122 ' JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ February 10, isei. 
the roof perfectly watertight, having the floor raised some inches 
above the outside ground level, and paying great attention to 
cleanliness. Earth or ashes make the best floor ; and if it be not 
convenient to have the droppings removed every day, the ground 
under the roost may, with advantage, be strewn with the ashes 
from the house every morning. But a thorough cleansing of the 
house at least once a week is indispensable. Insect pests must 
be kept in check by the free use of paraffin, lime, &c. 
So much for the houses, next as to the stock. For laying pur¬ 
poses no bird over two and a half years old should be kept, and 
a fair proportion, say one-half, of the stock should be March or 
April-hatched pullets of the year. For winter laying, hatching 
so early as January or February is, we find, a mistake, as the 
pullets commence to lay in September and then moult with the 
old hens. March or April-hatched pullets, if well fed and of a 
good laying sort, should commence to lay in October or November 
at latest, and lay off and on through the winter. The expression 
“good laying sort,” brings us to the question, What breed of fowl 
it is best to keep. As to this, each person must judge for him or 
herself which breed is most suitable for their situation and cir¬ 
cumstances. As regards laying, the main point to be attended to is 
that the birds are selected simply for their laying qualities with¬ 
out regard to fancy points. Procure the best laying strain that can 
be had to start with, and then set only from the best layers mated 
with cocks of a good laying strain. Slight in-breeding will do 
no harm, but anything like close in-breeding must be avoided. 
Crosses between good laying strains of different breeds often pro¬ 
duce wonderful layers. We shall be glad to hear from our 
readers the results of their experience in this respect. We have 
found the following crosses very advantageous. (1), A Dorking 
cock mated with Brahma hens ; (2), a Spanish or Minorca or 
Leghorn cock mated with Brahma hens ; (3), a Brahma cock 
mated with Houdan hens ; (I), a Game cock mated with Brahma 
hens. Even if the laying properties of a strain have been lost by 
breeding for exhibition, a cross will often bring them out as 
strongly as ever again. 
The last point to which we desire to draw attention is 
feeding. In winter the birds should have their first meal of 
soft food given warm, not hot. Any good meal or pollard 
(otherwise middlings) mixed with boiling water is best. If 
Indian meal is used it requires cooking for a short time. As a 
rule we do not recommend the use of Indian meal for Asiatics, as 
being too fattening, but in severe weather it may be used with 
advantage on account of its great heat-giving properties. In the 
middle of the day a small feed consisting of scraps from the 
house and a little meat of some sort may be given. A feed of 
sound good grain at night completes the list. The meal should 
be mixed well, so as to be of a dry consistency, not soft or sloppy. 
We have named no particular meal or grain, as all should be given 
in turn. Birds, like human beings, are the better of a change of 
food. The mixtures of different grain sold by corn-dealers should 
be carefully avoided, as by giving all sorts at once a change is 
rendered impracticable. An abundance of green food is neces¬ 
sary. A plentiful supply of pure water is of as much importance 
as good feeding, and should by no means be neglected. 
One final word as to the quantity of food to be given. The 
appetites of birds vary so much that no rule can be laid down as 
to this. The only safe method is to take care that no food is ever 
left lying about uneaten, and to handle the birds occasionally to 
see that they are in moderately good condition—neither very fat 
nor very thin. We have now done our best to inform our readers 
as to the means of having eggs in winter, and can only add that 
“Fanny Field's” hints as to personal attention must not be 
neglected. Fowls, like anything else, will not pay if neglected. 
If properly cared for they will generally yield a fair return. 
POULTRY EXPERIENCES. 
I once again send you an account of my poultry experiences, 
which, I think, tend to prove that Dark Brahmas are by no means 
profitable as far as the production of eggs is concerned ; they are 
great eaters, are constantly becoming broody, laying from eighteen 
to twenty eggs and then want to sit, and are certainly, as far as 
my experience goes, not the breed to keep where eggs are wanted. 
I shall be very pleased if any of your many readers can from 
their own experience satisfactorily prove the contrary; for my 
part, after keeping them for three years, I gave them up. I have 
invested in a Houdan cockerel, and I intend to breed a cross 
between him and the Dark Brahma hens. I shall, I think, obtain 
a fowl with less tendency to sit, and therefore more disposed to 
lay, and, 1 believe, of better quality for table. 
I have not been so much troubled with feather-eating this past 
year. Whenever I have observed any disposition that way amongst 
the fowls I have mixed flowers of sulphur with the soft food, 
from two to three lablespoonfuls, and 1 have certainly found that 
an efficient remedy, and I would advise anyone who is troubled 
with the feather-eating disease in their yards to try the sulphur 
remedy. 
My only mishap was the loss of one hen, and as I thought the 
circumstances under which she died rather peculiar I will narrate 
them. This hen had been sitting on a dozen eggs for nearly her 
full time of three weeks, but after the first ten days she refused 
food ; on the twentieth day I found she had scarcely any heat in 
her body, the eggs were also chilled. I put the eggs in a bucket 
of hot water, and then placed them under another hen that I 
happened to have broody at the time; the next day I had five 
chicks hatched. The hen died a few days afterwards, and a post¬ 
mortem examination revealed a broken egg inside her, which of 
course had been the cause of death. 
RESULTS. 
Eggs. 
Hens. 
Eggs set. 
Chickens 
hatched. 
Chickens 
reared. 
Pullets. 
Remarks. 
January. 
114 
16 
2 Dark Brahma cocks. 
February . 
85 
16 
March. 
284 
15 
48 
1 hen died 
April . 
146 
14 
11 
34 
34 
1 lieu sold 
May. 
179 
14 
11 
10 
44 chickens reared to 
June . 
157 
14 
maturity, of which 
July. 
136 
14 
20 were pullets and 
August . 
133 
14 
24 cockerels. 
September. 
71 
14 
8 hens sold. 
October. 
10 
6 
20 
November. 
35 
6 
20 
1 pullet sold. 
December . 
80 
6 
19 
Total . 
1430 
RECEIPTS. 
£ 
s. 
d. 
Expenditure. 
£ s. 
d. 
348 eggs sold . 
.. 2 
1 
10 
Value of 19 birds in stock 
3 16 
0 
10S2 eggs used. 
10 
0 
on 1st January, 1880 .. 
22 birds killed. 
8 
0 
Paid for food. 
. 10 19 
6* 
14 birds sold . 
.. 2 
16 
0 
Houdan cock purchased... 
Interest on cost of houses . 
. 0 10 
6 
Value of manure. 
0 
0 
. 1 0 
0 
Value of 26 birds in stock 
.. 5 
4 
0 
Profit . 
. 3 13 
H 
Total . 
£19 19 
10 
Total. 
£19 19 
10 
— F. C. Taylor. 
WOLVERHAMPTON SHOW. 
THIS event, which closes the show season with considerable iclat, and i?» 
perhaps, one of the most important of the year, came off on Friday, Saturday, 
and Monday last. The entries were numerous even for Wolverhampton ; poultry 
exclusive of selling classes numbered nearly 600, while Pigeons were 370 strong. 
The quality in both cases was quite up to former years. The arrangements 
were on the whole very good. Mr. Lane judged the Game and Game Bantams ; 
Mr. Cresswell the Brahmas, Cochins, and Dorkings ; while Mr. Dixon took the 
rest of the poultry. Mr. Hutton judged the Pigeons. 
There was considerable alarm felt for a short time on the evening before the 
Show owing to some of the empty baskets becoming ignited through contact 
with a gas jet. Fortunately the mischief was discovered in time, and by the 
presence of mind and prompt exertions of some of the officials the flames were 
extinguished before they had gained much strength. One or two baskets were 
entirely consumed and many damaged, but the building and birds did not suffer 
at all. 
Game.— Any Variety Cods (ten) were an exceptionally good class. First 
and cup for the Game classes went to Mr. Jenkins’s champion Brown Red, extra 
bright in colour, good in head and eye, very fine in tail, said by Mr. Lane to be 
the best Brown Red he has seen for years. Second (Matthew) a Black Red, 
extra good in colour, very good in head, eye rather full in hackle, with a 
well-carried tail. Third (Brierley) a very good Brown Red with a very fine head, 
and good colour. Fourth (Martin) a Brown Red again, dark in colour, well 
laced on breast, good in style; rightly placed after the winner here. How he 
came to be placed above him at Liverpool we cannot understand ; h.c. (Beck) a 
very good Black Red. Black Bed Cockerels (twenty-five) were a good class. 
First (Matthew) very good in style, hard and close in feather, but shot on wing 
bars ; we should have placed him behind second and third. Second (Walters) a 
very stylish chicken, good in head, a shade dark in colour, a trifle heavy in 
tail. Third (Jenkins) a very stylish reachy chicken, grand in colour and excep¬ 
tionally short in feather. Fourth (Staveley) a very stylish chicken, dark in 
colour; h.c., Forsyth, Capon, Gibbs, Carless, Doyle ; c., Jeffries, Mynors, Fletcher, 
Forsyth. Brown Red Cockerels (fourteen).—A very good class. First (Mather) 
extra good in colour and stylish, ■with a good head and eye. Second (Wilson) 
very well laced on breast, but much too heavy in feather. Third (Dance) a 
very reachy stylish chicken, extra well laced on breast, rather short in head, and a 
shade full in feather. Fourth (Bond) very stylish, a shade dark in colour, fine in 
tail and head, well placed ; h.c. (Matthew), the best shade of lemon in the class ; 
h.c.,Warner, Fludyer, Parker, Matthew. Any Other Variety Cockerels (ten).—A very 
good class. First (Staveley) a Duckwing, very good in colour and style, rather 
short in head, and full enough in tail. Second (Phillips) a Duckwing, better in 
style, head, and tail, but deficient in colour. Third (Mather) a coarse yellow¬ 
legged Pile, very much splashed on breast. Fourth (Jenkins) a Duckwing, 
perfection in colour, stylo, and head, but too heavy in feather ; c., Phillips, 
Brown Red liens, any age (fifteen).—The best class we have seen this year. 
First (Fludyer) an almost perfect hen. Second (Matthew), the second Birming¬ 
ham hen. Third (Brierley) a hen again, the best in class for colour, hackle and 
tail; only wants size to be first-class. Fourth (Dance) we thought an error, being 
much inferior to v.h.c. 70 (Matthew) a first-rate hen with a slightly twisted 
hackle as her only fault; h.c., F. Ward (2), Martin. Any Other Variety Hens, 
