450 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 31, 1857. 
three, or four pounds. I grant that such a hutch will do 
j well enough for a school-boy learning (what is, generally 
j speaking, so hardly earned) experience, and who has laid 
out his 6d. or 9d. on a common Rabbit; hut I can assure 
you that it would not insure success if such a practice was 
generally adopted; the valuable and delicate inmate would 
I soon become diseased by the united evil effects of its own 
| effluvium and inability to exercise. As far as one can it is 
I well to take Nature for our guide in the treatment of those 
| dumb creatures intrusted to our care; but it would never do 
to apply the resources of Nature alone to an animal so far 
removed from its natural condition in properties, habits, and 
constitution. If you were to turn your stud of Fancy Rabbits 
; from the hay chamber or rabbit-hutch, properly so called, 
| into a warren, I think you will agree with me that very few 
would be in a satisfactory state after the first few days. If 
we were to treat our race-horses, fancy poultry, or cattle as 
they treat themselves in a state of nature, we should, in the 
first instance, lose numbers by disease and death, while the 
j remainder would become degenerate and inferior. More- 
| over, if animals attained the required standard of perfection 
i in a natural state we should never be at the expense of 
! cultivating them as we do; nor would those highly com- 
| mendable associations be formed and carried into effect, 
| whose principal object it is to cultivate and bring to per¬ 
fection the several varieties of useful and ornamental do¬ 
mestic animals. 
Before I conclude with the subject of the hutch I will 
j add, that the hutch in the diagram is necessarily more ex¬ 
pensive than a tea-chest in the first instance, but its greater 
convenience, healthy accommodation, and general appear¬ 
ance will render it by far the cheapest in the end. Where 
expense is no object, and where the size of the rabbit-house 
permits of it, of course it would be much better to arrange the 
] hutches parallel with, and not one above the other; but 
when it is the intention of the fancier to breed any number 
of specimens, which must he done to enable him to select a 
succession of first-rate stock, and when the financial con¬ 
dition is not replete, the drawback of the latter plan becomes 
unavoidable. If the hutches are built as I directed, fitted 
with proper conductors for the moisture, and tilted rather 
backwards, they will last for years without the necessity for 
repairs, or the nuisance of a constant effluvium over and 
above what all Rabbits, kept in any way whatever, exhale. 
As “ Vigilans ” truly remarks, the Rabbit is naturally a 
cleanly animal, and this property it retains in that most 
artificial condition in which it is presented to the fancier of 
the present day, so that almost invariably we find the excre¬ 
tions in one or more corners of the hutch, and not scattered 
over the whole. This fact renders the construction of 
the hutch more simple, and its durability more perfect. 
The corners selected are usually the dark or far comers, 
j where the conductor is situated, and in this case the greater 
! part passes off at once, and prevents the possibility of any 
I unhealthy exhalations. 
Permit me also to say what pleasure it would afford me to 
show my Rabbits and hutches to “ Mr. Vigilans,” should he 
ever turn his steps towards Beverley, that I might practi¬ 
cally demonstrate those facts which I have so insufficiently 
developed in my papers on the subject.— Percy Boulton. 
DUBLIN AMATEUR POULTRY SOCIETY. 
REPORT. 
The fourth annual Exhibition of this Society was held 
j in the Agricultural Museum of the Royal Dublin Society 
on the 18th, 19th, and 20th of December last, and your 
i Committee have great cause to congratulate the Society on 
the improvement that has taken place in the several breeds 
of Poultry since the formation of the Amateur Poultry 
Society in the year 1852. Passing in review the specimens 
that have been exhibited since that period the advance in 
the perfection of markings and size was apparent even to 
the casual visitors at the Shows. In the Dorking class the 
improvement has been marked, not only in the size of the 
birds, but in the purity of the blood, as indicated by the 
shape and accuracy of feather—a feature that in England 
has been too little regarded, in the anxiety to force size by 
cross-breeding, at the expense of the natural qualities of 
the breed. To enter on the subject of the advantage that 
has been derived by the country since what has been termed 
the poultry fancy has extended the dissemination of improved 
breeds, we have but to refer to the export of the quantity 
of eggs and fowls sent daily from Ireland to various parts 
of the United Kingdom, which now count, not by units of 
eggs, but by crates 
holding 
1,000 
each. But a more 
gratifying result of the labours of your Committee is the 
benefit to society at large, as shown by the fact that since 
the starting of your Society the Irish fowls sent to the 
English markets, which were inferior, are now on a par with 
the best English. The Society, as this report has already 
informed you, has seen its fourth annual Exhibition, 
whereby the expectations of the originators have been fully 
realised ; but commensurate with the improvement of these 
Shows there is a commensurate expense, and on this head 
your Committee regret there are grounds of complaint as 
to apathy on the part of the public, for while the Committee 
have given time and exertions to the carrying out of these 
projects for the benefit of the public, the public have not come 
forward to aid the Committee in their efforts; and, in now 
submitting our account to the Society, we hope such steps 
will be taken as will render the Society permanent, and 
prevent one so useful, and originated for so good a purpose, 
from falling to the ground for want of common energy. 
R. P. Williams; j Hob ‘ Secretanes ’ 
EGG-PRODUCTION OF HAMBURGH FOWLS. 
Having read the remarks of “ Silver-pencilled Ham- j 
burgh ” in your paper, and thinking there might be some j 
persons who would consider it an exaggeration, I have been 
induced to send you the account of four of the same kind of ' 
hens kept by me :— 
January .... 
13 
May ..... 
September.. 
54 
February .. 
68 
June. 
October .... 
49 
March .... 
81 
July. 
November .. 
• 6 
April. 
86 
August ... 
...81 
December .. 
14 
These were kept in an aviary fourteen feet by five feet, and 
never were let out; and it will be seen the average of each 
hen is considerably over 150, being 176, whilst your former ; 
correspondent’s was 190 each ; but his had the advantage of S 
a good grass run, a thing which mine never saw.—E. B., 
Oxford. 
COMB OF POLAND FOWLS. 
Some interesting observations were in the 438th number 
of The Poultry Chronicle from Mr. Williams on the 
subject of Crested fowls. Amongst other things that gen¬ 
tleman said, “ Should Crested fowls have a comb in the 
form of two spicula?” It is now the fashion to breed 
Polands, Black, Gold, and Silver, without any comb. Well, 
I possess some of the finest fowls I ever saw (Polands), 
and procured them from first-rate combed birds, and they 
all have very fine crescent-shaped combs, which, in my 
opinion, despite “Sam Slick,” add very much to their 
beauty and sprightliness, and support the topknot, prevent¬ 
ing it from falling over their eyes. Now, in the fashion 
of breeding Polands sans comb I consider that form is very, 
very often sacrificed. I know many persons who have 
splendid Polands, but whose fowls fetch half their right 
price from being combed. Do support the “ comb move¬ 
ment ! ” It is natural for birds to have combs, and they add 
to their beauty and support the crests. These are the three 
benefits.— The Comb Champion. 
P.S.—Can you tell me what is the meaning of the term 
“ vulture hocked ?” 
[Feathers projecting beyond the knees or hocks of a bird, 
as they do in some birds of prey, render the bird, in the 
dialect of the poultry-yard, “ vulture hocked.”— Ed. C. G.] 
ON THE BREEDING OF GAME FOWLS. 
I wish to make a few remarks on the breeding of Game 
fowls. Firstly, it is usual here to put tho cock selected to 
