604 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ December 28, 1882. 
crosses of which he had examples. They were as follows, the name of 
the male bird being in each instance given first:—Buff Cochin— 
Coloured Dorking; Partridge Cochin—Light Brahma; White Dor¬ 
king—Light Brahma ; Black Red Game—Light Brahma ; Black Red 
Game—White Dorking ; Black Red Game—Golden-pencilled Ham¬ 
burgh ; Black Hamburgh — Dark Brahma; Golden-spangled Ham¬ 
burgh—Partridge Cochin ; Golden-spangled Hamburgh—Dorking ; 
Houdan—Dark Brahma ; Houdan—Light Brahma ; Houdan — Par¬ 
tridge Cochin; Houdan — Golden-spangled Hamburgh; Houdan — 
Black Hamburgh ; Houdan—Minorca ; Malay—Dark Brahma ; Malay 
—Coloured Dorking ; Spanish—Dark Brahma ; Spanish—Partridge 
Cochin. 
The owner pointed out to us the bird or birds of each cross as he 
named them ; and we may say that, as we had previous knowledge 
of several of the crosses, and the examples pointed out to us corre¬ 
sponded in all respects with what we knew birds of these crosses to 
be, we were able in this way to verify the accuracy of Mr. Cook’s 
information. All the birds were most healthy in appearance, and, 
with the exception of one or two rather old hens which were heavy 
in moult, had the appearance of being in full lay. 
We noted down from the rough account book in which the laying 
results are kept the following figures :—The total for August from 
twenty-six birds was 494 eggs, for September 373, for October 219, 
for November 204, and for the eleven days of December which had 
elapsed 106. The December figure we thought specially worthy of 
note, as the day of our visit was the last, or nearly the last, day of 
the severe frost which had continued for more than a week, and which 
had entirely checked the laying of such of our own birds as were 
doing anything in that direction. We hope early in the year to be 
able to give the complete figures for 1882, but it is worthy of remark 
that during the period of four months of which we have already a 
complete return, and which are amongst the worst laying months of 
the year, each bird averaged fifty-three and a half eggs. Even if this 
proportion only were kept up throughout the year, each bird would 
lay 160 eggs. 
These results are attained, not from what Mr. Cook believes to be 
the best crosses, but from a variety of birds kept to exemplify many 
different crosses, bred, however, from parents selected chiefly for laying 
qualities. The birds are treated in the way indicated by Mr. Cook in 
his book. They are fed on warm soft food in the morning, grain in 
the evening, and are given warm water to drink. In addition they 
are given at this season of the year, four or five times a week, some 
of the tonic powder specially prepared by their owner. This is mixed 
in their soft food. We noticed also crushed oystershells in the yard, 
and the birds were picking over a barrowful of horse manure thrown 
down to afford them employment and amusement. 
As a further proof that Mr. Cook has gone very thoroughly into 
the matter of the laying qualities of individual birds, we may men¬ 
tion that he showed us a basket of eggs, being those gathered during 
the preceding couple of days, and pointed out to us the eggs laid by 
birds of most of the crosses which were represented in his yard. 
Many of these eggs were very fine, those of the Houdan crosses being 
perhaps the largest. At Mr. Cook’s request we visited with him the 
house of a gentleman living in his neighbourhood who manages his 
poultry yard on Mr. Cook’s method. This gentleman keeps a large 
school, including several boarders ; and in addition to supplying the 
wants of the house he is enabled to spare, even at this season of the 
year, a considerable number of surplus eggs. We did not take note 
of the exact number of hens kept here. The yards were of small 
dimensions, extending merely across the end and a few feet down 
the sides of the garden of the large villa in which the gentleman 
resides. We estimate, however, that there were about thirty hens. 
Of these one lot consisting of Black Hamburghs were only just 
through their moult and had not recommenced laying. The others 
were crossbreds of various kinds, and from these there was a return, 
as their owner assured us, of from eight to twelve eggs per day. All 
the birds were in prime condition, which their owner attributed to 
the use of the powders already mentioned. He stated voluntarily 
that since using these and working upon Mr. Cook’s method as to 
feeding, &c., he had had more than double the quantity of eggs from 
his fowls. 
We have hitherto confined ourselves to an accurate statement of 
what we saw and of what we were told by the gentleman to whom we 
have just referred. We have done this because we desired to put the 
matter before our readers and allow them to judge for themselves. 
We now add some information gathered in the course of a long con¬ 
versation with Mr. Cook. 
He has for many years devoted considerable attention to the 
development of laying qualities in birds of various pure breeds. The 
birds of these breeds he is not now able to keep at his own place; 
they are distributed amongst the yards of friends in Chislehurst and 
Bromley, who supply him with eggs for hatching out birds of the 
pure breeds or crosses which he desires to have. In this way, though 
his own place is but small, he has been enabled to have more actual 
experience of various crosses than many people with large establish¬ 
ments could manage. The results of his experience are to a great 
extent given in his book. We questioned him, however, as to some 
matters upon which we thought a little additional light could be 
thrown, and he most kindly afforded us the fullest information on 
every point. 
In his book, as we have already noted, he speaks much more of 
Cochin than of Brahma crosses. Our experience has led us to 
believe that, other things being equal, a Brahma is superior to a 
Cochin for the purpose of crossing, more especially as regards the 
table qualities of the progeny. Mr. Cook entirely agreed as to this, 
and said that it was partly through accident that he had had so much 
more experience of Cochin than of Brahma crosses ; and it was also 
partly in consequence of the Cochins which he first used for crossing 
being much better layers than the Brahmas, and thus giving a better 
laying result in the progeny. We also suggested that a Minorca was, 
in our view, preferable to a Spanish bird for crossing purposes. As to 
this Mr. Cook agreed with us, as, indeed, he has stated in his book, 
and it appeared that here also the employment of Spanish instead of 
Minorcas had been chiefly the result of accidental circumstances. 
We further wished to have Mr. Cook’s view as to what were for 
general purposes in his opinion the most profitable crosses. Here he 
again agreed with us that Houdan-Brahmas, Minorca-Brahmas, and 
Hamburgh-Brahmas deserve to be placed at the head of the list. 
He has recently also made trial of Plymouth Rocks for crossing with 
Houdans and Minorcas, and has found the results of these crosses so 
far very good. The very best cross within his own experience for 
laying has been between Golden-spangled Hamburgh and Partridge 
Cochin. These birds, in addition to their useful qualities, are hand¬ 
some bright-coloured birds, which, as he said, greatly improved the 
appearance of a yard. He had in his sitting-room a stuffed specimen 
of a bird of this cross, one of five sisters remarkable for laying. He 
told us that in one week in December, 1879, he had from these five 
birds twenty-nine eggs, which, sold at 3 d. each, made the return for 
the week Is. 3d., a result certainly noteworthy. 
In reviewing Mr. Cook’s book .we stated that we thought he had 
hardly given sufficient emphasis to the fact that the wonderful laying 
results recorded were from birds bred from strains specially selected 
for laying qualities. The author assured us he fully intended to give 
emphasis to that fact, which he considers of primary importance. He 
agrees with us, however, that even from parents of but indifferent 
laying qualities, provided they be of breeds which were originally 
good layers (before being spoilt for laying by being bred up to exhi¬ 
bition standard, &c.), much better results maybe expected from the 
progeny of a first cross than from the birds of the pure breeds. Just 
as in the case of fancy characteristics a cross causes the birds to 
revert to original qualities undesirable from this point of view, so a 
cross between birds whose ancestors were good layers causes the 
progeny to revert to these good qualities, and to produce a result in 
eggs superior to that obtainable from the pure breeds themselves. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Earth Floors in Stables (R. 0.).—You ask if nag horses are allowed to 
stand on earth floors throughout the day without litter of any kind. We say 
Yes, just as well and far better than when allowed to stand on pebbles or any 
other impervious floor, because it is so much softer and better for the feet. If 
the dung is cleared away the urine will sink quickly into the earth if it has been 
laid in quite dry and properly rammed down, and will not then sink so as to 
form puddles on the surface if in boxes 12 feet by 12 feet. Still, if in stalls 
where the urine always falls so much in one place it must be kept level on the 
surface by earth repairs. Cows should stand in pairs in double stalls 7J feet 
wide, each cow being tethered to the corner of the stall or feeding manger. 
The feeding box at each corner should be 2 feet square at top, 1^ foot deep, and 
1 ^ foot wide at bottom ; but in order that each animal should feed in common 
upon hay or straw the space between the boxes should be used for that purpose, 
the manger being 2 feet wide, 2 feet deep, and 1J foot wide at the bottom. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40” N.; Long. 0° 8 0” W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
1882. 
& ?! c3 
Hygrome- 
0 . 
emp. of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
d 
h- a -rt « 
» ter. 
+2 d 
Si? 
perature. 
Temperature. 
0* 
« 
December. 
In 
On 
s a « 
Dry. 
Wet. 
5 o 
PH 
Max. 
Min. 
snn. 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sun. 
17 
29.913 
47.2 
40.4 
s.w. 
39.2 
49.4 
41.0 
50.4 
40.3 
0.022 
Mon. 
18 
29.670 
40.9 
46.1 
s. 
40.9 
48.8 
44.3 
50.7 
40.9 
— 
Tues. 
19 
30.035 
42.4 
41.6 
E. 
41.1 
45.6 
36.9 
51.9 
32.2 
— 
Wed. 
20 
30.330 
35.2 
35.2 
N.E. 
40.1 
43.7 
32.7 
51.0 
30.0 
0.052 
Thurs. 
21 
29.912 
40.4 
45.9 
W. 
40.2 
48.5 
83.3 
73.6 
31.1 
— 
Friday 
22 
29.817 
37.0 
36.8 
W. 
40.2 
43.2 
34.4 
55.3 
38.7 
0.035 
Satur. 
23 
29.573 
39.7 
37.1 
N. 
39.5 
42.8 
86.1 
62.2 
31.0 
— 
29.893 
42.1 
41.3 
40.2 
45.9 
37.0 
56.4 
34.9 
0.109 
REMARKS. 
17th.—Dull throughout, with sprinkle of rain at 3 P.M., and slight break in the 
clouds at 7 P.M. 
18th.—Dull at first ; day much finer, with clear sky. 
19th.—Fine, misty latter part of day. 
20th.—Foggy and dull, rather bright for a short time at noon. 
21st.—Much finer, brighter day, moonlight night. 
22nd.—Fine morning, misty afternoon, damp evening. 
23rd.—Fine and bright. 
Much milder than the previous week, and rather above the average tempera¬ 
ture.—G. J. Symons. 
\ 
