FANCIERS JOURNAL 
AND: 
POULTRY EXCHANGE. 


Vor PHILADELPHIA, 

JANUARY 1, 1874. Now. 


INTRODUCTION. 
Ir is no new idea with the Editor to publish a ‘‘ Weekly 
Fanciers’ Journal,” but it has been under consideration for 
many years. Being one of the pioneers in the poultry and 
almost the pioneer in the pigeon fancy of later years, I 
have long seen the necessity for more frequent visits of a 
Journal devoted to the interests of the Fancier. Not only 
that of poultry, pigeons, and dogs, &c., but a Journal that 
will treat on every subject relating to the breeding, manage- 
ment, and treatment of pets of every description. Hence, 
the name ‘ Fanciers’ Journal,’? which covers everything 
pertaining to the fancy. Every human being has a fancy of 
some kind. The boy’s first pets are usually white mice, 
which are soon replaced by guinea-pigs, then rabbits, finally 
pigeons. Should he become a mechanic he will be content 
with the toys of moderate price. But should he be more 
successful in life, he will soon have his loft stocked with 
something better, such as almonds, carriers, pouters, &c. 
Almost every lady has her pet canary; some have many, 
and will carry their fancy so far as to keep goldfinches, and 
probably a piping bullfinch, talking parrot, &., &c. The 
Journal will be illustrated by the best English artists 
from time to time as circumstances require. And the Edi- 
tor has the promise of the assistance of some of the best 
writers in this country. Foreign writers will be secured as 
soon as practicable. It is hoped to make the Journal a 
welcome weekly visitor to every household. The advertiser 
cannot fail to see the advantage in a weekly for offering his 
surplus stock to the public. Hoping for a generous share 
of patronage, : 
I am most respectfully yours, 
Jos. M. WADE. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
FANCIES. 
We all have our fancies. Some of us fancy beautiful 
women, others fine horses, and many others poultry and 
pigeons. Sometimes these fancies occur at different periods 
in the life of the individual, at other times they all exist at 
the same moment. Then we pity that individual. He may 
humor himself in his fancy for the poultry, the pigeons or 
horses, but that other fancy: ah! we cannot always humor 
ourselves there. Too much depends upon the creature her- 
self, and we all know the uncertainties, the vagaries of a 
capricious beauty who knows herself the fancied of a lord 
of creation. Put from you as soon as you can such a fancy ; 
the heart may throb, the hand may tremble when you hear 
her voice, but root it out; let not your happiness depend on 
one. Go to your horse and down the road you fly; click, 
click, click ; steady, boy, now and away. The open nostril, 
flashing eye, and flying hoofs yield to the touch of the finger 
‘as does the lightning to the point of the rod. There is a 
fancy for you, from which you return with the live. blood 
bounding through your veins, and the glow of health 
| variety to reach your sympathies. 

painted upon your cheeks. But all have not the inclination 
or means to indulge in a fast horse, and some fancies run in 
a quieter channel. There are the chickens; first among 
which we place the Game fowl, with his glorious crest and 
undaunted eye, the monarch of the farmyard; then the 
golden, silvered Poland, and Hamburgs, diminutive 
Bantam, and immense Brahma and Cochin. You are hard 
to please if among the list of poultry you cannot find one 
Do you want vigorous 
action, gorgeous plumage, and a spirit that will dare all ill, 
you find it with the Game. Do you wish your lawn 
illumined with gold or silver, accept the Hamburgs or 
Polands. Have you a ten-foot yard and wish a trio of pets, 
take the Brahma or Cochin, and your neighbors will admire 
your birds and curse your “ yoleanoes of crow.”’ 
But you have no yard or may have no such faney; go 
then to the pigeons. An unused room or a few boxes by 
your window and your enjoyment is insured. Do you wish 
a familiar friend who will wink a-comical eye at you from 
over his bag of wind, he can be obtained from the Pouters. 
The Fantail will fly to your shoulder and bend its graceful 
neck to eat the corn from your lips. A whistle, and the 
Tumbler mounts the air and wantons among its billows as 
a fish does on the waves of ocean. The most exquisite 
coloring is to be found with the pigeons; the most quiet 
placid enjoyment is obtained from watching their move- 
ments. A beautiful woman may turn your life to bitter- 
ness; a grand horse may dash you in pieces; but your 
chickens and pigeons are always ready to settle on your 
knee, peck corn from your hand or lips, and cultivate in you 
that contented disposition which insures happiness, regard- 
less alike of east winds or financial panics. 
IDR: Web. M. 

2 <e 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
CHICKEN CHOLERA. 
PROBABLY no drawback, roup excepted, proves more dis- 
couraging to one anxious to rear fine poultry than the above- 
named disease, and the most discouraging part of it seems 
to be the fact that there is no infallible cure, though there 
may possibly be preventives. 
I felt sure at one time that I had found a cure, and in 
individual cases it worked well, rarely failing; but when 
half a dozen or more of the flock became diseased, all efforts 
to cure them became ineffectual. It is not a pleasant thing 
to find, morning after morning, for a week or more, from 
five to eight of your best fowls lying stiff, the victims of 
this scourge. To say nothing of the value of fifty or more 
well-marked Cochins or Brahmas, it makes one feel a little 
gloomy to find the size of his flock so suddenly and so un- 
ceremoniously diminished. Did this disease always take the 
weakest and poorest specimens it were perhaps no bad thing, 
but it does not discriminate. Your fifty dollar cock is just 
as likely to fall by it as the scrawniest specimen in the yard. 
