Poultry for the People. By Alexander Comyns. (A. Comyns.)— This,
it is evident, is the work of an expert. "A Complete Guide- to Practical Poultry-Keeping," the author styles it ; practicality is its chief characteristic. The author does not despise the lore of the fancier, but, he keeps it in its proper place. So far as it has to do with the profitableness of various breeds, he makes use of it. The reader will find the volume full of useful instructions, with not a few hints which will be new even to experienced poultry-keepers. How few people, for instance, give the second meal to fowls by candle-light ; yet the author vouches for the fact that it has a sensible effect on their laying. "Three square yards and a hen," is the new cry with which we are to go to the agricultural labourer. It has in many respects a groat advantage over our old friend, "'Three acres and a cow." Hens, it should be understood, will lay rather better than otherwise without a male companion. —The kindred subject of Fancy Poultry is treated by the same author in a book which forms part of the "Simplex Series." The volume before us is Part I., and treats of "Breeding and Feeding."—From the same publisher we also receive Canary Breeding and Management for Amateurs, by " Jerome ; " and A Manual of Pigeon Diseases, by W. Vale. The poor pigeons, though they cannot compete. with man in the multiplicity of their diseases, seem to be heirs to many ills. Mr. Vale treats of the causes, the symptoms, and the treatment of these maladies.
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