376 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Communications Received.— Q. E. D. Yarbell's Trea- 

 tise, in 3 vols., is the best. The volumes are not 

 sold separately. Do not buy any of the old works. 

 They are useless. The price of Yarrell's bock is 

 £4. 14s. 6d. The circumstance you mention about 

 the leaves, is no direct indication of a dry summer. 

 It is merely a coincidence— H. H. Thanks. The 

 Chimney Swallow, next week— A Well-wisher. Use 

 the same sized cage as was recommended for the 

 Canary; and feed on flax, canary and rape seeds. 

 — G. H. Thanks. They will all be used. 



Private Letters. — Of these we daily receive such 

 immense quantities, that we must really beg the 

 writers to excuse our not replying to them ; our time 

 being overwhelmingly occupied with Public duties. 



To obtain this Paper without any difficulty, our readers 

 need only order it to be sent to them by any of their 

 local Booksellers or Newsvendors. It is published 

 simultaneously with all the other weekly periodicals. 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 

 Saturday, June 12, 1852. 



WE INTIMATED IN OUR TWENTIETH 



Number, in reply to certain kind inquiries 

 put to us, that the continuation of this 

 Journal after Midsummer would depend 

 entirely upon the public voice. 



We have, from the outset of our little 

 venture, made no secret of our troubles, nor 

 hesitated to " declare the thing as it is." 

 This frankness, it would seem, has gained 

 us a vast number of good friends, who have 

 decided, on their own responsibility, that the 

 Journal shall go on. 



To this end, they propose, voluntarily, to 

 patronise the Paper at the price of Three- 

 pence, being at the rate of one-fourth 

 less , we find, than the charge made for 

 any other existing periodical on Natural His- 

 tory. We erred greatly, in not having as- 

 certained this fact in the first instance ; but 

 it is not yet too late to repair the error. 

 In order that no caviller may urge our 

 having taken any undue advantage of the 

 Public, this arrangement is made known at 

 the earliest period. It will not come into 

 operation untilJuly 5, — immediately after the 

 issue of the Numbers for the first half-year 

 of 1852. 



Fortunately, this is a question between 

 ourselves and the Public only. We have not 

 got the Booksellers to consult in the matter 

 at all. They never have kept the Journal 

 on sale, since the publication of the two first 

 Numbers ; and we verily believe they ima- 

 gine it to be printed in some " unknown 

 tongue," and its contents heretical, — so 

 afraid are they to expose it in their shops ! 

 All copies of our Paper disposed of by these 

 gentlemen, are from direct orders given them 

 by regular subscribers. We have therefore 

 nothing to thank them for, — nothing to lose 

 from their interference ; whilst we still 



retain the good-will and countenance of all 

 our staunch supporters. 



From the very voluminous Correspondence 

 which has reached us within the last fort- 

 night, from the nearest as well as the most 

 remote parts of the country, we have ascer- 

 tained beyond all doubt that a Paper like 

 ours (the only one of its class) is a great 

 desideratum ; and that the parties to whom 

 it particularly addresses itself (a large 

 body) will not hesitate to support it at 

 the price suggested to us. A very general 

 opinion prevails, that were it reduced 

 to one penny, its sale would not be in- 

 creased thereby to the weekly extent of 100 

 copies in a twelvemonth. The cause of this 

 is quite obvious. It does not suit the 

 million. 



For the masses, there are hosts of Penny 

 Periodicals provided ; and these are all far 

 better adapted to their wants and tastes 

 than a Paper like ours, which can only 

 interest people who " think," and who love 

 to trace the footsteps of Nature. We 

 honestly profess to write for none others. 

 The multitude cry out for fun and fiction ; 

 we stick steadily to " facts," and the im- 

 provement of the mind. Every one has a 

 just right to follow the bent of his own 

 taste ; nor have we one word to say 

 against it. 



Here let us observe in conclusion, that 

 had we possessed the " ways and means " 

 (which " the Chancellor of our Exchequer " 

 reminds us we do not possess), — it is just 

 possible we might have struggled on some 

 months longer ; in the vain attempt to retrieve 

 the heavy pecuniary loss we have up to this 

 period sustained. It is however fortunate 

 for us, that we spoke out so plainly ; and took 

 the sense of our kind readers when we did. 

 They have at once proposed an efficient 

 remedy to " check" the present evil ; and they 

 hold out encouraging hopes that, by their 

 united future energies, they will, ere another 

 six months shall have passed over our heads, 

 enable our bark to glide more smoothly 

 over the waters of difficulty and unfair 

 opposition. What we have had to surmount 

 in this way, is too well known ; and we shall 

 assuredly not " rip up such old grievances' 

 again. 



The very interesting account in our 

 last Number, of the tameness of a " hen" 

 Kobin (for the authenticity of which, in every 

 particular, we will vouch), induces us to 

 offer a plain, unvarnished tale of another 

 equally pretty fact, — at the present moment 

 meeting out eye daily. It requires no apo- 

 logy for an insertion in a Paper like ours. 



Immediately contiguous to the door open- 

 ing into the garden of our private dwelling 

 (at the rear), is a mound of flowers, &c, in 

 " rock-work," on either side ; its extreme 



