JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 30, 1881. ] 
543 
tion still further, these unwelcome intruders were found to be of 
forty-four distinct species, as follows : Thistle, Horse Sorrel, Sheep 
Sorrel, Milkweed, Dandelion, Knotweed, Bottle-grass, Knawzel, 
Bladder Campion, Corn Spurrey, Star-wort, Penny Cress, Rabbit 
Clover, Swedish Clover, Zigzag Clover, Hop Clover, White Clover, 
Valerian, Speedwell, Blue Violet, Marsh Violet, Pansy, Rib-grass, 
Plantain, Timothy, Poppy, Forget-me-not, Black Medick, Burdock, 
Dai-nell, Cranebill, Goose-grass, Spurge Blueweed, Wild Carrot, Ox- 
eye Daisy, Pigweed, Chickweed, Winter-cress, Sand-wort, Pimpernel, 
Dodder, and Alyssum. While we might tolerate an occasional For¬ 
get-me-not, Pansy, or Poppy, and might welcome the Timothy and 
white Clover, who would want to sow the Blueweed, Daisy, Burdock, 
Darnell, and Dodder ? From the data I have given, we can easily 
calculate that the farmer who sowed this stuff upon his field distri¬ 
buted with it the germs of 680 Blueweeds, 21,400 Dodder, 5983 Daisies 
per acre, to say nothing of the other useless or hurtful seeds to the 
number of 215,843 on every acre. We can now realise his misfortune ; 
but this is not all. A single plant of Blueweed has produced by 
actual count 14,735 seeds, of which 8255 sprouted. What a world 
of trouble all this means ! No wonder English farmers have the 
proverb— 
“ One year’s seeding 
Is seven years’ weeding.” 
- British Goat Society.— At a meeting of the British Goat 
Society held last Thursday, it was reported that a sum of £64 had 
been allotted as prizes for goats, £49 for mules, and £44 for donkeys, 
in connection with a show of these animals to be held at the Alex¬ 
andra Palace on July 9th and following days, under the patronage of 
the Duke of Wellington. Mr. Holmes Pegler (Hon. Sec.) stated that 
he had already received a number of applications for tickets for the 
kid dinner fixed for the first day of the Show. Allusion was also 
made to the forthcoming exhibition of the Agricultural Society at 
Hatfield, when premiums to the value of £19 10s. will be awarded to 
goats, a portion of this sum being contributed by the Society. 
-Agricultural Prospects.—T he hay crop is certain to be both 
late and light. Green crops are nothing like so promising as they 
were last year. Turnips have been sown and resown repeatedly after 
destruction by the fly. Mangolds are much riddled by the grub, 
which attacks them in a later stage of growth. Potatoes are very 
promising. As to the Wheat crop opinions are very various. Upon 
the whole, we think the impression made by these reports is favour¬ 
able. The crop is late and in some places it is thin, but generally we 
trust there is a prospect of a fair average yield. Of the spring Corn, 
the Barley is generally looking better than the Oats, which have 
suffered from the wireworm and are patchy in many places. — 
(Agricultural Gazette.) 
A GOOD deal of discussion has been going on of late as to the 
effect which the development of the taste for fancy poultry during 
the last thirty years or so has had upon the food supply of the 
country. Has the table fowl of the country been improved ? 
Have the laying qualities of our poultry been developed ? Such 
are the questions asked. The answers are various. The “ praisers 
of the time that is past,” declare that the Dorking of to-day is 
a miserable impostor. It has nothing, in fact, to recommend it 
to any other notice than a passing and general condemnation. It 
has black feet, it has big bones, it has coarse flesh, in a word it 
has everything that is bad. The winner of many prizes is not a 
Dorking at all ; it is a mere spuiious imitation of the real old 
Dorking produced by some cross which has indelibly stamped 
upon the race a taint which cannot be got rid of. 
Now as the Dorking is essentially the table fowl of the country, 
these statements if uncontradicted would go a long way to prove 
that, so far as table fowls are concerned, the fancier has done his 
worst. Contradiction is, however, forthcoming in abundance. 
The successful Dorking fanciers of to-day assert that as table 
fowls their birds are better than they ever were, and there are not 
wanting independent witnesses to corroborate this view. 
We shall not attempt to say which side is in the right, but 
setting the evidence on the one hand against that on the other, 
suppose that they mutually cancel each other, and that the show 
Dorking of to-day is at least as good a table fowl as the Dorking 
of a quarter of a century back. 
If this view be correct the controversy as to the merits or 
demerits of the show Dorking may be dismissed, for if the fancier 
of to-day can offer to the poultry farmer only as good a table 
Dorking as was obtainable thirty years ago, he can also offer to 
him other birds which are suitable as the foundations of a breed 
of fine table fowl. He can further supply materials for the pro¬ 
duction of a good laying family, and thus turn the balance largely 
in his favour. 
In much that has been written on this subject, the fact that the 
fancier does not as a rule much regard practical points has been 
alleged against him as a fault. It might with almost equal 
justice be alleged that pictures or statuary are not edible, and 
that therefore painters and sculptors are to blame for not im¬ 
proving the food supply of the country. 
The fancier as a fancier has nothing to do with the food supply, 
and the fact that he chooses to exercise his taste and skill upon 
subjects which are also capable of being treated from a practical 
and utilitarian standpoint cannot render him blameworthy. Let 
the blame, if such blame be deserved, be laid at the door of the 
farmer in whose province these matters really lie, and not at that 
of the fancier to whom they are of minor importance. 
We must confess that we think there is ground for the complaint 
that poultry and eggs, as items in the national food supply, have 
been neglected. During the last few years there has been to 
some extent a tendency towards improvement; but looking to the 
facts that many millions of eggs are imported annually into this 
country from France and elsewhere, and that French table 
poultry are far superior on the average to those produced here, it 
must be admitted that there is still much room for improve¬ 
ment. 
An intelligent appreciation by the farming classes, especially 
the small farmers, of the capacities for development in this direc¬ 
tion which are at their command, and of the profit which may be 
derived from a judicious expenditure of their time and capital, 
is what is really wanting to remedy the existing evils. 
The fancier, though not directly concerned in the matter, has 
by his pursuit of size and symmetry as exhibition points, by the 
introduction from the contineut of breeds which had always been 
bred there chiefly for their table qualities, and by the distribution 
far and wide over the country of pure-bred birds with certain 
known characteristics, placed at the disposal of the farmer the 
means of producing a breed of poultry which shall rival the short¬ 
horn as a layer-on of meat and be also remarkable for egg- 
production. 
Many of the useful qualities of a breed are doubtless sacrificed 
by the fancier in his efforts to attain perfection in standard points ; 
but it must never be lost sight of that but for the fancier certain 
breeds which are most useful for the purpose of crossing in with 
common fowls would hardly have been produced at all, and that 
the laying qualities which are lost by breeding for points can 
generally be recovered by introducing a cross of perfectly strange 
blood into the family. 
The best results, both as regards table and laying qualities, which 
we have heard of have been attained by taking the products of 
fanciers’ labours, undoing the harm and retaining the good which 
had been accomplished, and then, regardless of fancy points, 
developing the useful qualities by careful selection and judicious 
crosses. This is the method which the poultry farmer will find 
most advantageous, and it is a method which would not have been 
open to him but for the efforts of the poultry fancier. Let the 
farmer, then, gratefully acknowledge the benefits which the 
fancier has conferred upon him, and avail himself of efforts which, 
though not made on his behalf, have resulted in enabling him to 
take up a neglected branch of his business with advantages which 
but for the poultry fancier he would not have possessed. 
THE MUSK DUCK. 
We have often remarked on the paucity of the breeds of useful 
Ducks as compared with the great variety of fowls, and have 
hailed with pleasure any pure and profitable addition to our 
duckeries. We are tempted now to write a few lines upon no 
new breed, but upon one with which most of us have been ac¬ 
quainted from our childhood, but which we have been wont to 
regard solely as a quaint curiosity, and have consequently neg¬ 
lected—we mean the Musk Duck. Perhaps we have been used 
to call it the Muscovy, but this name has been given it in error. 
It is undoubtedly the Musk Duck, probably first imported from 
