







to the Haze, which is said to possess 
certain powers of indicating precisely where 
water may be obtained by digging. It also 
possesses the faculty of indicating where 
precious metals lie buried in the earth’s 
bosom. What a ‘great fact’’ for people 
going to the gold regions! 
This little book is very fairly put to- 
gether, and deserves the attention of the 
curious. Knowing, as we do, much of the 
inherent powers of the hazel (having seen it 
tested on people in a state of mesmeric sleep), 
we think the experiments herein related are 
worthy of credence. 
It would not be fair to copy largely from a 
brochure like this. We therefore append 
one or two recorded facts only, as a sample 
of the whole :— 
EXPERIMENTS WITH THE ‘‘ DOWSING FORK.” 
The following took place on the premises of 
Arthur Phippen, Esq., the well-known surgeon, 
who resides at Wedmore, near Wells, in Somer- 
setshire. On Tuesday the 10th of September, in 
the present year, a person named Charles Adams 
was brought from Rowberrow, near Shipham, to 
““ Dowse,” for water. Adams is forty-three years 
of age, and has practised Dowsing since he was 
thirteen; in the course of which time he has been 
accessory to the sinking of 100 wells. ‘To pre- 
pare for his experiment, he went to a hedge, ac- 
companied by our correspondent, and cut from it 
a forked white thorn twig of this year’s growth, 
about eighteen inches long in each stem. He 
then entered the garden, and walked about, with 
his apparatus projected in the usual way, to search 
for water. 
He had walked but a few paces over the soil, 
when the fork was repelled, and the position of 
the spring discovered. This spring he traced 
west and east to a considerable distance, until he 
arrived aver a covered well, of the existence of 
which he was totally ignorant; and there the 
instrument became so much agitated, that it re- 
quired a strong pressure to keep it down. All the 
spectators, including a reverend divine and our 
correspondent, successively held one of the 
branches or stems, and every one was convinced, 
by the resistance made to his effort, that the 
ceremony was no delusiorl. 
The next experiment was made in the kitchen, 
the floor of which is covered with stone, and under 
which there are no springs. In the absence of 
Adams, three hats were placed, crown upwards, 
on the floor at equal distances; and under the 
centre hat were placed three silver spoons. Adams 
was then called on to exhibit. To the two empty 
hats the ‘‘ Dowsing Fork”? was immoveable ; but 
when held over the centre hat, which covered the 
spoons, it was driven back towards the breast of 
the operator, just as when the presence of water 
was indicated. 
There was still another experiment on the same 
occasion. The three hats were placed again on 
the floor ; the first covering a small diamond pin, 
the second three silver spoons, and the third a 
gold watch, chain, and seals. ‘The first and 
second hats produced a powerful effect on the 
““ Dowsing Fork,” that which covered the diamond 

KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 


343 


pin being by far the more powerful, while that 
which covered the watch, chain, and seals was 
but slight, being hardly perceptible to the dif- 
ferent witnesses of the exhibition. Adams, who is 
a very sober, industrious man, can produce testi- 
monials of his ability and success in the extraor- 
dinary process, from many persons of the highest 
respectability in the county of Somerset. 
Who, after this, would go abroad to seek 
their fortune without a “ Dowsing Fork?” 

FERGUSON’S ILLUSTRATED SERIES OF RARE 
AND PRIZE POULTRY, INCLUDING ALL 
CLASSES OF Domestic Fowu. Parts 3 
and 4. 
These practical Essays on Poultry are 
issued at 22, Southampton Street, Strand. 
Kach part contains two colored engravings ; 
and letter-press accompanies the illustrations. 
Mr. Ferguson is alive to this age for 
cheapness, and has wisely published his 
essays at a low price. One shilling monthly 
places them within the reach of all classes. 
We greatly admire the plain-speaking that 
prevails throughout the work. Nothing is 
left vague or undefined ; and all the instruc- 
tions are copious and useful. 
To prove what we say, let us give—all 
we have room for at present—part of the 
author’s sensible advice, about 
THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKENS. 
When first excluded from the shell, chickens 
form no exception to the general rule of infantine 
impotency; and through extreme weakness and 
inability, are incapable of sustaining their heads 
in any direct attitude. They are, too, covered with 
a moisture that causes their “down” to resemble 
hair, which adheres closely to the skin. Their 
appearance is, however, somewhat strikingly 
different after having snuggled under the parent 
bird, and snoozed away a few hours’ of repose 
beneath her protecting wings. 
Care should be taken to avoid needlessly 
handling them, seeing that equally injurious con- 
sequences are likely to result from misapplied 
attention to imagined requisites, as are occasioned 
by actual neglect. The removal of that small 
horny substance from the extremity of the beak, 
by many practised to the present day, is perfectly 
useless, and in many cases injurious ;—useless, on 
the ground of the same falling without applied 
means, from natural causes; and injurious, from 
a frequency of severe pressure occurring whilst 
engaged in the act. Likewise the ancient custom, 
but modernised by practice (1 allude to the act of 
peppercorn or beer-sop forcing), is very absurd ; 
no chick requires such ill-usage ; and, excepting in 
very solitary cases, no nestling needs such stimu- 
lants so soon after his exclusion from captivity. 
Warmth certainly forms his natural and whole- 
some feast for the first twenty hours; but not that 
warmth arising from “ force balls ;” simply the 
animal heat from the body-pressure of the hen. 
Supposing a brood of chicks to be irregular in 
their exclusion, arising either from the eggs 
having been placed under the hen, for the 
purposes of incubation, at irregular periods for 

— SS SSS 
