BOOKS.
THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF POULTRY.*
MADAME MILLET-RODINKT, a well-known French authority upon. domestic economy, observes that the poultry-yard has always been. an important source of farm revenue, one which nothing else can- replace, and that all who have neglected or despised it have sooner or later repented. The English, she says, banished from their farmyards almost all kinds of fowls, under the impression that they were voracious and ungovernable marauders, who devastated corn-fields both in seed-time and harvest, and cost much more than they brought in ; but, she adds, the Euglish have repented, and have now turned their attention to the production of gigantic cocks and hens. It would seem that our repentance has shown itself not merely in giant birds, but in giant books. Not so very long ago, a few dozen pages in a paper cover were supposed to be all that was needed in the way of poultry literature, but gradu- ally little volumes came forth upon the subject, and even here and there a respectable octavo made its appearance, until, in the day in which we live, it has needed a solid quarto to contain the teach- ings of Mr. Lewis Wright. After all, we believe it would not have been easy for him to put what he has to say into less com- pass, since he aspired to write "a practical exposition of poultry and poultry-keeping," and though his book is anything but "handy," it will really be valuable as a work of reference, and it bears testimony to such honest labour, such a real love of the subject, and such absence of all that small- minded jealousy which (we may, however, be in error.) appears to be a special failing of the "fancy," that it de- serves to be treated with all respect. We may say at the out- set that we believe in poultry-keeping ; and we believe in poultry shows as a means of attaining to and keeping up a degree of ex-
* 57 Mustrated Book of Poultry. By Lewis Wright. London: Cassell, Petter, - and 083p1n. cellence which we should otherwise not possess. We do not mean to assert that it is a point of national importance that the comb of a CoOin cock should be faultlessly straight, or necessary to our welfare that a black Spanish cock should " wear " his comb erect, instead of falling to one aide, as was the fashion a few years since; but, as in breeding to fancy points, the exhibitor raises a fine strain of birds, large in size, and strong in constitution, and sines he also rears many more than meet his own requirements, he must inevitably do something towards the improvement of breed, wherever his extra stock may find a purchaser. Besides this, new races are continually being imported or produced, and through the stimulus of special prizes offered for the development of certain qualities, we may expect to see before long birds for the table of excellence very superior to any that now appear in our markets. We consider, therefore, that Mr. Wright has done well to give the public the benefit of his great experience ; and although we may join issue with him upon certain points, we approve of his book as a whole. His plansloryards and houses are convenient and economical, the narrow covered passage between two lines of sheds and runs is a manifest saving of time and labour to the care-taker, and his suggestion that doors to both fowl-houses and runs should be wide enough to admit of the passage of a wheelbarrow, an exhibition hamper, or any large object, although it may seem superfluous, is in reality a very useful one, as the reverse is a too common defect in ordinary poultry yards. Lady Gwydyr's yard, of which the ground-plan is given by Mr. Wright, seems to be quite a poultry paradise, possessing every possible requisite for the comfort and well-being of its inhabitants, and remarkably convenient in every way. It is not, however, necessary, in order to achieve success in poultry-keeping, that such elaborate arrange- ments should be made. Lady Holmesdale's Dorkings, which carried all before them, were allowed to range at will in the day- time and housed at night in little movable dormitories ; and even Spanish fowl were raised in the same way, and became hardy under the treatment, but then every one has not a Linton Park at command. On the other hand, Mr. Wright says he has had pullets which celebrated exhibitors were glad to purchase at twenty guineas the pair, which had never seen a natural blade of grass in their lives, having been kept in small pens in a situation where the possession of a grass run was an impossibility, so that if proper care and management be used, fowls may be reared, and successfully reared, almost anywhere. We need not dwell upon the details of Mr. Wright's system, but leave them to be studied by the reader. Suffice it to say that they are distinguished by much common-sense, and that great stress is laid as a matter of profit, upon early hatching, which is, of course, a sine qua non, and the killing-off of two-and-a-half-year-old hens before moult, the stock being replenished each year by March- hatched birds to the amount of one-third of the whole number kept. With regard to the breeds to be kept, plenty of latitude is allowed, the poultry-keeper being only requested to suit his own requirements, and to select his stock with a view to some certain object,—i.e., if he wants plenty of eggs to adopt non-sitters, and if be desire to raise frequent broods not to neglect to provide him- self with the comfortable fluffy Cochin, or the motherly Dorking. Knowing Mr. Wright's own partiality for the dark Brahma, which he has done so much to render famous, we give him immense credit for his impartiality when descanting upon the qualities of the various kinds of fcrl ; and we are glad to see his commendation of the American Dominiques, which, like the Plymouth Rocks, are not nearly so much known as they ought to be. The Dominique is a hardy useful bird, an excellent layer, and as Mr. Wright says, "its plain, homespun suit makes it suit- , able for countless localities where more showy or ' valuable-looking ' fowls would be imprudent or out of place." The portraits of Mr. Galpin's birds• are exceedingly "taking," and do justice to the characteristics of the race.
After going through all the kinds of exhibition poultry, Mr.
• Wright turns to consider the wild breeds, and to discourse about the origin of the domestic fowl, and then goes on to treat of the guinea-fowl, the turkey, the peacock and peacock-pheasant, and the different kinds of water-fowl. It is easy to see that the writer's tastes do not much lie in this latter direction, and that
• while he endeavours to mete out even-handed justice to the anatidm, he does not write of them con amore; whereas we believe that if ducks were more largely kept, they would be found to be exceedingly profitable. The Chinaman, who has a capital eye for the main chance, rears ducks by the thousand, and what more amusing sight can there be than a duck-boat, towards the close of evening, when, with joyful quacks, the whole flock, which has been disporting itself during the day, is seen to waddle up the platform let down from the end of the boat, the first comers being rewarded by choice morsels, and the laggards receiving wholesome castiga- tion. The Vale of Aylesbury, too, well knows the value of its early ducks ; but why the Vale of Aylesbury should hold a mono- poly of them is what we are at a loss to understand. In Nor- mandy, about Toulouse, and in several other places in France, ducks are reared wholesale, and the large and easily-fattened mulard, obtained by crossing the Muscovy drake with the Rouen duck, is found to be a most delicious and profitable bird. Mr. Wright gives the Muscovy breed a large share of abuse, but we may tell him that all Muscovy drakes are not quarrel- some, and that the egg of the Muscovy duck is as delicate as that of a hen, and of course considerably larger ; moreover, souse Muscovy ducks are good layers and excellent mothers. The Cayuga or large black duck recently imported from America, appears to be a desirable addition to our farm-yards, and to resemble very nearly the old black duck of Lancashire. There are many localities in England and Ireland admirably suited for the rearing of ducks in large numbers, and we are inclined to think that a duck-farm might not be at all a bad speculation. Mr. Wright gives us portraits of several kinds of geese, and remarks upon them ; we have the odd-looking frizzled Sebastopol goose, the Nile goose, and the enormous grey goose from Toulouse. The latter bird is really ornamental, and might be allowed to frequent our pleasure-grounds with other aquatic fowl, were it not for her un- fortunate tendency to eat crocuses, which, to our own knowledge, she will dig up and clear away with a speed that is quite astonishing, Of course, in writing such a book as that we are considering, Mr. Wright could not pass over the French systems of fattening which produce those fine fowls which are the pride of the Paris markets ; and M. Martin's cramming-machines come in for especial notice. It is far from pleasant, however, to think of a poor bird tied with thongs to its perch, and made to consume a given quantity of food according to its age, size, and stage of fattening, although we are told that the creatures like such treatment, and eagerly consume any drops of the semi-liquid food which may fall in their vicinity ; nor do we relish the minute directions for killing, and for preserving the whiteness of their flesh, although such things should be known to those who make it their business to rear fat poultry. Mr. Wright goes at some length into the statistics of poultry-farming, shows why any attempts hitherto made in England to raise poultry on a large scale have resulted in failure, and suggests that encouragement should be given to labourers to turn their allot- ments to greater profit by raising poultry upon them instead of crops. This, he justly says, could be done with far less labour, and would tend to encourage in the lower classes those feelings of humanity towards animals which are often sadly wanting. It may surprise the reader to find several pages of this book devoted to a condemnation of the cruel sport of cockfighting; but since Mr. Tegetmeier, in the last edition of his poultry book, certainly makes light of the offence, if he does not actually defend it, we think that Mr. Wright is justified in showing it in its true colours, and in making known to the public the extent to which this cruel and disgusting sport is still secretly practised in England. He gives instances of the brutalising character of the pastime which are too horrible to be dwelt upon. It might have been thought that such arguments would have been wholly unnecessary in an age when we pride ourselves upon our humanity, but since they are not so, we can only hope that they may have a deterrent effect upon some, at all events, who may look over the illustrated poultry book. Mr. Wright's volume is replete with all sorts of curious information bearing more or leas closely upon his subject, and we feel sure that it will be very warmly welcomed, and thoroughly appreciated, by the very large and increasing number of poultry- fanciers throughout the kingdom ; the beautiful and accurate illustrations alone being sufficient to cause the work to be highly prized.
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