June 23,1881. 1 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 521 
phoric acid, potash, and nitrogen than Indian meal, while the latter 
contains more oil, sugar, and starch than the former. 
- American Wheat. —The “ Prairie Parmer” states there was 
recently quite a flurry in Wheat in the Chicago market, the price 
going up 2 cents, closing at 1T0 dol. This is an advance of 5 cents 
in one week, and 8 cents since last winter. The causes are the over¬ 
estimate of last year’s crop, a deficiency now in store there of about 
four million bushels as compared with last season, the large export 
demand, and the injury done the coming crop by the severe winter 
and the chinch bug. It is an open secret, too, that large quantities 
of the cash Wheat and options are controlled by speculators. 
- Crushed Bones as Poultry Pood. — Some persons are in 
the habit of burning the bones before giving them to poultry. It 
is true that after being burnt they are much easier broken up; but 
the raw bones contain a large amount of gelatine, which is a most 
excellent food for making hens lay, and gelatine also contains a 
large amount of nitrogen, which is driven into the atmosphere by 
the heat. When the bones are fed raw this nitrogen is retained, 
and having done duty as food for the poultry and constituting 
part of their systems, it is still capable of again doing duty as a 
fertiliser, but once becoming free nitrogen in the atmosphere it is 
not so easy a matter to combine it in such a manner that it shall 
be rendered available as plant food. In pounding raw bone it is 
not necessary to make it so fine as people suppose, for a hen will 
swallow a much larger piece than many would think possible, and 
when once in her crop it will be digested and properly economised. 
—(American Cultivatoi.) 
- The Birmingham Dairy Show.—T he Exhibition in all 
respects, with the exception of the attendance, proved an unqualified 
success. To what extent the receipts will fall short of the necessarily 
heavy expenditure has not yet been ascertained, and the Committee 
are consequently not aware to what extent the guarantee fund, 
which was previously subscribed, will have to be drawn upon. The 
financial result, though somewhat disappointing, is not surprising 
when the stagnation of trade and the severe depression under which 
the agricultural interest is labouring are considered. In a business 
point of view the exhibitors had no reason to complain. Such of the 
cattle as were for sale found purchasers at good prices, and the whole 
of the cheese and butter were readily disposed of .—(Midland Counties 
Herald.) 
for them, unless the coop can be placed altogether in a dry shed ; 
this, perhaps, is the best plan. A damp floor soon brings on 
diarrhoea in the smaller chickens ; they refuse food and pine away. 
2. The system of feeding young Bantams differs much from that 
suitable for larger breeds. Smallness being a desideratum, oat¬ 
meal, milk, and such bone-making diet must be avoided. A mis¬ 
take, however, is often made in starving Bantams ; this they will 
not bear in their early days, the rapid growth of their feathers 
requires constant nourishment. When, however, they are half 
grown this must cease ; henceforth no fowls require so little food. 
Multitudes of adult Bantams are killed by overfeeding. For the 
first fortnight bread crumbs and chopped hard-boiled eggs will 
be found good, and plenty of boiled rice. At this time of year all 
chickens are the better for plenty of rice, and specially Bantams. 
Six meals a day not too many for them. Groats will succeed the 
egg. Oats in this hard form does not encourage quick growth so 
much as in the form of meal. 
3. In the case of large fowls our object is to keep them chicken¬ 
like as long as possible, in that of Bantams to bring them to the 
earliest possible maturity. From the day of their hatching, there¬ 
fore, till they are full grown they may have stimulants. For the 
first few weeks a little finely minced meat daily helps them on ; 
no chickens show such an extraordinary craving for it. We have 
often seen little Bantams nearly tearing each other to pieces over 
a worm or bit of meat. Ants’ eggs, too, are excellent where they 
can be got, and as the little things approach maturity some of the 
spiced foods, which we condemn for the large breeds, will come 
in usefully. It must not be forgotten then, though it is generally 
useless to take extra trouble over a specially backward or delicate 
chick in the case of the larger breeds—in fact, we generally advise 
the killing of all such—the little Bantam w r hich continues a dwarf 
but yet exists, providing it has no real and infectious disease, may 
prove a veritable treasure from its diminutive size. As we have 
said of sickly Turkey poults, that as long as there is life there is 
hope, and that special attention will often save one apparently 
far gone, so it is with Bantams. 
One more point is there of difference in Bantam regime. No 
trouble need be taken about separating the sexes as they grow 
up. The adult plumage, especially of the cocks, developes all the 
more rapidly when all run together. We have before now written 
of the difference between the breeds of Bantams which are of 
modern production and the really old breeds. In the case of the 
latter there is really little difficulty in keeping them down to 
small size; the former, having been reduced from large breeds, 
are ever apt to return to their natural size. It is to these that 
special care has to be given in their infancy, and we hope that 
our experience may be of some use in helping others to avoid 
some of the failures which we have from time to time suffered 
from.—C. 
BANTAM CHICKENS. 
We have often written about the management of chickens in 
general, of our ways of tiding over the various crises in their 
existence, and especially of how to bring them to such a size as 
shall make them successful in the show pen and admirable on 
the table. Our subjects are u-ually suggested by what is going 
on in our own yards. The experiences and wants of one fancier 
are likely to be those of another, and so we generally follow up 
our routine by writing hints for fellow fanciers. The first object, 
as we have said, with most fanciers is to get size in their chickens ; 
not so with all. Bantams, the beauty of which is their small¬ 
ness, require a somewhat different treatment. They are seldom 
hatched in the early spring on account of their delicacy, and 
because Bantam hens are not usually early layers, and the present 
is a particularly good time for their appearance. We will, there¬ 
fore, now give briefly a few results of our Bantam experience. 
1. From the extraordinary activity of the young chicks it is 
sometimes said that they are very hardy. This is by no means 
the case speaking generally. Game Bantams, it is true, if not 
in-bred are hardy enough, but almost all strains of Bantams have 
been much in-bred to keep them small ; they also feather all over 
with extraordinary rapidity. The result is, that the first month 
of their existence is a season of delicacy, and care they must have. 
There is with them, as with youDg Turkeys, a crisis, and when 
this is once passed,they rapidly harden. They are extremely sus¬ 
ceptible of damp ; their coops must therefore be thoroughly water¬ 
tight with projecting weather-boards in front to keep out driving 
rains. We prefer two-boarded floors with removeable drawers 
PRACTICAL SCIENTIFIC BREEDING. 
(Continued from page 500.) 
MAKING NEW VARIETIES. 
Our American friends have more experience in the manufacture 
of new varieties than fanciers on this side of the Atlantic can lay 
claim to. Their efforts in this direction have been by no means 
wanting in success—witness the several varieties of Leghorns, 
the now-popular Plymouth Rocks, and the last new addition to 
the American standard the Java fowl. It is true that occasionally 
an English fancier makes an effort to strike out a new line ; but, 
whatever may have been the case some twenty years ago, when 
the fancy was comparatively in its infancy here, there is no doubt 
that now-a-days the attempts made to bring forward new breeds 
of home manufacture do not meet with much encouragement. 
The outcry raised against the so-called Eymore Blacks exhibited 
at a recent Birmingham show is a case in point. 
Notwithstanding this prejudice against manufactured breeds 
there is, we think, plenty of room for new varieties, especially 
from the utilitarian point of view. The breed has yet to be found 
■which shall combine first-rate table qualities with an abundant 
supply of good-sized eggs and perfect adaptability to our English 
climate. The Houdan is perhaps nearest to the desired standard ; 
but there are Houdans and Houdans, some being good in all 
the points mentioned, while others are just the opposite. The 
Dorking is essentially the table fowl of England ; but then, except 
in rare cases, the supply of eggs is not abundant and the chickens 
are often difficult to rear. The Langshan claims to have hit the 
mark, but its feathered legs and strong infusion of Black Cochin 
blood are against it. The Spanish sub-varieties are all very well 
as layers, but have no claims to be considered first-rate table 
fowls, and the small size of the eggs of the Leghorn is an objec¬ 
tion with many people. We might go in like manner through all 
