226 
FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 

In size they far exceeded the hen producing them. In 
color they were excessively darker than the hen which pro- 
duced them, while their shape conformed more closely to 
the Pheasant. 
The hybrid bred between the Pheasant and Spanish hen 
at adult age was black, and of a dull sooty hue, with yellow 
eyes, and weighed nearly seven pounds. Around the face, 
instead of being white, presented the velvety appearance 
peculiar to the Pheasant. 
In the cross between the Black-breasted Red Game hen, 
the scapular and breast feathers were penciled with as much 
regularity as in the male Pheasant. The ground color was 
exceedingly dark, and these pencilings were not visible. The 
face of this hybrid was plain and feathered to the eyelid. 
The eyes were of a deep hazel. Its weight was about six 
and a half pounds. 
In describing the other three crosses, as much dissimi- 
larity was observed as in those described. Mr. Hewitt 
remarks that the markings were as variable as they could 
be, and the birds as pugnacious as it is possible to imagine, 
and were always sterile and unsociable. 
Another interesting hybrid is a cross between the Musk 
drake and the Common duck, which produces a mule of 
symmetrical form and of various colors. They are only useful 
for table consumption, and when fattened far excel any other 
variety. They are also sterile. 
A specimen of a cross between the domestic hen and Par- 
tridge cock was owned in this city by Mr. Charles. It was 
a hen, and weighed two and a half pounds. In color it was 
yellow, finely penciled with black, had a single comb, and 
was compactly built; and, as Mr. Charles remarked, was 
heavily meated across the thighs. The flesh was quite dark, 
like the Partridge. It legs were blue and slightly feathered. 
She resembled a young game cock about the head. The 
feathers under the wings were heavily barred like a Par- 
tridge. The story is thus related in reference to the produc- 
tion of this hen: Mr. James Sickles, of Long Island, owned 
an old yellow hen which disappeared in the spring, he sup- 
‘posing that she had died. In the fall she returned with a 
brood of chickens, followed by a Partridge cock, who, when 
disturbed, flew in an adjacent tree-top. A hired man ob- 
serving him, and not comprehending the circumstance, shot 
at him; but, missing his mark, the Partridge disappeared 
and never returned. There were several other chicks in 
this brood, and every one of the cockerels manifested de- 
cidedly game properties. One of them immediately engaged 
with a game cock, and gained decided advantage, although 
destitute of spurs. This cross was very productive when 
bred with domestic fowls. 


(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
THE AMERICAN STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE. 
At the time of writing I have received two copies, and 
have paid two dollars for them. 
Here is where the rub comes. If I had paid twenty-five, 
or even fifty cents a piece for such pamphlets, containing as 
they do really valuable matter, and a kind that no poultry 
breeder can do without, I should not have complained; but, 
after working for several days at Buffalo in assisting to em- 
body, in plain language, the points and characteristics that 
should belong to fowls, to.entitle them to a place in a poul- 
try exhibition; and after objecting to putting the price at 
one dollar each; and having been told that we wanted a 


good nice book, one that all America would be proud of, 
especially the members of the American Poultry Associa- 
tion, who were to own and publish it;—I say, after all of the 
above, to have such a miserable little pamphlet sent me as 
tbe American Standard of excellence that I have received, 
and for which the American Poultry Association obliged me 
to pay a dollar, I confess I was something move than disap- 
pointed—‘ a little riled.” Now, Mr. Editor, I dont know 
who makes the profit, but there must be a comfortable one 
somewhere. 
There are one hundred thousand standards wanted to- 
day; fifty thousand at twenty-five cents each, like these one 
dollar ones, and there is profit enowgh at that; and fifty 
thousand bound in leather covers, that might be got up in 
good shape and sold at one dollar each, and a good profit 
made on them. 
‘You will meet some who will call me a croaker and other 
pet names, for saying these things; tell them I am a mem- 
ber of the American Poultry Association, and am ashamed 
to charge one dollar for a poorly gotten up pamphlet that I 
can furnish as good—ten thousand copies—for the sum of 
one thousand dollars, or ten cents a copy; and I want to 
know who gets the profit? and also, who has the right to 
impose upon the members of the American Association in 
such a manner? 
Now I am aware of the truth of the old adage, that ‘‘ the 
weakness of the material is the strength of the trade;”’ still 
I would advise the American Poultry Association to do as 
some street sellers of rolls of salve and other patent things 
do; as they cannot sell a standard for less than a dollar, to 
make every person that buys one of these—their still born 
edition—a present of a good, substantial, readable standard, 
with an alphabetical index in it. A MEMBER. 

ses> THE Baosas.—The baobab is a plant of monstrous 
size, the most colossal and most ancient vegetable monument 
on earth; has round, woolly leaves, which consist of from 
three to seven leaflets radiating from a common centre, and 
giving them somewhat the appearance of a hand, and mag- 
nificent white flower. It is an enormous tree, holding among 
plants the place that the elephant holds among animals—a 
hoary witness of the last changes which the earth has under- 
gone, and deluges that have buried beneath their waves the 
productions of early ages. Several baobabs that have been 
measured were found to be from seventy to seventy-seven 
feet in circumference. From its branches hang, at times, 
colossal nets, three feet in length, and resembling large oval 
baskets open at the bottom, and looking from the distance 
like so many signal flags. 
It would take fifteen men, with their arms extended, to 
embrace the trunk of one of these great trees, which, in the 
countries through which the Senegal flows, are venerated as 
sacred monuments. Enormous branches are given off from 
the central stem a few feet from the ground and spread out 
horizontally, giving the tree a diameter of over one hundred 
feet. ‘‘Each of these branches,” says Mr. Danton, “would 
be a monster tree elsewhere, and taken together, they seem 
to make up a forest rather than a tree.’’ 
It is only at the age of eight hundred years that the bao- 
babs attain their full size, and then cease to grow. 
The fruit of this tree is oblong; the color of the shell 
passes in ripening from green to yellow and brown. The 
fruit is called ‘‘monkey bread.’’ It contains a spongy sub- 
stance, paler than chocolate, and filled with abundant juice. 
The bark is ashy gray in color, and almost an inch in 
thickness. The negroes of the Senegal grind it down to 
powder, and in this state they use it to season their food, 
and to maintain a moderately free perspiration, which en- 
ables them the more easily to withstand the heat. It serves 
also as an antidote for certain fevers.—The Wonders of Veg- 
etation. 
