
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 253 

is a possibility of their becoming moderately dry. 
I would recommend the mould to be spread out 
on a dry portion of the ground for this purpose ; 
and when it has become sufficiently dry, it may 
be removed to a shed, or any other place where it 
will be protected from heavy rains, and also be dry 
enough for using at a moment’s notice. At the 
present time, all kinds of soil should, if practicable, 
be placed in shelter of some description ; as it 
will be found much more useful in the winter and 
early spring than if allowed to become completely 
soddened by incessant moisture—W. B. 

Female Confidence and Reliance.—I send you 
the following, cut from a local newspaper. It is 
an extract from some book, no doubt; but it is 
“the fashion,” now-a-days, to ‘‘steal”’ and never 
acknowledge the obligations, even for an idea, 
one is under. However, here is the extract ; and 
as itis full of poetical feeling, it will, I know, 
please you and your readers :—‘‘ There is no one 
thing more lovely in this life, more full of the 
divinest courage, than when a young maiden, from 
her past life—from her happy childhood, when she 
rambled over every field and moor around her 
home ; when a mother anticipated her wants, and 
soothed her little cares; when brothers and sisters 
grew from merry playmates to loving, trustful 
friends; from Christmas gatherings and romps ; 
from summer festivals in bower or garden; from 
the rooms sanctified by the death of relatives ; 
from the secure backgrounds of her childhood, and 
girlhood, and maidenhood—looks out into the dark 
and unilluminated future, away from all that; and 
yet,—unterrified undaunted, leans her fair cheek 
upon her lover’s breast, and whispers, “ Dear 
heart! I cannot see—but I believe. The past was 
beautiful, but the future I can trust—with thee!” 
It may be said, that this is very pretty to read, 
but that it never occurs in real life. Let us say 
“seldom,” for | would fain hope we are not quite 
all unnatural. Puapr, Brighton. 

Birds Confined in Cages—I wish you would 
raise your voice against the cruel practice of con- 
fining birds in cages. Some are incarcerated in 
such small prisons of wire, that they can get no 
exercise whatever. Their feet too are clogged up 
with dirt, and their food is very frequently musty. 
How many thousands of innocent victims die 
yearly from neglect! And yet people say they are 
“fond of birds! ”’ Cruelty to dumb animals is all 
the fashion. Birds are robbed of theireggs, and 
people buy them ; of their young too, and people 
buy them. Aye, and they let their children tease 
them from morning till night. Is not this too 
bad ?—HE ten B., Mile End. 
[You are quite right, Helen. Confining birds 
in cages 2s barbarous. But the public are as hard- 
hearted as a flinty rock. Neither we nor yourself 
can make any impression on them. ] 

The New Receipt Stamp.—The new act relating 
to the penny receipt stamps came into operation 
on the 11th ultimo; and as it has been officially 
announced that the stamp office intend to proceed 
againstall persons for giving receipts on unstamped 
paper, or for otherwise infringing the new law, and 
to give part of the penalty to the informers, it may 
be useful to call attention to the leading features 




of the measure. There are two kinds of receipt 
Stamps for the choice of the public,—viz. the 
stamped paper and an adhesive stamp, bearing the 
Queen’s head printed in blue, and somewhat larger 
in size than the postage stamp. One of these 
must be used for all payments amounting to 40s. 
and upwards. If the adhesive stamp be ‘‘used,” 
it must be obliterated by the name or initials of 
the person giving it, so that it may not be twice 
used. The penalty for not defacing a stamp is 
£10, and for using a stamp twice, £20.—Civis. 

Habits of the Herring —When a shoal of herrings 
swims near the surface of the water in calm 
weather, the sound of their motion is audible ata 
small distance, like rippling of water or the 
pattering of rain ; and when they move rapidly at 
night, they throw off a phosphorescence which 
appears like a beautiful bright line or belt. But 
all the full-grown and healthy herrings generally 
swim at a considerable depth, and only the 
young, the full, and the sick, swim near the sur- 
face; so that the indication waited for by the 
fishermen of the north-west of Scotlsnd and other 
districts, of flocks of gulls, large fishes, and other 
appearances of the pursuit of shoals, is exceedingly 
deceptive, and points only to small and worthless 
detachments, at the expense of neglecting the 
main army of the herrings. Shoals are con- 
siderably controlled in their destination by com- 
parative excess of light and heat, and spawn in 
much deeper water, and at a much greater 
distance from the shore, in a summer of extra- 
ordinary sunshine and warmth, than in an ordi- 
nary or especially a cloudy and coldish summer. 
Hence the deep-sea herring fishermen of Hol- 
land are sometimes eminently successful, when the 
in-shore herring fishermen of Britain encounter 
more or less failure —AN@ELINA. 

On the Feeding of Poultry—In a little work 
on the Domestic Management of Fowls, &c., I 
observe the following, which is so much to the 
point of properly feeding them, that I send it for 
insertion in Our Journat. “It cannot be too 
strongly impressed on all feeders of stock, that 
the food eaten has to serve several distinct pur- 
poses when taken into the body. One portion is 
consumed in supporting the natural warmth of 
the animal ; another set of substances supplies 
the nourishment required for the growth of the 
body, and replaces the general washing that 
occurs; a third yields the materials from which 
the bones are formed ; and a fourth supplies the 
fat: we may therefore speak of the following 
classes of food :—1. Warmth-giving Food :—Ag 
starch, which forms almost the entire bulk of 
rice and potatoes.—2. Flesh-forming Food :— 
Which exists in large proportions in wheat, oat- 
meal, peas, beans, middlings, and sharps, and in 
somewhat smaller quantity in barley, Indian corn, 
&c.—3. Bone-making Food :—Which is found in 
larger proportion in the husk, or outer part of 
the grain, than in the inner part.—4. Fat-forming 
Food :—Consisting of fatty or oily substances ; 
these occur to a considerable extent in Indian 
corn (the yellow variety), middlings, bran, &c. 
For eggs which have to travel, a Mr. Tegetmeier 
recommends a packing of hay in preference to 
any other material. He says: ‘“‘lhis season, I 


