344 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 2 . 
months, whilst feeding on Turnips, would he very great, 
yet we have no plan at present designed whereby we 
can gain by tho shelter afforded, without being subject 
to tho serious drawback of an accumulation, or unequal 
distribution of the manure. Any attempt at artificial 
protection, or shelter for Sheep, which induces them to 
collect together, has, moreover, the further disadvantage 
of propagating the foot lameness, which is of great 
moment at the present period, whilst there is so great a 
tendency in flocks to this disease. Could these difficul- 
j ties ho avoided, and shelter he afforded to the stock at a 
moderate cost, farmers would no doubt gladly avail 
themselves of the benefit. 
; The most important point is, no doubt, the selec- 
; tion of stock suitable to our soil, climate, and kind 
I of food. In the northern and midland counties tho 
Long-woolled breeds of Sheep greatly predominate; 
and hitherto it must be admitted that they have 
been considered best adapted to the profitable con¬ 
sumption of green crops, whether Grass or Turnips; 
but tho plan of crossing with the Down is increasing 
rapidly, and this mixed breed is coming into favour 
with both grazier and consumer. This fact I hold to 
be tho forerunner of another change, and that is the use 
of tho Down breed of Sheep for fatting, in preference to 
tho Long-woolled or cross breeds. The Hampshire 
Down broed of Sheep being not only well established as 
tho best for profitable fatting, but reckoned the best 
adapted to the soil and climate of the southern, eastern, 
and south-western counties, the question then arises, 
what is tho essential difference of soil and climate 
between these two districts, calling them the northern 
and southern, which should induce a preference? We 
have no more hardy breed amongst the Long-woolled 
tribes than the Hampshire; nor is the former to be 
preferred to the latter, for early maturity, or the profit¬ 
able consumption of farm produce. 
I am, therefore, inclined to think, that either breed 
must stand upon its own merit for fatting purposes, 
and in a great measure separate and apart from the 
influence of soil, particularly in the absenco of any 
decided experiments proving the contrary. These ob¬ 
servations apply more particularly to the winter-feeding 
upon roots, &c., for I am ready to admit that the Long- 
woolled Sheep would give the most profit in feeding the 
grass upon deep rich soils in tho summer months, being 
of quieter habits. Joseph Blundell. 
(To be continued.) 
BANTAMS AS RECENTLY SHOWN. 
The farther we recode from tho strictly profitable breeds 
I of poultry, the more arbitrary becomes the standard by 
which those that remain must receive tho verdict of the 
“fancier;" an expression especially suited to the diminutive 
race on which we now design to offer a few remarks arising 
from their public appearance during the past year. Excel¬ 
lence for the table, and a prolific character as layers, arc 
rightly valued as counter-balancing certain deficiencies in 
form or feather, when wo discuss the competing merits of 
economical poultry; and we have ever been of the number 
of those who think that in every question connected with 
the poultry-yard, “ comparative cost and ptroduce ” must be the 
main ground on which the claims of the various races must 
be founded. But with “ bantams,” form and feather are the 
sole points to receive attention; for few, if any, of their most 
ardent admirers would class them among the profitable 
fowls. 
Now, taking them in tho order in which they come before ; 
us in the catalogues of our various exhibitions, let us first ask 
whether the Gold-laced birds that have been shown during 
the past twelve months have been generally equal or supe¬ 
rior to those of previous years ? Our own observation would 
lead us, at once, to reply in the negative to this inquiry, and 
this opinion is based on a careful review of the majority of 
the principal exhibitions. 
In very many instances the specimens have evidently 
been “ bred out ; ’’ lacing has first become irregular, and at 
last spotty, till some birds, shown, too, with sanguine ex¬ 
pectation in this class, appeared as bad representatives of 
the spangled variety. Few judges have been occupied, we 
imagine, for any great length of time before the pens of 
this section of the Bantam family; for wherever fair speci¬ 
mens have been present, their position has been at once 
assigned, and wo have no hesitation in expressing our belief 
that, generally speaking, at least four out of every five pens 
were in no position to claim the honour of any token of com¬ 
mendation whatever. But though this may be admitted as 
the fact, it will be worth our while briefly to advert to the 
probable causes of this decline, which, though we cannot 
hope to throw any fresh light on the experience of many 
who have long studied this variety, may yet prove serviceable 
to the long list of those whose various circumstances enable 
them to gratify their taste for poultry only in the class 
before us. 
Thus we may ask what has been the per centage of laced 
Bantam chicken hatched from the eggs of really good birds 
during the past year ? Some of our friends, who havo set 
hundreds, would answer, barely one per cent.; and though 
we will not insist on so low an average, we doubt whether 
any much higher rate could be proved, at least where the 
parent-birds, as before said, were really good specimens as 
judged by the recognized standard. 
Comparing this with the healthy and numerous broods 
that other Bantams, Silver and Gold alone excepted, con¬ 
tinue to produce, we must arrive at tho conclusion, that in 
the selection of the parents of this variety we require cer¬ 
tain features adverse to the vigorous and perfect propagation 
of their race; and at once, when we turn to the prize pen, 
the square henny tail, and the absence of both hackle and ! 
saddle feathers in the cock, points manifestly to the cause of 
their unfertile character. We are, in fact, breeding from 
birds selected especially from their non-possession of the 
universal gallinaceous characteristics of the male. sex. Add 
to this continuous breeding-in-and-in, from the difficulty of 
procuring fresh blood good enough, as it is thought, to mix 
with favourite and long-cherished strains, and we have more 
than sufficient reason fully to account for the present depre¬ 
ciation. But wo might also allude to another influence, 
which will avail for our present purpose so far as it is con¬ 
sidered that the laced Bantam “ originated ” with the late 
Sir John Sebright, being the rosult of his careful selection I 
and continued experiments with other varieties of this 
family. If this supposition be correct, the result we now j 
witness would be in strict analogical concurrence with all 
that takes place, under similar circumstances, in the rest of j 
the animal kingdom. Tho peculiar form and character thus I 
arrived at would inevitably wear itself out, in a longer or a j 
shorter space, according to the greater or less difficulty of i 
obtaining fresh birds that might help to reproduce the same j 
points that first distinguished the variety. But wo must not 
linger on this part of our subject, for a disquisition on tho 
origin of the Sebright Bantam has no place in the present 
paper, where we merely propose to inquire into tho fact of 
their assumed degeneracy. 
An imperfect state of the organs of generation being in 
fowls commonly co-cxistent with the partial assumption of 
tho plumage of the other sex, we havo a ready clue to a 
cause which would account for the usual unfertile character 
of the Sebright egg, and thence, going a step further, tho 
degeneracy of their progeny in the comparatively few in¬ 
stances in which they do prove productive. 
