296 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 23, 1880. 
are rather longer and narrower than the females. Salt and lime 
have been found to have not the slightest effect upon them. 
The caterpillars of two moths occasionally frequent our crops 
of Mangold Wurtzel, and in appearance and habit they have a 
great resemblance to each other. They are fat brown caterpillars 
allied to the ever-abundant Mamestra Brassiere. One of these 
produces the Turnip moth (Agrotis segetum), the other the Heart 
and Dart (A. exclamationis). The larvfe of both are hatched in 
spring, when they at first feed upon the leaves, but shortly burrow 
underground, where they destroy the roots, often coming forth 
at night to attack the stem or the crown of the plant. The late 
Edward Newman remarked that the farmers have brought upon 
themselves the trouble they have had from these pests by en¬ 
couraging the destruction of rooks and starlings, their especial 
enemies. The partridge also seeks them eagerly, particularly the 
larva of A. segetum. Curtis received between 1836 and 1842 
many accounts of the damage done to young Mangold Wurtzel by 
the larva of A. exclamationis. 
Our list is not exhausted, for the almost omnivorous larva of 
the cranefly (Tipula oleracea) in some years seriously affects this 
plant, nor does it always escape the wireworm. Swarms of a 
minute Podura, a jumping mite, are occasionally seen upon the 
leaves, but they are not harmful. 
The most decidedly injurious to the crops during the present 
year is the pest first named. We saw in July many acres of 
Mangold Wurtzels without a healthy leaf on them, and the crops 
were practically ruined. There were millions of maggots in the 
field. We counted two hundred in the leaves of one plant, and 
as may be expected they were speedily devoured and the small 
roots remained in a standstill state. It is difficult to know what 
course to pursue under those circumstances, but it would be at 
least prudent to grow the Mangold Wurtzel crops next season 
as far as possible from the fields that have been so persistently 
attacked this year. 
POULTRY NOTES. 
The Dairy Show. —Owing to the liberality of several donors 
of money and special prizes the schedule of the Dairy Show is 
this year a much more liberal one than last year. Dorkings are 
aided by a gift of £10 from the Rev. H. R. Peel; they have six 
c’asses with prizes of £3, £2, and £1 in each. Cochins are shown 
in pairs and have four classes, Brahmas the same number, Ham- 
burghs five, Game six. There is nothing novel in the poultry 
schedule save a class for Plymouth Rocks. There are four classes 
for dead poultry, which are admitted up to ten o’clock on the 
first day of the Show, and may be removed at 5 r.M. on the third 
day. The Judges are Messrs. T. C. Burnell, O. E. Cresswell, S. 
Matthew, R. Teebay, and G. S. Sainsbury. We are particularly 
pleased to see the name of the last-named gentleman, as the 
Waterfowl are sure to be most ably judged. We understand that 
Mr. Cresswell only allowed his name to be put down conditionally 
— i.e., in case he should be well enough to officiate. For Pigeons 
there are throughout three prizes of £2, £1, and 10,?. in each 
class; Pouters have seven classes, Carriers nine, Dragoons eight, 
Tumblers six, Barbs six, Jacobins five, Fantails two, Owls four, 
Turbits four, Antwerps five, and Nuns, Trumpeters, Magpies, 
Runts, and Suabians each a single class. 
We understand that Mr. A. Darby of Little Ness, Shrewsbury, 
has been elected to the office of Co-Treasurer of the Poultry Club, 
vacant by the resignation of the Rev. H. R. Peel. 
The Poultry Club is, it is said, likely to hold a show early in 
January in one of the home counties, open alone to the members 
of the Club. 
We have often advocated the proper subdivision of classes for 
poultry where several different colours of the same variety other¬ 
wise compete together as a politic measure even from a monetary 
point of view. An analysis of the entries this week at the Wor¬ 
cester Show quite confirms our opinion. Game had four classes 
and sixty-two entries, Cochins four classes and fifty-seven entries, 
Brahmas four classes and sixty-nine entries. The five varieties of 
Hamburghs competed together in two classes, and the result was 
that seven cockerels and eleven pullets appeared, and this at a 
place very accessible from the great Hamburgh-breeding districts. 
The Variety class too—to which Malays, Minorcas, Andalusians, 
Sultans, Silkies, and many other varieties were relegated—con¬ 
tained only seven pairs of birds. Bantams again had six classes 
(by no means too many), and mustered in consequence ninety- 
four birds. 
DOES LIKE PRODUCE LIKE? 
An applicant for information says, “ Does like produce like 1" 
We answer, as we have answered before, “ Yes ” and “ No.” In 
all admitted breeds, Polands, Cochins, Game, the varieties of 
Ducks and others that have the stamp of originality upon them, 
like produces like—not, however, to a feather. The prevalence of 
dark ones in a Cochin, the brown breast sometimes thrown by the 
offspring of Black Red Game fowls, and the increase of black 
feathers in the white top of the Poland continually occur, but 
nothing beyond this. There is no such thing as breeding Malay 
from Game, or Dorking from Cochin, or Muscovy from an Ayles¬ 
bury Duck. Strange things are sometimes heard of : but in those 
instances there can be no doubt that the birds whence sprung the 
anomalies were themselves impure and cross-bred, and had thrown 
back to a distant cross. 
If we go beyond our poultry yard, and look among wild kinds, 
we find this truth borne out. Every species is distinctly separate ; 
and although when domesticated there have been instances of 
different breeds intermixing, yet the result has always been a 
hybrid—an animal incapable of increasing or continuing its 
species. We believe there is no known instance of hybrids in a 
state of nature. Those most common in a domestic state are 
between common fowl and Pheasant, ordinary and Muscovy 
Ducks, Pintail and Wild Ducks, Canada and Barnacle Geese. 
They have been seen between the Golden and common Pheasant, 
but very rarely. 
Distinguished from these we have a manufactured fowl in the 
Sebright Bantam. As this is a compound of many varieties of 
the same species, it retains its productive properties. It is true 
some difference in shape was desired and achieved ; but the main 
point was feather, or, to speak more correctly, colour. It is hardly 
necessary to state that every feather is or should be accurately 
laced, and it was by most skilful and patient combinations accom¬ 
plished. When, however, these birds are kept apart from all 
others of the same breed, a few years are sufficient to destroy all 
beauty ; and as to gain certain points it was often necessary to 
make use of a bird possessing only one of them, joined to positive 
ugliness in other respects, so, when these birds are left alone, and 
the combination that made them handsome is not renewed, they 
seem to lose everything that is pleasing to the eye, and become 
uglier than any other, showing principally the most objectionable 
parts only of those birds from which they were made. 
In this instance, then, like does not produce like ; but the law 
of Nature shows itself in this as in other things, wise and im¬ 
mutable. One chemist, by a skilful combination of varioirs drugs 
or minerals, may succeed in forming that which he requires ; but 
if it be left to itself and inspected after a time it will probably be 
seen the component parts have already divided themselves. Just 
so in the Sebright Bantams : the two colours, no longer skilfully 
blended or divided, become patches, the accurate comb becomes a 
deformity, and the once beautiful breed is to all intents and pur¬ 
poses a mongrel. In a distinct breed—as for instance Cochin 
or Dorking, no period of interbreeding will cause it to assume 
the appearance of any other breed. Degeneracy shows itself by 
stunted growth, crooked limbs, and large joints ; its effect on 
colour is to increase white just in proportion to the growing weak¬ 
ness of the animal. Like produces like in every pure breed ; but 
it is impossible to get one variety from another, unless at some 
lime there had been a mixture of it in the parent. 
VARIETIES. 
The Hemel Hempstead Poultry and Pigeon Show.— This 
Show, which will be held on the 29th and 30th inst., promises to 
be even more successful than in former years ; 650 entries have been 
made—poultry 405, Pigeons 245. When it is remembered that the 
poultry must in all cases be birds of 1880, and that in the local classes 
birds must have been hatched and reared by the exhibitors residing 
within a radius of twelve miles, the result must be considered very 
satisfactory. All the classes (fifty-seven) have received the requisite 
number of ten entries, with the exception of those in the open classes 
for Hamburghs, Polands, Langshans, Scotch Greys, and Sebright 
Bantams, which have been erased from the list in accordance with 
Rule 3; the entry fees with an allowance for post-office order and 
postage having been duly returned to those exhibitors who made 
entries in those classes. The local classes have been filled without 
any exception, and many of the open classes are very strongly re¬ 
presented. The prize money has been deposited in the Bucks and 
Oxon Bank, and will be forwarded by cheque together with the prize 
cards, to the -successful exhibitors on the day succeeding the Show. 
Mr. M. Leno will judge in the open classes, vice Mr. Cresswell, who 
retires from the office of Judge, as the Show this year is not held 
under the rules of the Poultry Club. 
