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MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
65 
<$he fouling 
POUTERS AND TUMBLERS. 
M. B. desires to know liow yon can make 
Tumblers mount up high. If they are not 
genuine, you cannot make them mount or 
tumble. Many pigeons are sold for Tum¬ 
blers that are not. You must purchase gen¬ 
uine stock of reliable breeders. It is cheaper 
to pay $25 for a good pair of Tumblers. You 
can breed six pairs in a season, and then you 
have quite a bevy. 1 would suggest the use 
of Highflyers to make your pigeons fly high. 
The properties of the Pouter are the same 
as they were 140 years ago 1, Length of leg 
or limb ; 2, Length of feat her ; 8 , Slenderness 
of body; 4, Size and carriage of crop ; 5, 
Color. 
Without length of limb, there is little value 
to the bird. Scveu inches for a cock, for 
a lien. I have heard of some birds measur¬ 
ing 1% inches, but never saw such a bird. 
It is measured from the Joint nearest the 
body to the end of the nail on the center toe. 
The length of feather is measured from the 
t ip of the beak to the extremity of the cen¬ 
ter feathers of the tail; 18 inches is a very 
good length, hut I have heard of some birds 
measuring 80 inches. 
Slimness of girth is a very essential prop¬ 
erty, and the more slim the better the breed. 
The size and carriage of the crop is one on 
which the elegance of the bird depends. The 
crop, when distended, should be of as globu¬ 
lar shape as possible. We must commence 
on the Blue Pieds. The Finds are the most 
esteemed. There arc the Blue Pied, Black 
Pied, Red Med and Yellow I'ied. Their beau¬ 
ty and worth are according as they best meet 
the essential qualities, stated above, in all 
respects. For instance, i f the Blue and Black 
are equal, the Black is more esteemed, and 
so on. He ought to bo pied so tliat the chop 
(or the front part of the crop) will be white, 
girt round w th a shining green, intermixed 
with the color with which he is pied. He 
ought to have a bib (or round patch) of the 
same color with which ho is pied coming 
down unde: - his chop and falling upon the 
chop; which makes it the shape of a half 
nioon ; but if the bib be wanting, lie is called 
swaJlow-throated. His head anil nock ought 
to he of one uniform color and, if blue, ought 
to nave black bars across his wings on the 
lower part. If these bars should happen to 
be of brown color, he is called kite-barred. 
The shoulder or piniou of his wing ought to 
he mottled with white, rose-shaped ; but if 
the pinion runs with a large patch of white 
to the outer edge of the wing, he is said to bo 
lawned-slcevcd. His thigh ought U> be clean 
white ; if uny other color is intermixed, he 
is foul-feathered. His nine flight feathers of 
the wing ought to be white : otherwise, he 
is foul-iliglited ; and if only the external 
feather of the wing be of the color of the 
body, he is sword-flighted. 
I expect to write a series of articles for the 
benefit of fanciers on pigeons and some addi¬ 
tional on fowls. I shall commence with the 
Pouter, as there are many inquiries concern¬ 
ing this class of pigeons and, of late, the pig¬ 
eon fancy has become quite in vogue. There 
is no better field for the exercise of scientific 
breeding than that offered by pigeons. I 
hope to lay down some reliable rules for 
breeding in this class of birds, as I have done 
in fowls. The purest and best pigeons are 
the cheapest. Good Pouters are sold from 
$50 to $150 a pair. These prices may deter 
same persons from indulging in l Iris amuse¬ 
ment. It is better to dampen the ardor at 
once rather than to have any one breed a lot 
of birds of no character or sale and which 
only vitiate all good taste. 1 would advise 
all those -who cannot afford to indulge in such 
an expensive luxury to commence with some 
of the lower-priced Toy-pigeons—the Mag¬ 
pie, Turbit, Barbs, Nuns, Bald Heads, Swal¬ 
lows, &c. Isaac Van Winkle. 
Greenville, N, J. 
MELON SEEDS INJURIOUS. 
“ Aunt Lou’s Chickens,” see Rural New- 
Yorker of Nov. 14, are probably suffering 
from the effects of melon seeds with the 
rinds she gave them. Seed of melons, cu¬ 
cumbers, squashes and pumpkins appear to 
be injurious to most animals. Cows fed on 
pumpkins are little benefited unless the 
seeds are carefully removed. The seeds have 
a diuretic effect which counteracts the good 
derived from the feed. In removing the 
seeds care should be taken to bury them or 
keep them, where fowls cannot get them. 
Geese and ducks especially are liable to be 
killed by eating them. The seeds are light 
and fill up the crop, not having weight to 
carry them through into the duet. Unless 
speedily cared for they will become wertk 
and light some of them not weighing much 
more than their bones and feathers should, 
and many will die. The only remedy I have 
ever found necessary is to keep melon or 
pumpkin seeds from them and feed liberally 
with whole corn until their strength and 
weight is recruited. Possibly the weight of 
the corn helps to clear the crop of its accu¬ 
mulation of light pumpkin seeds. For this 
I should prefer whole corn to oats, barley or 
meal. 
It is possible that something else ails the 
chickens ; but if Aunt Lou has allowed them 
t o eat watermelon seeds t hat is probably the 
origin of the trouble. 
Western New York. 
-♦♦♦- 
POULTRY NOTES. 
Combs of }louiluns .—Will you publish an 
illustration of the Houdan cock’s comb and 
also one of the Houdan hen’s comb ? The 
standard says:— “COMB well developed, rod 
and antler like, inclining rather backward 
into crest; the outside opening, lik e two 
leaves of a book, the center haring the ap- 
earance of an ill-shaped , long strawberry.” 
have seen fowls that have taken premiums 
whose combs did not con ft inn to this descrip¬ 
tion and therefore ask for an illustration 
which approaches life-like.— j. e. w. 
If our correspondent will look on page 60, 
Rural New-Yorker, July 25, he will find a 
Houdan cock’s head illustrated ; and on page 
124 of Rural, Aug. 22, a Houdun hen’s head 
illustrated. 
The Cochin not Degenerated .—A veteran 
poultry-breeder writes the London Field that 
in his opinion, “ We do not possess any breed 
in a more primitive and less degenerate state 
than the Cochin; that the Cochin is one of 
the least, if not the least domesticated fowls 
we possess.” 
An Aged Goose. —Rev. Wm, Atwood, Big 
Flats, Chemung Co., N. Y., claims to have 
“a pure white goose, seventy one years old 
last spring, having been hatched In 1803.” 
We would bo glad to he convinced that the 
Rev. gentleman is not mistaken. 
<011^ Iporsetmtn. 
RIDING ON HORSEBACK. 
The reasons (on page 314) for thinking it 
unfortunate that there is so little horseback 
riding are very good ; but the confounded 
bars and the miserable fastenings to gates 
would have to be changed before a farmer 
COUld ride around his farm in the ready 
maimer English farmers do. But the owner 
of the land he farms in the United States is 
taught by public opinion and by general be¬ 
lief that he lias no time to ride, as it is essen¬ 
tial to his success for him to work at the 
head of his laborers, from light till dark half 
the year, and from sunrise till sunset the 
other half ; and if he goes to market, he must 
have a wagon that lie may take some of his 
produce to sell or leave at a store. Markets 
in England and America are different. In 
England the farmer takes a sample of a 
handful in a sample hag in his pocket. 
Sometimes 1 have seen a common handker¬ 
chief with wheat tied in one corner, barley 
in another, and oat* or beans in the third ; 
for in the country market towns millers, 
maltsters and dealers buy in this way, and 
the farmer sends his carter to the mill, the 
inalthonse or the storehouse, as it may be, 
on a future duy, receiving the money the 
next market day, which is always once a 
week, the day varying in different towns. 
Thus, business being transacted by the agri¬ 
culturists openly in the market-place, every 
man is well posted in prices, and nine out of 
ten ride on horseback. The farmers of En¬ 
gland are generally good horsemen, and as a 
class are really the most independent men 
in the kingdom. On the way to market, and 
afterward on the way home, will be seen 
three or four in rows, jogging along, talking 
over matters; and the market rooms are a 
regular institution. 
Every hotel having its own peculiar dabs 
of customers, from the head inn, where wine 
is chiefly drank, step by step down to the 
pig market, where the home-brewed ale is 
the principal beverage. 
The pig dealers, too, ride on horseback; also 
the sheep dealer, the cow dealer and the 
horse dealer; so do all gentlemen. The 
tradesmen, shopkeepers and mechanics are 
unused to riding, and the tailor is the by¬ 
word of bad horsemanship. Boys learn to 
ride from their childhood — babyhood, I 
should say; for the nurse girls are often met 
with a donkey or a diminutive Welch pony, 
with paniers, which are made for the pur¬ 
pose, with seats in them on each side and the 
oldest children sitting astride ; and then they 
soon ride alone. I can remember riding on 
errands for rny father Reven miles from 
town, when I was eight years old, and at 
nine myself and brother went thirty miles 
to visit our grandparents, riding, one on a 
pony, the. other on a donkey. Thus boys get 
on till it. is not uncommon to see youngsters 
of twelve riding on a Galloway—a slight- 
blooded looking nag—up to hounds, and if 
they are ‘‘well in at, the death” the hunts¬ 
man will give them the "brush,” which is 
coveted by all sportsmen. 
Riding on horseback is understood and 
practised more than it is in the Southern 
States, and tigi riding is more sportsmanlike ; 
there is no pacing or racking in England ; it 
is a walk, or jog, or canter, or a gallop. 
During the haymaking and grain harvest 
the English farmer is on horseback many 
hours, for there is a different system of 
economizing manual labor, as there is no 
riding to and fro with the wagons, the 
teamster being in the field all the time, and 
tho men unloading never leave tho stacks, 
boys driving, and the farmer on horseback 
is on tho move to keep all going with the 
regularity of clockwork. 
The gentlemeu have magnificent saddle 
horses, of course never being used in har¬ 
ness ; for it is well understood that no horse 
can bo made to draw without spoiling him 
for riding. There are hundreds of thousands 
of horses which never have a collar on during 
their existence, though many are broken to 
harness oil becoming aged or on beginning 
to stum bis, for the fore logs arc apt to get 
shaky when hardly ridden by heavy men 
and by random riders, who rattle at a fast 
pace down hills on the hard roads ; but care¬ 
ful men, proud of their nags, as most good 
horsemen are, will ride on the side of the 
roads ; and there are a great many of what 
are called “bridle roads,” which make short 
cuts across country, the gates being too nar¬ 
row to permit any vehicle to pass through. 
Ladles generally have a groom on horse- 
bank, who rides behind, and whose duty (s 
to open gates and hold the horse when the 
lady alights. Gentlemen of rank are gener¬ 
ally followed by their grooms, too. By-the- 
by, the groom Is seldom heard of in America ; 
in England lie is totally distinct from the 
coachman, and has a separate stable, with a 
saddle room, where there is a fire to keep 
the bits and stirrup-irons from rusting, See. 
The coachman’s room, for his use, is called 
the harness room. It is a pleasure to ride 
on an English saddle ; the groom keeps all in 
the most beautiful polished state ; but the 
high pommels and small stirrups are exceed¬ 
ingly dangerous in American saddles. 
A. W. F. 
-—-. 
NOTES FOR HORSEMEN. 
Rubber Shoes for Horses .—T see in a copy 
of the Rural New-Yorker an article speak¬ 
ing of rubber shoes for horses. Now, this is 
something 1 have often thought of, but never 
could contrive ill my mind how they could 
lie kept on and how t hey could be made so 
rough as to enable n horse to travel on rough, 
slippery roads. During my long experience 
as a horseman, I have seen many valuable 
horses ruined with bad shoeing, especialI 3 ' ip 
my business (livery), where horses have to 
stand in the stable or on the hard road the 
year round. I think a rubber shoe would be 
a good tiling. Please inform me where they 
can he procured. Why don’t the manufac¬ 
turers advertise them ? If they do, I have 
failed to see their advertisement. Kan¬ 
sas. 
WHAT we said of rubber shoes for horses 
was copied from the Scientific American 
(No. 37 Bark Row, New York City ;) and if 
you will address t he editor of that paper, you 
can probably learn the address of the invent¬ 
or or manufacturer. We do not know it. 
Farcy .—A correspondent of the Country 
Gentleman says “ Fill a paddle with sharp 
tacks driven well through, and use it in 
puncturing the buds, after which wash the 
parts with salt and water, and turn your 
horse on good grass for two weeks, it will 
effect a cure. Green food is positively es¬ 
sential, and very often this alone will effect 
a cure.” 
Hungarian Millet for Horses. — M. J. 
Dutton is informed that Hungarian millet 
seed is injurious to horses. Hungarian hay, 
cut when the plant is iu bloom, will not in¬ 
jure any animal. The eating of the seed 
affects the urinary organs injuriously. 
Thor0pin, — Dr. Tutuill says repeated 
blistering with biniodide of mercury and 
lard, one part of the former to six parts of 
the latter is the only remedy he can recom¬ 
mend for thoropin on the leg. 
§u[boncultural. 
SHOULD THE OLD CANES OF RASPBER¬ 
RIES BE CUT AWAY? 
The old New York Farmers’Club "still 
lives at least, a few of the members of 
that, remarkable body occasionally meet and 
tell how little they know of tho subjects dis¬ 
cussed. For instance, nothing since a letter 
was addressed to the said body, anil t he sages 
met to hear it read and discuss the questions 
propounded. The following extracts arc 
taken from the report) made by one of Uie 
principal actors, Mr 8. E. Tonn : 
A letter as follows was received from Ira 
Felt, Brockwayville, Pa. : 
“ Please answer first, when is the best time 
to set. out Wild blank raspberry bushes for 
cultivation in garden ; second, should the 
bearing tttalka be trimmed out each year ; if 
so, at what time V' 
Dr. Tiumhlk said that he would not advise 
Mr. Felt to set out wild berries. He recom¬ 
mended the Doolittle Black-Cap raspberry. 
They were easy to propagate. .Spring was 
the best time to plant them. The Doolittle 
was of good slzoand the best variety in every 
way. 
That’s good advice certainly, coming, as it 
does, from the “ Inspector of Foreign Mar¬ 
ble,” who probably was not aware, of the 
fact that the Doolittle Black-Cap is a wild 
variety found a few years since in its native 
hahitati. 
Mr. Lawrence stated that the celebrated 
Lawton blackberry originated from wild 
hushes that were taken from the Holds and 
cultivated. 
The Chairman— 1 Tho far-famed Kittatinny 
blackberry originated from a wild bush that 
was found on the Kittatinny Mountains, in 
New Jersey. 
And, the gentleman might have added, all 
the other noted varieties in cultivation, such 
as Wilson’s Early, lioleom, Dorchester, West¬ 
ern Triumph, Briton, etc., etc. 
8. E. Todd—A ll over that section of New 
Jersey where I reside one can go into the 
fields and dig up untold quantities of both 
blackberry and raspberry bushes Which, 
when properly cultivated, will yield just as 
lino fruit as can lie produced from the varie¬ 
ties that arc purchased of nurserymen at 
exorbitant prices. 
Tills ahowH how much Mr. Todd knows 
about wild and cultivated raspberries, as 
well as his opinion of our nurserymen in gen¬ 
eral. It ts to bo hoped, however, that our 
nurserymen will not take this onslaught upon 
their reputation to heart, for their accuser is 
not in tho least a dangerous fellow. He 
means well enough, but has a rather singular 
way or giving expression to his thoughts. 
His vory limited knowledge of horticulture 
leads him to think that because once in a 
million times a variety of raspberries worthy 
of cultivation is found growing wild, all are 
worthy of the same attention. Of course, if 
if he cannot see any difference, there is 
none ! 
Col. Battkhson said that in Europe the 
stalks of the plant were trimmed early in the 
spring. Mr. Hill of Illinois said that In his 
locality the stalk was cut down iu tho spring. 
Dr. Wellington said, let the canes stand till 
all the loaves drop from the bush ; then these 
cones may tie nulled off either in the fall or 
winter. Mr. 8. E Todd said that all the 
vitality of the plant was in the leaves. Mr. 
Bruen expressed surprise at this discovery. 
We are surpxnsed that our old and esteem¬ 
ed friend, Bbuen, should be surprised at any 
statement Mr. Todd should make. Of course 
if Mr. Todd was cultivating raspberries (we 
regret that ho does not) he would only take 
esperfal care of the leaves, permitting the 
roots bo take care of themselves, as they pos¬ 
sess “no vitality.” 
Mr. Todd said that ho would suggest an 
experiment which any one might try, and 
thus satisfy himself that it was not alt a 
vague theory. Let two raspberry plants lie 
selected of equal growth and vitality, and 
immediately after the fruit is gathered cut 
away tho berry stem of oneclu3ter and allow 
the other to grow until it dies. They would 
both die before the next spring. But it, will 
be seen that the cones of the hill from which 
the old cones were removod immediately 
after the crop was gat,tiered will be comnar 
ativelv feeble, and wdl yield a touch liglifeer 
crop than the hill of canes the old ones of 
which were permitted to stand until the 
leaves had all fallen or until the next spring. 
This is a fact that eaunot be refuted. 
If the author of the above had ever culti¬ 
vated raspberries and put his theory to prac¬ 
tical test, he would have learned that it 
could be successfully "refuted.” We have 
ourselves practiced the cutting-out of bear¬ 
ing canes of raspberries just as soon as the 
leaves were gathered and in many instances 
when quite full of fruit ; but never discov¬ 
ered the first sign of injurious effects, but 
have always considered the practice based 
on sound physiological principles. 
