March 10 , 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 203 
now become recognised that a mottled breast is perfectly allow¬ 
able in a Dark Brahma cockerel. In fact, at the last Crystal 
Palace Show the separate class for these birds was deemed no 
longer necessary, and nearly all the prizes were awarded to 
cockerels more or less mottled. 
Many exhibitors of Brahmas had, in consequence of the ten¬ 
dency shown by the judges to exclude mottled-breasted birds, 
established separate strains for cockerel and pullet breeding, and 
some of these will doubtless be kept up, but it is no longer neces¬ 
sary to breed the sexes separately. In the case of varieties both 
sexes of which can be successfully bred from the same parents, it 
is clearly to the advantage of the breeder to adopt this method. 
It increases the intrinsic value of the birds individually and as a 
strain ; it tends to preserve uniformity of type, and it does much 
to prevent those disappointments which so frequently dishearten 
young fanciers. We do not mean to advise that a yard should 
never be mated up specially for the production of one sex, but 
we do mean that this should not be carried to the extent of 
forming a separate strain. 
We think that exhibitors should make every effort in their 
power to prevent the establishment of such a standard in any 
variety (the standard of which is not yet clearly settled), that it 
may be necessary to establish separate strains for each sex ; and 
we also think that the judges should yield in all such points to 
the known wishes of the leading breeders of each variety. 
There is a feeling abroad that it is the business of the judges to 
fix the points of each breed, and that exhibitors should humbly 
yield to their fiat, and do their best to produce the article required. 
With this view we cannot agree. Those who have had practical 
experience in the breeding of a variety are best qualified to settle 
the points of that variety. They and they alone can tell which 
points are most difficult to attain, and can estimate each point at 
its true value. In these days of all-round judging it is impossible 
that a judge can have bred all the varieties he has to adjudicate 
upon ; how, then, can he be qualified to frame a standard of points ? 
It is true that in one sense the judges do frame the standard, and 
we have heard it urged as an objection to the proposal that a 
formal standard of each breed should be drawn up, that the 
judges would refuse to follow it. Of course the value of any 
standard would depend upon its correctness, and it could only be 
deemed correct or incorrect so far as it represented or failed to 
represent the ideas of the leading exhibitors. If a standard were 
correct in this sense the judge who refused to follow it would 
clearly be in the wrong, and might easily be made aware of the 
fact. The system which has found favour of late years of having 
certain classes judged at the principal shows by actual breeders 
of high standing has done much to bring about unanimity between 
fanciers and judges. The drawing-up of an authoritative standard 
of each variety by the leading fanciers of that variety with the 
aid, if obtainable, of such of the judges as were or had been 
breeders of it, would, we think, be a further step in the right 
direction. 
Although much is in the power of the judges, we think exhi¬ 
bitors are fairly entitled to have their views respected, and by 
abstaining from exhibiting under a judge who persistently ignores 
these views they can do much to prevent the formation of an 
erroneous standard. They can also, by giving public expression 
to their individual ideas and ascertaining how far these are in 
accord with the ideas of their brother fanciers, aid the formation 
of correct notions by such of the judges as have not had practical 
experience of the variety. 
We cannot pretend to state positively as to which breeds or 
varieties it is absolutely necessary to breed the sexes separately. 
We shall be very pleased to hear from our readers as to their 
experiences in this respect. 
(To be continued.) 
PROFITABLE POULTRY IN AMERICA. 
Last year I made a clear profit of almost 1000 dols. on a breed¬ 
ing stock of some two hundred chickens, Ducks, and Turkeys. I 
do not publish this to boast over my success, but to show others 
what a woman can do under the most favourable circumstances. 
These in my case were a splendid stock of breeding fowls, a 
healthy location, a thorough knowledge of my business in all its 
branches, and nearness to a first-class market. 
Of course some doubting individuals stand ready to declare 
that it is impossible to make five dollars profit on every adult 
fowl kept; but if they will stop and consider that I get spring 
chickens into market during the months of April and May, when 
they sell readily for one dollar each ; that I sell ten and twelve 
pound capons for thirty cents a pound ; that I manage to have 
eggs to sell in winter when I can get from thirty to thirty-five 
cents a dozen ; and that I sell a few trios of exhibition birds every 
year, they will see where the big profit comes in. 
Now don’t stop right here and give up all thoughts of raising 
chickens just because you cannot get such prices in your locality, 
but wait until I give you a few hints from my experience. 
I have kept poultry in the west where eggs sold at the “ stores ” 
for eight cents a dozen in summer, and poultry sold in the fall for 
seven cents a pound, live weight, but I made it pay. We lived on 
a line of railroad two hundred miles from a city market, but I soon 
found out that all the poultry and eggs from our place went to the 
city, and I could not for the life of me see why I could not ship 
such things just as well as the merchant, so I sent a thirty-dozen 
package of fresh eggs to a commission house in the city ; they 
sold readily and there was call for more. “ These small packages 
of eggs, every one warranted fresh, are just what we want,” wrote 
the commission man. I did some more thinking, and then put on 
my good clothes and went to the city. Once there, it did not 
take me long to find a grocer who wanted thirty dozen of fresh 
eggs every week, so I shipped the eggs direct to him, and saved 
the commission man’s profits. In the fall I sold my poultry the 
same way. 
There was no thoroughbred poultry in the vicinity except that 
in my yards, and when people began to find out that my chickens 
were superior to the common mongrel fowls they bought a great 
many eggs for hatching. There was not one pair of any of the 
improved varieties of Ducks in the county. I sent a thousand 
miles for a pair of Pekins, and within a month after they arrived 
everybody had the Duck fever, and 1 was overrun with orders 
for Ducks before a single egg hatched. I also procured some 
Bronze Turkeys, and sold every egg that I could spare and every 
Turkey that I raised at good prices. 
Every woman who goes into poultry-raising may not be able 
to get in these “extras,” but every woman who desires to earn 
money by raising poultry and goes into the business with a 
determination to succeed will be sure to make it pay, even if she 
sells every egg and every chicken at market prices. — Fanny 
Field (in Prairie Farmer'). 
TURKEYS AS HATCHERS. 
We translate the following interesting account of the method 
adopted in France of inducing Turkeys to hatch from M. Voi- 
tellier’s work on incubation :— 
In some places they have endeavoured to replace the natural 
incubation of hens by forced incubation of Turkey hens ; but this 
mode of hatching has not become general because it has not 
given, as a rule, more than moderate results. 
In order to make the Turkey hens hatch at times when Nature 
does not call upon them to do so, and when they have not laid 
(many of those which are subjected to this system after several 
years become sterile), the most simple means are employed. 
About the 15th of November a Turkey hen, which has up to that 
time been allowed the run of the poultry yard, and which has 
received no previous preparation for the role which she is intended 
to fill, is selected. She is then placed in a box or basket covered 
by a lid ; a nest of straw is formed in the box or basket of such a 
height that the lid when closed on the back of the bird prevents 
her from standing upright; the lid is firmly fastened or loaded 
with large stones. 
Every morning the birds are allowed a quarter of an hour’s 
liberty for feeding, after which they are replaced in their narrow 
prisons. When several days have expired they begin to accustom 
themselves to their new role, and most of the birds set in the same 
place return by the force of habit to their respective nests after 
feeding without making any mistake. Some old eggshells filled 
with plaster are then placed under them by way of trial. They 
take little by little to the ways of hatchers, and end by deciding 
to sit steadily. The lid of the box or basket is then left open ; 
they receive twenty eggs and sometimes more according to their 
size and aptitude for sitting. All these preparations require from 
eight to eleven days. Some birds, however, obstinately refuse 
this forced maternity ; these should be immediately sent to the 
fattening pen as being unsuitable to be bred from. 
It is worthy of remark that the progeny of a Turkey hen, which 
is a good sitter and good mother, always resemble their parent 
in this respect. In some places Turkeys absolutely refuse, it is 
said, to be forced to hatch, but these cannot have been bred suffi¬ 
ciently with a view to the end which they are desired to attain. 
Many henwives have a superstition that the time of hatching 
should be so arranged that the birds should hatch out in the last 
quarter of the moon. Our own observations on these points, 
