from their torpidity, and came out in the dusk; 

 and the sparrows pursued their wooing with Spring-like 

 vigor. , 



r aadhnd, «$%tm mid %nrdm. 



♦ 



To Bake Canvas Back Ducks.— Have the duck dry 

 picked, the head left on. No dressing is to be put into the 

 bird, except a little pepper and salt. Place the 

 duck in the pan on its back; if you care to 

 add a slice of dryed English bacon, not smoked, 

 do so. Put no water in the pan. Your oven must be hot, 

 but not enough to burn. Baste the duck frequently while 

 cooking. About thirty minutes is the allotted time. Dur- 

 ing the last few minutes dredge some flour on the bird and 

 quicken the fire, in order'to brown the outside. 



The above are general directions for an ordinary range 

 or cook stove; but it is impossible to give the exact time 

 that a canvas back duck should remain in the oven, as this 

 depends altogether on the size of the oven, the condition 

 of the fire, the number of ducks to be cooked at the same 

 time, whether the ducks have just come off of the ice, 

 etc. You can tell the temperature of the oven by holding 

 your hand in it a moment, and if you are familiar with 

 your oven you will know just what it will accomplish. If 

 you have baked the canvas back as it should be baked, it 

 must have a plump appearance when taken out of the 

 oven; in color it must be a delicate brown. The flesh, 

 when cut in two, should be moist and juicy, and in color 

 somewhat red— not Hue. 



Game birds in general, and canvas back ducks in partic- 

 lar, must be subjected to a certain amount of heat for a 

 certain length of time before that chemical transformation 

 can take place in their flesh and blood necessary to make 

 apparent to the human palate that flavor peculiar to the 

 bird. In the uncooked bird the flavor is present in a di- 

 lute form; it needs heat to drive off the water and thereby 

 concentrate the juices. In the overcooked bird you have 

 approached too near to charcoal, a substance without fla- 

 vor. Just where to stop between these extremes we have 

 endeavored to instruct you. 



The man that wants hi3 bird dried to a crisp does not 

 like the flavor of that bird, and would have you destroy 

 that flavor with fire . The man that says, "cook my can- 

 vas back twenty minutes by the clock," and then to eat it 

 covers a warm slice of the raw, blue flesh with currant 

 jelly, or Worcestershire sauce, does not know much about 

 the delicious and delicate flavor of the canvas back duck. 

 A tender shelldrake, or anything to form a foundation for 

 jelly or sauce, will do for him. Have all your game as 

 fresh as you can get it after the animal heat has passed off. 

 Putrefaction does not add to to the flavor of any game. 

 To any one fortunate enough to possess a "spit," to him I 

 say, never trouble your oven with a game bird. — II. DeO., 



in Forest and Stream. 



- i « t<f » 



Improved Flowers. — A Mississippi correspondent com- 

 ments as follows on the extract from the Germantown Tele- 

 graph on improved flowers, which appeared in this column 

 a few weeks ago : — 



That article must have been written by the same old gentleman who 

 never ate a finer apple than that grown in his grandfather's garden; who 

 sighs for the locomotion in the old stage coach, for steam takes his breath 

 away; who thinks the old firelock the ne plus ultra of firearms. He 

 misses the flash in the pan, sighs over the retrogression to the percus- 

 sion, and thinks breech loaders playthings. The old gentleman sighs- 

 think of it, ye floriculturists— for a "cabbage" rose. Ye gods and little 

 fishes I Caboage is what smells so sweetly to his nostrils that he cannot 

 now detect a rose when he walks through rose-bedecked (sic) gardens, 

 and hence hardly knows what a real rose is. He says: "What we have 

 for roses now are as much like real roses as coffee- is like beans." Really 

 be is hard to satisfy. I never saw coffee not composed of beans, except 

 in Confederate times. If the old gentleman were here to-day (Novem 

 ber 27th) I could show him sweet Williams, carnation and other pinks", 

 verbenas as pretty as any that grew beside his cabbage, loses that even 

 he would recognize as such— aye, and praise, too— chrysanthemums every- 

 where, oceans of violets perfuming the air, sweet olive (Oleaf/agrans), 

 with its unpretending blossoms gladdening every passer-by with its fra- 

 grance; mignonette, self-sown from early plants gone to seed, and a few 

 cape jessamine (Gardenia Jiorida), with beautiful zinnias for a back- 

 ground, and all in the open air. 



To decry improved flowers, in view of such results, is unjust to the 

 horticulturist who succeeds in his endeavor to give us a new flower, 

 and who sends us seed for a small sum that will sprout into plants with 

 innumerable beautiful eyes turned to heaven to praise the Giver of all 

 for letting the sun shine on them as well as on old fogies. 



George C. Eyrioh. 



f Our Germantown contemporary, who is fully able to de- 

 fend his own views on horticultural, as well as other top- 

 ics, probably did not intend to decry all progress in florid 



culture, but simply to enter a playful protest against the 

 mania for new varieties, which, it must be admitted, has 

 opened up an expensive field of experiment, and does not 

 always result in an improved quality or quantity of flow- 

 ers. It is akin to the "chicken fever," which a rural friend 

 declareshas prevailed with him until it takes half his corn 

 crop to feed his overgrown "blue-blooded" varieties, while 

 eggs are not as plentiful with him as in the days of the 

 plain old dunghills. 



— - — • ** * *» — 



Is Florida Healthy?— Correspondents who purpose 

 settling in Florida ask us almost every week if Florida is 

 healthy. We give herewith the opinion of a Northern 

 man who is wholly disinterested, and whose knowledge of 

 Florida enables him to answer ex cathedra:— 



Jamaica Plains, Mass., December 20th, 1875. 

 Editor Forest ahd Stream: — 



Take it all the year round, I believe Florida to be the healthiest State 

 in the Union. The proportion of deaths among young children, I think, 

 is smaller there than elsewhere, as well may be the case where scarlet 

 fever and diptheria are almost unknown. The remarkably low death 

 rate among United States troops stationed in Florida has often been 

 mentioned as a proof of the salubrity of the climate, and it is a con- 

 vincing one. Among the diseases of adults to which the climate of 

 Florida brings relief are rheumatism, neuralgia, and affections of the 

 throat and lungs. 



I knew a middle aged man who came to East Florida from Illinois four 

 years ago, being, as it seemed, a confirmed consumptive. He was poor, 

 and was obliged for many weeks to live with his wife and children in a 

 tent, which had been loaned to him. But he continued to improve in 

 health, and after awhile got some land under the homestead law, on 

 which, with the aid of his neighbors, he built a hut of palmetto leaves. 

 In this he has lived, and has recovered his health, so that now he has 

 gone into the orange business. 



I myself was driven to Florida five Winters ago by rheumatism and 

 neuralgia, which made my life a burden. Since I landed on Florida soil 

 I have never known a day's illness from either of these diseases, Laving, 

 however, continued to visit the State every Winter. 



Much has been written by casual visitors about the low, swampy, and 

 malarious character of the country, and the dampness of the climate; 

 but it must be remembered that nine tenths of the Winter visitors see 

 little of Florida. Tney ascend the St. John as far as Enterprise, or Salt 

 Lake at the farthest. So a man might go up the Mississippi, from New Or- 

 leans to St. Paul, and know little of the West. I think there is less ma- 

 laria in Florida than in the Mississippi Valley, and for the reason that in 

 Florida the soil is much less rich. There are plenty of swamps, but 

 they are not bottomless, like those on the Western rivers. Uuder a few 

 inches of mud you find usually a solid bottom of sand or limestone. 



All over the State of Florida one f>nds beautiful clear lakes, with bot- 

 tom and shores of clean white smd, and surrounded with pine forest. 

 Even the low and often submerged lands are not usually boggy. I have 

 ridden miles upon miles over low prairies in East Florida, where the 

 water lay from one to two feet deep, without getting "slewed," as they 

 call it in the West, where the wagon and horses disappear in a mud hole. 

 As to fog, one can see more of it in a week of Summer on the coast of 

 Maine than one would find in a Florida Winter. S. C. 0. 



Remark. — The Government sanitary maps indicate that 

 some portions of Florida are as healthy as any in the world, 

 while others are subject to yellow fever and malarious af- 

 fections. — Ed. 



Watering Poultry.— It is the belief of the writer that 

 many of the diseases incident to poultry are due to neglect 

 in providing them with pure water; particularly do I be- 

 lieve such to be the case in the majority of instances where 

 chicken cholera prevails. The omission to furnish fowls 

 with suitable drinking water is one of the worst features 

 of cruelty to animals. It is a neglect that is decidedly ad- 

 verse to success, hence tends to diminish individual fancy 

 for fowls, and works detriment to poultry interests. Those 

 whom we occasionally hear say that "there is no profit in 

 poultry" are not qualified to have the management of the 

 same, and in their attentions may be classed with the 

 thriftless and neglected parties who keep fowls that get 

 drink when it rains. — Farmer's Journal. 

 -*.♦- 



ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 



, ♦_ 



Englewood, New Jersey, December :5th, 1875. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



While artificial fish hatching is absorbing so much attention, an ac- 

 count of a visit to the chicken hatching establishment of W. C. Baker, 

 Esq., at Alpine, on the ILudson, may be interesting to your readers from 

 the novelty of its conception. Mr. Baker for years has been experi- 

 menting in hatching in a quiet way, and as the result of his experiments 

 he has lately erected an establishment at a cost of over $50,000, and now 

 purposes to breed chickens and eggs for market on a scale heretofore un- 

 precedented in artificial culture, and we have no doubt but that his in- 

 vestment will pay him a handsome rate of interest, judging by what we 

 saw. Mr. Baker was soon found, and in answer to our request that we 

 might be permitted to look through his establishment, a courteous ''Cer- 

 tainly, I will accompany you myself," was vouchsafed. 



Our first visit was to the spacious house wherein the incubation is car- 

 ried on. Here, also, is the work shop, boiler room, nurses' apartments 

 —as Mr. Baker facetiously calls his attendants— offices, &c. Following 

 Mr. Baker up stairs, we are ushered into the hatching room, a light, spa- 

 cious and well ventilated apartment, across which run the tables, eight 

 in number, each capable of holding 1,000 eg»s, which are placed in trays 

 one above another, and through which run the hot water pipes. The 

 great trouble in artificial hatching has been the difficulty of preserving 

 an even temperature during the entire period of incubation. Mr. Baker 

 entirely obviated this Iby a most ingenious automatic connection from 

 his hatching trays and the gas jet which furnishes the heat for the large 

 tin boilers. A variation of one quarter of a degree will either turn the 

 gas higher or lower as required until the proper temperature is again at- 

 tained. The heat, dryness, or moisture is also regulated in a similar 

 manner. Should anything get out of working order in the room, an an- 

 nunciator connecting with the attendant's room loudly proclaims the 

 fact, and a dial at once locates the room where the trouble occurs. 



Mr. Baker showed hs several eggs in different stages of advancement, 

 through a strong light in a little darkened closet. The young bird 

 showed unmistakable signs of disgust at this unusual treatment by 

 squirming about in the shell in a most animated manner. The minute 

 the chick is hatched it is placed in a large warming hox until it is com- 

 completely dried, thence it is transferred to a large glass house, to which 

 Mr. Baker then conducted us. This building is laid out somewhat in 

 the manner of a green house, with rose buds growing in great profusion 

 for the sake of the parasites which devour them, and which in turn are 

 devoured by tha chicks. It is divided into nurseries, each capable of 

 accommodating about a hundred of the young fledglings, and a fine wire 

 screen separates them from each other. All arc furnished with a fosterf 

 mother— a low, flat cylinder, filled with hot air, and covered with a blan-^ 

 ket, under which the chicks appear even more contented than under a § 

 natural mother, for here there is no crowding or jostling one another out 

 into the cold. The building is kept at a pleasant Summer heat the year 

 round. Numbers of little Maltese kittens were playing about, and in 

 answer to our inquiry as to why they were there, Mr. Baker informed us 

 that they were for the purpose of keeping out all vermin in the shape of 



rats and mice, and by being brought up among the chickens they would 

 never molest them. After a three weeks' probation here the young birds 

 are removed to the hennery, which we next vi?ited. 



Here we found chickens in all stages of maturity, and seemingly de- 

 lighted with their warm, comfortable lodgings, and a noisy cackling as 

 we entered proclaimed the fact that laying was still going on . The 

 building is 456 feet long by about twenty-five feet deep. Mr. Baker's 

 intention is to lengthen it to 800 feet next Spring. A tramway runs the 

 entire length, on which is conveyed the food, and eggs and offal from the 

 coops, for the same system is preserved here of confining only so many 

 chickens together, about twenty-five to each coop being the allotted num- 

 ber. Water is conveyed to each coop, or, more properly speaking, per- 

 haps we should say pen, by iron pipes. The use of wire partitions is 

 resorted to to secure better ventilation, and each coop of birds has a 

 corresponding coop outside, where they are allowed to run during fine 

 weather. This is covered with a wire netting, to protect the chickens 

 from the inroads of hawks and other rapacious birds. 



Turkeys, as all yonr agricultural readers are aware, are very difficult to 

 rear in the natural way, the young birds being so susceptible to wet and 

 cold. By Mr. Baker's process it is no more difficult to raise them than 

 other fowls. Ducks also come in for their share of attention. We saw 

 one very handsome coop of mnscovies. Mr. Baker even contemplates 

 at no distant day the raisins: of ostriches, if he can procure a few eggs 

 to start with. The feathers of one bird alone are worth yearly about $150 

 so Mr. B . says . He is very enthusiastic over what he has accomplished! 

 and certainly everything that experience could suggest or money ac- 

 complish has been done. In his first attempts Mr. Baker mad.j many 

 failures from inexperience, but by his untiring energy and ingenuity in 

 perfecting and devising new machinery, much of which he has letters 

 patent on, he has overcove all trouble of a serious nature, and now his 

 path will be one of ease. He will put about 250,000 fowls and Spring 

 chickens on the market yearly, to say nothing of the eggs. Hiaestab* 

 li8hment is undoubtedly the largest in the world, and may he reap all the 

 benefit he deserves for his efforts. We left with the hope that at some 

 future day we might be enabled to again visit this unique place and en- 

 joy the ride above the Hudson. G. M. Faircuit.d, Jr. 



IMPORTED 



AND AMERICAN 

 DOGS. 



BRED 



THIS subject has received much attention recently, not 

 only through the sporting papers, but the New 

 York Times and the Graphic have given considerable space 

 in their columns to the discussion. But let us say that the 

 writers alluded to, with a few exceptions, have, in our 

 opinion, overrated many English breeders, and underrated 

 the breeders of this country. The English breeders, it is 

 true, have kept a record of the pedigree of their dogs, 

 which we approve of ; but from our long experience with 

 imported and home-bred dogs, we do not believe that even 

 those dogs which have been imported from what are said to 

 be the best kennels in England, are to be compared with 

 ours, either in appearance, or for service in the field . We 

 allude now to the importations of the past two or three 

 years. We recently asked the question of an English gen- 

 tleman residing in this country, who has made his name 

 prominent as an importer of dogs with very long pedigrees, 

 "How is it that better specimens of setters and pointers 

 are not sent to this country?" His reply was this: "They 

 do not send their best specimens, but keep them for their 

 own use." If this is the case the importation of dogs by 

 practical sportsmen will soon cease. We admit there have 

 been a few right good specimens of setters imported with- 

 in a few years; but of the pointers we have seen, they cer- 

 tainly are not desirable. Those imported twenty, thirty, 

 and even forty years ago, were much better in every re- 

 spect; and then, too, many years ago, during the life-time 

 of Col. John Hare Powell, of Philadelphia, the Messrs. 

 Logan, of Germantown, and the late Henry Becket, who 

 purchased and lived on the Bonaparte property at Bor- 

 dentown, N. J,, imported many full-sized stylish 

 dogs, some of which fell into our hands, and from 

 which we bred such stocii as any sportsmen would be 

 proud to own. 



Although but few sportsmen and breeders of this couu- 

 try have kept a recorded pedigree of their dogs, it does not 

 follow that the thousands of dogs bred here are not thorough- 

 bred. We doubt if any breeder in Europe lias taken more 

 care than we have during the past forty or fifty years to 

 breed the right kind of setters and pointers, constantly 

 keeping in view their style and usefulness, never inbreed- 

 ing, nor from dogs whose only merit w T as their pedigree. 

 Among the best breeders that we have known intimately 

 are Mr. George W, McKelway, of Trenton. N. J. ; Mr. 

 Theo. Morford, of Newton, N. J.; and Mr. E, V. Drake, 

 of Mercer county, N. J., and the dogs they have turned 

 out from their kennels, very many of which have fallen 

 into our hands, were just such as would fill the eye of any 

 skillful field sportsman. The latter gentleman bred decid- 

 edly the finest litter of pups which ever came under our ob- 

 servation. They were from a dark liver colored setter bitch, 

 and by Chief Justice Beasley's famous dog, Holla. The 

 litter consisted of nine dog pups, all of which were raised 

 and broken, and most of them, with the bitch, fell into 

 our hands. Three of that litter, after they were broken- 

 Arch, Cain and Pilot— we sold to the late Mr. Audrew 

 Staley, of Philadelphia, an English gentleman of large 

 experience as a field sportsman, both in this country and 

 in England, who has frequently told us he never saw in 

 England as good and as stylish dogs as those. Holla was 

 a large-sized, deep chestnut and white, ticked on the legs, 

 and with a well feathered, silky eoat, and was in all prob- 

 ability as good a dog as ever has been seen in this country. 

 That fact arose from his fine nose, his sagacity, his indus- 

 try, and from his having fallen into the hands of one of the 

 most accomplished and skillful sportsmen of our country, 

 with whom we did much shooting for fifteen years, and 

 until his professional duties called him from the field. 

 ■ — — -**»> « . 



—The doge of the Pawnee Indians refuse to follow their 

 masters to the new reservation in Indian Territory, so the 

 old haunts are occupied by a legion of howling, starving 

 creatures. 



