185 0. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
209 
<SI)e Rcoinucr. 
Poultry and Poultry Books. 
Domestic Fowl: Their Natural History, Breeding-, Rearing, 
Feeding, and General Management; by II. D. Richardson. 
Third edition. Dublin, 1849. 
The American Fowl-Breeder : Containing full information on 
Breeding, Rearing and Management of Poultry; also instructions 
concerning the choice of Pure Stock, Crossing, Caponising, &c., 
with engravings ; by an Association of Practical Breeders. 
Boston, 1850. 
The Ne w-England Poultry Breeder : Being a brief History of 
Domestic Fowls, and containing full directions for their Rearing 
and Management; illustrated with twenty-five correct Engravings; 
by a Practical Poulterer Boston, 1850. 
Eds. Cultivator —The rearing and management 
of poultry, is a business of more importance, in a 
commercial view, than would be supposed without 
particular examination. According to the census 
of 1840, the value of poultry in the United States, 
was $12,176,170. The amount of sales of poultry 
in the city of Boston, for 1848, is computed at one 
million of dollars. The annual sales in the city of 
New-York, probably amount to a still larger sum, 
and those of other cities and towns to equal sums in 
proportion to their population. The statistical re¬ 
turns of various European countries, represent the 
interest as possessing a corresponding value there. 
I do not imagine, however, that the great interest 
which has lately been manifested in the rearing of 
poultry, has arisen wholly from a sudden perception 
of its relative consequence among the productions 
of the country, or from an impression that the pur¬ 
suit of the business is generally attended with ex¬ 
traordinary profits. Whatever may have been the 
influence of these ideas, I am inclined to think that 
the desire of obtaining new or rare varieties—either 
on account of their supposed superiority, or their 
novelty—has been a greater cause of the attention 
now devoted to the subject. Hence, a leading mo¬ 
tive in the publication of most of the new works on 
poultry, has been to describe varieties represented 
to have been hitherto uncommon. 
In treatises on animals, it is obviously proper that 
the peculiar characteristics of species and varieties 
should be given; but they should be given with cor¬ 
rectness, and in their classification, each should be 
placed in its appropriate position. It is to be re¬ 
gretted that some of the descriptions contained in 
the works referred to, are calculated to propagate 
error and create confusion, and that they betray an 
ignorance or disregard of the most important prin¬ 
ciples in which the subject is involved. 
I do not propose to enter into a detailed criticism 
of all the poultry books which have lately been is¬ 
sued, but with your permission, will notice some por¬ 
tion of the contents of those under the above titles, 
and on another occasion, may ask space for noticing 
others. 
Mr. Richardson’s book, has not, probably, had a 
very large circulation in this country; but as it has 
been frequently referred to as authority by other 
writers, and has constituted the main body of at 
least one of the late American poultry books, it de¬ 
serves some notice here. 
Mr. R. arranges the breeds of domestic fowls un¬ 
der twenty-five different heads. He begins with the 
Malay—a stock which derives its name from having 
been brought from Malay, or Malacca, the southern 
peninsula of Asia, of which, and the neighboring 
region, it is undoubtedly a native. The second va¬ 
riety is the “ Java fowl.” This name, however, 
the author thinks is wrongly applied, and regards 
the variety as a 11 cross between the Malay and 
Dorking or Spanish fowl.” 
That different breeds of fowls have been brought 
from the island of Java, is a well known fact, but 
I have seen none that indicate any such “cross” as 
is here spoken of, though there are various home¬ 
bred mongrels under the name of Javas. But the 
large fowl generally known here as the Java fowl is 
evidently but a branch of the Malay. Hence Mar¬ 
tin—decidedly the most systematic and intelligent 
writer I have met with on this subject—describes 
the Great Malay, Cochin Chinese, or Kulm Fowl, 
(Gallus giganteus ,) as “ a native of Java, Su¬ 
matra, and perhaps the Malay peninsula .”* 
* Poultry: by W. C. L. Martin, late one of the officers of the 
Zoological Society of London. 1848. 
