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APRIL 2§ 
2 $ 8 
MOORE’S RORAL I^EW-¥ORKER. 
There seems to be a lively discussion going 
on between Mr. Lewis Wright of England 
and our friend Felch of Natic, in which the 
former has much the better of the argument. 
The latter has been a breeder of Light Brah¬ 
mas for many years, and has produced some 
very fine birds of this class ; but he has some 
crotchets peculiar to himself about breeding 
and about the standard and scale of points 
that in my opinion are not sound or in ac¬ 
cordance with the laws of {esthetics. It is 
my opinion that in his fancy points he is a 
little too nice ; and upon hi&tlieory we should 
be obliged to sacrifice about two-thirds of 
the fowls we breed. As much as I admire 
beauty, I do not believe in yielding any more 
to it than to utility, if as much. It is rather an 
expensive luxury to rear fowls solely for 
their beauty. The gastronomic qualities of 
poultry are an essential requisite in the laws 
of economy. The more flesh you can put on 
a fowl with the least offal, the better ; and 
the more eggs you can get out of a hen the 
cheaper her keep. When you speak of the 
beauty of a Cochin or Brahma fowl, I con¬ 
sider scantily - feathered legs intolerable; 
whereas, in game und other variety of birds, 
the cleaner and smoother the legs the more 
beautiful. 
There are some breeders, and judges too, 
whom I have met with at our Fairs, that 
seemed to me to have a very vague idea of 
a real vulture-hock, and were unable to dis¬ 
criminate between a full, curled, soft hock 
and one that is really vulture in character. 
A vulture-hock is as opposite to good taste 
as a cleaned-legged Cochin or Brahma. I 
speak with some feeling on this point, as I 
have been sacrificed by such a vicious taste 
in judges ; but, still it never deterred me 
from breeding heavy-hocked birds. And 
there is still anot her peculiarity in the Brah¬ 
ma and Cochin to which onr breeder® will 
be obliged to succumb, and that is leggy 
fowls of this variety. Short, heavy legs, 
with broad backs and full, broad chests and 
proportionate necks, combine utility with 
beauty. Here again I have had to suffer at 
our exhibitions in consequence of a mistaken 
notion uf judges whose ideas of taste were 
long legs, crane-like necks and slab-like 
breasts. I once heard a discussion of two 
judges on the relative merits of two Partridge 
Cochin cocks, and they ga ve t he long-legged 
cock the preference as to size, when the 
other or short-legged cock on; weighed him 
nearly five pounds. Ideas of good taste have 
changed somewhat Since then ; bare legs, 
long necks and narrow bosoms are not con¬ 
sidered beautiful in this variety of the feather 
tribe. Bosoms urc not now the ideal of beau- 
ty in the feather tribe. I have not yet seen 
the standard and scale of points adopted by 
t’se Great American Poultry Association, 
but I will give you my standard and scale of 
points for a Partridge Cochin cock, which is 
nearly the same as adopted by our English 
friends, who have shown great genius and 
taste as breeders of all kinds of animals. 
SCALE OF POINTS. 
5 Head, Comb, Face, Deaf-ear and Wat¬ 
tles.—'Rich, brilliant red. 
5 Hackle and Saddle.— Rich, bright, golden- 
red of one \miform color, and not, as so 
often seen, gradually shading off to a 
golden color at the back of the neck ; 
each feather should be striped with a 
clear, deep black stnpe down the mid¬ 
dle. 
5 Back and Shoulders. —Same color as the 
hackle, but much darker. 
5 Primary Quills.—Deep bay on the outside 
web, and black ou the inside. 
5 Secondary Quills. —Are similar, with the 
addi lion of a black mark to each feather. 
5 Coverts. —A rich, metalie-blaek, forming 
the well known bar without which uo 
bird is perfect. 
5 Wing-bow.—A dark, bayi3h-red. 
5 Breast. —Uuderpart of body, thigh leg 
feathers, and fluff, must be a pure, rich 
black and .is glossy as possible. Any 
white, brown or red is considered objec¬ 
tionable. (But the cock that won the 
First Premium at the Crystal Palace 
showed some brown feathering. I never 
saw it but iu one instance in my own 
fowls ; but when a bird is so perfect in 
all other respects, i think some of our 
judges lay too much stress on this im¬ 
perfection, as they are apt to do on 
other faults, when in every other respect 
they may be far superior. 
5 Tail. — Should be a rich, metalic-black, 
entirely free from white feathers. White 
down or fluff on the roots of the tail 
should be avoided ; also a squirrel or 
drooping tail, 
5 Style, Symmetry and Condition. —Is one- 
— half the beauty of the fowl, and should 
50 be cloBely scrutinized by judges. A 
leggy Cochin is out of proportion. A 
large bird is always noble ; but too much 
fat is bad for breeding purposes. 
Greenville, N. J. ISAAC Van Winkle. 
.— - 
POULTRY NOTES. 
Roup Remedy. — Lucius Dunbar, West 
Bridgewater, Mass., tells the Poultry Bul¬ 
letin that he has never failed in a long expe¬ 
rience to cure roup in fowls by the use of 
“ solution chlorinated soda.” 11c takes four 
or five drops of it in a teaspoonful of cold 
water and turns it down the throat while 
another person holds the bill open. It is also 
well to wash the bill and nostrils thoroughly 
(if the entire head gets soaked so much the 
better) with warm wate.r containing a few 
drops of the same drug, afterward rinsing it 
out of the eyes of the bird. In bad cases it 
may bo necessary to administer the treat¬ 
ment two or three times daily for several 
dayB. 
A Successful Incubator. —Dr. John R, 
Goodall of Rhode Island is reported by the 
Practical Farmer to have a perfected incu¬ 
bator and “ mother,” which he has been im¬ 
proving the past 13 years and which costs 
$80 without the “ mother” and $00 with it. 
Lest our correspondents may take the 
trouble to write us fo^ it, we may add that 
we do not kuow Dr. Goodall’b address. 
STOCKING STREAMS WITH TROUT. 
A Wisconsin farmer writes to the Western 
Farmer as follows and makes a suggestion 
we think worth heeding :—A year ago, hav¬ 
ing more youug trout than my pond would 
accommodate, I put a few thousand into a 
barren stream near me. They were then 
about one inch long. A few days since 1 
thought I would sec what they had dona. I 
took my rod and a couple of my little boys 
and went to the branch, and in less than an 
hour caught thirty, all we wanted, and 
might have caught hundreds, as we could see 
them in schools of fifty or a hundred in a 
place, for a mile up and down the brook, 
They were about seveu inches long, and those 
left by midsummer will be nine or ten inches 
long, or what would be called a nice catch. 
As this same thing can be done by every 
brook of pure water, (either hard or soft), in 
the State, I submit if it would not pay the 
owners of brooks to stock them, if in nothing 
else, in furnishing one more attraction for 
the farm, If not for themselves, fpr the boys, 
for recreation is as necessary to them as meat 
and bread, and if they can’t find it on the 
farm they will hunt it in the village. Many 
of us can recollect how attractive the brook 
was on our father’s or neighbor’s farm, and 
how its wily deuizeus taxed and developed 
our young skill and ingenuity in their capture. 
A DOUBLE-HEADED TROUT.) 
I have something so strange and curious 
that I cannot help telling you of itI have 
a young brook trout, hatched this year at 
our trout ponds, and now two months old, 
which has two heads, both perfect, with gills 
and eyes, and only one body. The heads 
join just in front of the back fln, and the 
spine can be seen where it unites. Each part 
of the youug fish is as perfect before it unites 
in the body as any fish I have. It breathes 
through each mouth and I have seen both 
eating at one time. Very often it will start 
for a bit of food, and then each head will try 
to get it, just as much as though it were two 
fish. It is as healthy as any fish hatched this 
spring, of which 1 have several thousand.—A. 
P. Cole, Alleghany Co.. N. Y. 
It is by no means an uncommon occurrence 
in the experience of trout propagators we 
think, to observe double-headed trout. At 
auy rate we have seen several of them in the 
hatching houses of a friend of ours. 
A Cuttle-Fish has been caught at Olyrnpa, 
Washington Territory, measuring eight feet 
from tip to tip of its eight long arms. The 
arms were of gristle, lined on the under side, 
their entire length, with saucer-shaped suck¬ 
ers, varying from the size of a pea to two 
inches in diameter. This is the largest cuttle 
fish in North America of which there is 
authentic record. 
She Naturalist. 
ENGLISH SPARROWS AND AMERICAN 
BIRDS. 
In my estimation the birds introduced into 
the United States, known as English Spar¬ 
rows, are not aa beneficial os at first recom- 
meoded. I am in favor of our sparrows and 
warblers tor the protection of crops and 
vegetables. Anybody who has studied the 
English Sparrow will know the fighting pro¬ 
pensities this little fellow possesses. Now, 
this bird is fast driving away our robins, 
sparrows, warblers, etc., that render us in¬ 
valuable good. 1 was at first scrupulous of 
writing upon such a subject as this, but per¬ 
sons must maintain their own opinions upon 
their ideas ; and if it is important to others 
it is well to express them. I think I can call 
to tny side in this matter quite a number of 
interested American naturalists. 
Now, just, for the sake of rendering this 
subject more comprehensive and vivid, I 
propose to set out a “statistic.” Supposing, 
annually, two pairs of Song Sparrows visit 
my garden (although there arc more) for— 
say six months. On an average they destroy 
from 7U0 to 800 insects per day; in six months 
they would consume 136,000 insects 1 Two 
pairs of warblers frequent my garden for— 
say five months in the year. They consume 
about 800 or 900 noxious insects and injurious 
caterpillars per day; and in five months the 
total number of them killed would amouut 
to only 135,000 I The fruit destroyed by the 
robin about equally balances the benefit he 
contributes. All-in-all, the quantity of in¬ 
sects destroyed would reach 361,000 annually. 
For every pair of sparrows or warblers 
driven away, 65,350 insects would live to in 
crease immensely the next year. Every 
farmer and city gardener is well aware that 
his greatest trouble is to keep his enemies 
(caterpillars, etc.,) from the vines and vege¬ 
tables. He cherishes and loves his feathered 
friends for their innocent and beneficial 
helps. He will not allow one to be shot if it 
is in his power to prevent it. 
Now, a few words regarding the English 
Sparrows. It does not pay to state that 
they are useless, — far from that. They are 
fearless, beneficial, and yet injurious to 
American birds and gardeners. The tyranny 
practiced over American birds is not wholly 
unprofitable. Immense quantities of con¬ 
tumacious pests are destroyed annually; but 
for all this I cannot bear to see them super¬ 
sede our genuine warblers and sparrows. 
What naturalists—true American naturalists 
—are there who would wish for their in¬ 
crease and our own birds’ decrease ? 
1 would like to hear the opinion of persons 
interested, through the columns of the Ru¬ 
ral. S. L. Willard. 
-- 
ABOUT FERRETS. 
These useful little animals are very com¬ 
mon in England and are sold for a mere trifle 
when youug ; in fact, sometimes, pari of the 
young ones fi'om a litter will be destroyed 
the same as kittens are. I kept them for 
years to hunt rats and rabbits on my father’s 
farm and I had a fine old dog ferret which 
had a cross of the fitchew in him which was 
a fine fellow after rabbits ; but the smaller 
the ferret the more valuable for rat hunting. 
I had several milk-white ones which had no 
cross of weasel or aught else in them. They | 
have red eyes. The English weasel is yellow 
and much smaller than the ferret, and I 
think the yellow ferrets must have had a 
cross with that animal. Iu the stone walls of 
the barns aud oiher out-buildings at farm 
homesteads, rats can be easily driven out by 
ferrets; and dogs trained and used with 
ferrets will kill them as they “ bolt "out of 
the holes. There are men in England who 
get a living for a lifetime as rat catchers (rat 
catcher’s daughter to wit) aud in the vicinity 
where I was raised they w ere paid in two 
different ways. On some farms they received 
$10 (£2) per year for keeping the place clear 
and ou others they had 4 cents (3peuee) each 
for every rat killed. A rat catcher can attend 
to forty or fifty farms. Game keepers, who 
are an institution on every gentleman’s es¬ 
tate, always keep ferrets for rabbits ; for the 
English rabbits burrow much more than they 
do in the United States—in fact, all rabbits 
there make for their holes directly on being 
disturbed when sitting out. 
A Working Farmer. 
- 
PET TOADS. 
The Rev. J. Q. Wood, that excellent nat¬ 
uralist and charming writer, has a trough 
fitted up for his children full of tame toads, 
each of which answers to his own particular 
name, and comes when called. The children 
carry them round the garden and hold them 
up to any insect they may chance to fancy, 
to enable them to swallow it, which they do 
by a lightning flash of their glutinous tongues. 
EveD more, their tender care for these un¬ 
lovely pets is so great that they bathe and 
kiss them daily, just as they themselves are 
treated by the nurse. 
Upon one occasion, one of the children, 
who had received an orange, was seen with 
her own special toad seated on her hand 
partaking with his mistress of the orange, in 
alternate sucks and bites. From the experi¬ 
ence so gained, Mr. Wood declares the toad 
to be moie quickly and easily tamed than 
most other animals. So that its disposition 
seems to be as devoid of venom as its phys¬ 
ique. 
|lural Architecture. 
COLOR FOR HOMES. 
The American Builder sayB :—“ IIow often 
the architectural effect of a tine house is 
lessened by the very attempt to highten it 
by contrasts in color. The muddy buff, with 
roof aud wiudow-eaps of a severe Indian 
red, now so common in the villas one sees 
along the Hudson river, is perhaps the most 
unfortunate choice of tints that could have 
been made for buildings in a region so pic¬ 
turesque. The two colors can never be made 
to harmonize while the sun shines, and one 
is at jarring discord with everything around. 
Why will not people who revel in these syl¬ 
van enjoyments take a hint from Nature in 
this matter of color l If she is sparing of 
her brilliant white iu the landscape, she is 
not more lavish of this gloomy bluish red, 
which we rarely soo except iii rocks or strata 
of mineral earth, where it is often so over¬ 
grown with moss U3 to lose the disagreeable 
hardness so apparent when found elsewhere. 
A tender gray seems to be Nature’s favorite 
hue. Even the stems of the white birch 
become a soft, silvery gray with time, as in¬ 
deed do all things else ; not stemmage only, 
but the very fences and buildings left to her 
painting. No color so harmonizes with the 
various greens of summer or the many-col¬ 
ored tints of autumn. 
-♦♦♦--- 
PRESERVING BRICK-WORK. 
A contemporary says : — The exclusion 
of damp from brick-work has long been an 
important problem with builders. It is stat¬ 
ed that one of the most effective methods of 
accomplishing this object is the following: 
Three-quarters of mottled soap are dissolved 
in one gallon of boiling water, and the hot 
solution spread steadily with a flat brush 
over the outer surface of the brick-work, 
care taken that it does not lather; this is 
allowed to dry for twenty-four hours, when 
a solution, formed of a quarter of a pound of 
alum dissolved in two gallons of water is 
applied in a similar manner over the coatirg 
of soap. The soup and alum form an insolu- 
uble varnish, which the rain is unable to 
penetrate, and this cause of dampness is thus 
said'to be effectually removed. The opera¬ 
tion should be performed in dry, settled 
weather. 
Another method is to use eight parts of 
linseed oil and one part of sulphur, heated 
together to 278“ in an iron vessel. 
-<*-*-♦- 
OILING ROOFS. 
A correspondent of the Mirror and Far¬ 
mer says :—“ Iu 1848 I built a shed from the 
house to the barn with two roofs; shingled 
it with sapling pine shingles. One roof or 
one side I oiled with bank oil, which is the 
cheapest fish oil in market — then worth 
about forty cents per gallon, worth about 
sixty cents now—and it proved an experi¬ 
ment worth being made known to others. 
The roof or side not oiled had to be shingled 
over eight or ten years ago. The side which 
I oiled is yet good. I oiled it over again last 
full and how much longer it will last I don’t 
know, but 1 do know it ha3 lasted twenty- 
five years without repairing and without 
leaking. 
“ Last fall I oiled other roofs beside the one 
which was oiled in 1848, and I think sapling 
pine shingles well oiled when first laid, if 
they are dry, and well oiled once in ten 
years, would last an age. The shingles should 
be perfectly dry when oiled and as much oil 
put on as will strike in.” 
