sorry for his scorched wings; the fly itself hateful, its wings so beautifully made. I have sometimes picked a feather from the dirt of the road and placed it on the grass. It is contrary to one's feelings to see so beautiful a thing lying in the mud. Towards my window now, as I write, there comes suddenly a shower of yellow leaves, wrested out by main force from the high elms; the blue sky behind them, they droop slowly, borne onward, twirling, fluttering towards me-a cloud of autumn butterflies.

A spring rises on the summit of a green brow that overlooks the meadows for miles. The spot is not really very high, still it is the highest ground in that direction for a long distance, and it seems singular to find water on the top of the hill, a thing common enough, but still sufficiently opposed to general impressions to appear remarkable. In this shallow water, says a faint story-far off, faint, and uncertain, like the murmur of a distant cascade-two ladies and some soldiers lost their lives. The brow is defended by thick bramble-bushes, which bore a fine crop of blackberries this autumn, to the delight of the boys; and these bushes partly conceal the sharpness of the short descent. But once your attention is drawn to it, you see that it has all the appearance of having been artificially sloped, like a rampart, or rather a glacis. The grass is green and the sward soft, being moistened by the spring, except in one spot, where the grass is burnt up under the heat of the summer sun, indicating the existence of foundations beneath.

There is a beautiful view from this spot; but leaving that now, and wandering on among the fields, presently you may find a meadow of peculiar shape, extremely long and narrow, half a mile long, perhaps; and this the folk will tell you was the King's Drive, or ride. Stories there are, too, of subterranean passages. There are always such stories in the neighbourhood of ancient buildings. I remember one, said to be three miles long; it led to an abbey. The lane leads on, bordered with high hawthorn hedges, and occasionally a stout hawthorn tree, hardy and twisted by the strong hands of the passing years; thick now with red haws, and the haunt of the redwings, whose 'chuck-chuck' is heard every minute; but the birds themselves always perch on the outer side of the hedge. They are not far ahead, but they always keep on the safe side, flying on twenty yards or so, but never coming to my side.

The little pond, which in summer was green with weed, is now yellow with the fallen hawthorn leaves; the pond is choked with them. The lane has been slowly descending; and now, on looking through a gateway, an ancient building stands up on the hill, sharply defined against the sky. It is the banqueting hall of a palace of old times, in which kings and princes once sat at their meat after the chase. This is the centre of those dim stories which float like haze over the meadows around. Many a wild red stag has been carried thither after the hunt, and many a wild boar slain in the glades of the forest.

The acorns are dropping now as they dropped five centuries since, in the days when the wild boars fed so greedily upon them; the oaks are broadly touched with brown; the bramble thickets in which the boars hid, green, but strewn with

the leaves that have fallen from the lofty trees. Though meadow, arable, and hop fields hold now the place of the forest, a goodly remnant remains, for every hedge is full of oak and elm and ash; maple too, and the lesser bushes. At a little distance, so thick are the trees, the whole country appears a wood, and it is easy to see what a forest it must have been centuries ago.

The Prince leaving the grim walls of the Tower of London by the Water-gate, and dropping but a short way down with the tide, could mount his horse on the opposite bank, and reach his palace here, in the midst of the thickest woods and wildest country, in half an hour. Thence every morning setting forth upon the chase, he could pass the day in joyous labours, and the evening in feasting, still within call-almost within sound of horn-of the Tower, if any weighty matter demanded his presence.

In our time, the great city has widened out, and comes at this day down to within three miles of the hunting-palace. There still intervenes a narrow space between the last house of London and the ancient Forest Hall, a space of corn-field and meadow; the last house, for although not nominally London, there is no break of continuity in the bricks and mortar thence to London Bridge. London is within a stone'sthrow, as it were, and yet, to this day the forest lingers, and it is country. The very atmosphere is different. That smoky thickness characteristic of the suburbs ceases as you ascend the gradual rise, and leave the outpost of bricks and mortar behind. The air becomes clear and strong, till on the brow by the spring on a windy day it is almost like sea-air. It comes over the trees, over the hills, and is sweet with the touch of grass and leaf. There is no gas, no sulphurous acid in that. As the Edwards and Henries breathed it centuries since, so it can be inhaled now. sun that shone on the red deer is as bright now as then; the berries are thick on the bushes; there is colour in the leaf. The forest is gone; but the Spirit of Nature stays, and can be found by those who search for it. Dearly as I love the open air, I cannot regret the medieval days. I do not wish them back again; I would sooner fight in the foremost ranks of Time. Nor do we need them, for the spirit of nature stays, and will always be here, no matter to how high a pinnacle of thought the human mind may attain; still the sweet air, and the hills, and the sea, and the sun, will always be with us.

The

OUR POULTRY AND EGGS. Ir may surprise our readers to be told that the total head of domestic poultry in Great Britain and Ireland is at the present time nearly thirty millions, two-thirds of the number being common domestic fowls, the remainder turkeys, geese, and ducks! This interesting fact has never been authoritatively made known till last year, during which a careful enumeration was taken of the poultry-stock of Great Britain. As regards Ireland, the egg and poultry supply of that country has been statistically known since the year 1876, when the fowls began to be counted once a year. It is wonderfully extensive, and contributes liberally to the national commissariat. Twelve months ago, the poultry-stock of all kinds

in the Emerald Isle was 'figured up' to over thirteen million head, more than half of the number being domestic fowls. Nearly every single head of poultry kept in Ireland is taken into account. It has not yet, however, been found possible to enumerate every fowl kept in England or Scotland; indeed, a very large number must have been omitted in the recent census, as those fed by cottagers were not taken into account; so that, in fact, if another million were to be added to the poultry figures of Great Britain, it would not probably be an exaggeration of the grand total, which is at present slightly over sixteen millions of individual fowls. But in addition to our homegrown supplies, we draw every year from foreign sources a contribution to the national poultry account of close upon six hundred thousand pounds; or including eggs, our imports of these luxuries of the table in the year 1883 amounted in value to more than three millions and a quarter sterling.

Accepting the fact that at a given date-midsummer-we had thirty millions of all kinds of poultry on hand, it becomes interesting to know that, large as the number of domestic fowls undoubtedly is, it is simply the parent or breeding-stock from which we derive a portion of our daily food. That a fourth of the number of fowls enumerated will prove active in laying and perpetuating their kind, and that a considerable percentage of the number of eggs produced will be hatched, still leaving, however, a vast number for sale, may, we think, be taken for granted. The laying power of our barn-door fowls is being gradually improved; of late years, much attention has been given to the subject by breeders of poultry, and the number of eggs obtained from well-arranged 'crosses' has been much increased from one hundred and sixty to a little over two hundred per annum having by special care in feeding and housing been procured from individual hens. A notable housewife of our acquaintance set aside two years ago a couple of pens of strong healthy hensa cross, she told us, of Cochin and Spanishfor the purpose of observing and duly noting their powers of production. The number selected was thirteen, six in one pen, seven in the other. The fowls of each pen were fed with care, and were allowed a daily run of three or four hours over a quarter of an acre of fine turfy ground. Without giving details of the quantity of food consumed, it may be mentioned that the thirteen hens produced in the course of the year two thousand two hundred and seventy-six eggs; and in each coop there was besides a hatching of chickens-twenty-one in all.

Taking the barn-door fowls of the United Kingdom overhead, the average number of eggs per hen, counting contingencies of all kinds, will be greatly less than is indicated by the above figures-namely, one hundred and seventyfive eggs, although there are thousands of individual hens which contribute two hundred per annum to the stock. Houdans, Andalusians, and Leghorns are splendid layers, so also are Hamburgs. But hens everywhere vary very much in their power of laying-some will lay five or six eggs a week for a period of nine months in the year; whilst others yield three, and in some cases only two, every seven days.

As regards the Irish hens, the number of eggs obtained from each laying-fowl has been variously estimated as ranging from seventy to a hundred and ten; and if it be set down, therefore, that each hen lays on an average eighty eggs per annum, that will be a very fair figure. The barn-door fowls of Great Britain produce a higher total; but then they are more cared for and better fed than the Irish fowls.

The total number of barn-door poultry in the United Kingdom being twenty millions, it may be taken for granted that one-fourth the number will be laying-hens. This it may be honestly confessed is an estimate, but it is one that has cost the writer some trouble to frame. It has to be borne in mind that the stock is always in a state of transition, and that a large number of the mature fowls are frequently engaged in producing chickens, to take the place of those which are sold. The male birds constitute a large percentage of the whole; indeed, a poultry-merchant recently told the writer that far more male than female birds were hatched in the course of a year; but this is a statement which requires confirmation. It is easy to suppose, however, that fewer hens pass through the hands of the dealers, as they, being the more valuable in virtue of their laying powers, are not sent to market till their services have been well utilised. As to the number of fowls which are consumed per annum in the United Kingdom, we ascertained, two years ago, from a Sussex* higgler' that it might be set down as being considerably over one-third, but not quite half of the stock in hand. The authority consulted was pretty certain to be well informed, as it is the business of a higgler or haggler to buy lean poultry from farmers and cottagers, in order to its being fattened for sale by persons who make a business of doing so crammers,' they are called. The higgler has a run of ground over which he is constantly travelling, picking up chickens every here and there for his employer, who prepares them for sale. Some of the English cottagers derive as much from their fowls in the year as twenty-two pounds, more than half of which is profit. In the county of Sussex a very large number of fowls are annually bred to be fattened for consumption; the number stated in the agricultural returns as stock is three hundred thousand one hundred and ninety-seven; but in reality it is much greater, as the enumeration was not extended to the smaller cottagers, who, however, are the most industrious breeders, and many of whom rear from twenty to a hundred and fifty chickens every year. Some of the crammers do a large trade. The fowls are now fed by machinery, the feeding process being accomplished with great rapidity; and the extent of trade in Sussex in the way of fowl-fattening may be judged from the fact that one firm has occasionally done business to the extent of close upon twenty-five thousand pounds in a year. Our informant told us that the trade was a growing one, and also that it was remunerative, especially to those fatteners who are clever

The county of Surrey has also been long famed for its poultry; our present information, however, is based chiefly upon returns from Sussex.

Journal

in studying the state of the market. One industrious hand at the business, we were told, usually paid weekly wages to twenty-five persons. The fowls are of course fattened chiefly for the London poultry-vendors, and usually bring an average price of about three shillings and ninepence each. We have only in these notes, derived from our interview with the higgler, taken account of the barn-door fowls. Ducks, however, are also dealt with, likewise turkeys; but Sussex-fed fowls command a ready market.

Founding on the information of our informant, the Sussex chicken-seeker, we set down the home poultry supply as being eight millions of fowls per annum; and that number, calculated as being overhead of the value of two shillings each, represents the handsome sum of eight hundred thousand pounds. In this account we are not including the money derived from the sale of turkeys, ducks, or geese, of which over eight millions are fed in Great Britain and Ireland; and if the same proportions of these as of the barn-door fowls are brought to market, we may add the proceeds of four millions of these animals to our account at, say, the average figure of five shillings a head, which gives us a million pounds sterling. Turkey poults and ducklings realise a high price in their season in the London markets, so that the average taken is a moderate one. The flesh of the turkey at some periods of the year commands in the shops of the London poultry-men two shillings a pound weight.

As every householder knows to his cost, the consumption of eggs is enormous, whether at the breakfast-table, or in the preparation of other foods. What are a dozen eggs here?' said recently to us the mistress of a well-to-do middleclass family of nine persons including two servants. They are but a sight. Six or seven are required at breakfast; one has to be beaten up to make meat for baby; whilst probably two or three will be needed twice a week for puddings. I have seen, indeed, when we have had a little company in the house, that a hundred eggs have been bought in the course of a week; and at the present high prices, I grudge the payment very much. But eggs are so handy, one cannot very well want them.'

How many eggs do you go through here?' we asked the intelligent manager of a large railway hotel in the course of our inquiry into this subject. 'We need about two thousand a week in the summer season, and about a hundred and twenty a day at other times,' was the reply; and in a house which makes up three hundred beds, and on some days supplies as many breakfasts, the number given as being consumed could readily enough be credited.

Assuming the egg-eating population of the United Kingdom to number twenty million persons-leaving out of the calculation the very young and the very poor-and that each individual only consumed one egg per week, the number required would be ten hundred and forty millions! It is impossible, however, to calculate exactly the number of eggs we consume; but we know for certain that there were imported into this country, in the year 1883, eggs to the value of two million seven hundred and thirtytwo thousand and fifty-five pounds; the exact number received for that sum being nine hun

dred and forty million four hundred and thirtysix thousand one hundred and sixty individual eggs. In 1884 the number imported was in all likelihood much larger, as up to the end of August six hundred and eighty-one million six hundred and eighty-three thousand and forty had been received, the greater proportion from France; Germany and Belgium being also large contributors.

We come now to consider the question of our home supplies of eggs. As has been already stated, we possess twenty million head of poultry of the barn-door kind, and we do not propose to take note at present of the consumption of any other eggs than those of the common hen. Ducks' eggs and the eggs of the turkey are certainly offered for sale, but not to any remarkable extent. The number of productive fowls contributing to the egg-supply may be computed as being five millions, or a fourth of the entire stock represented as being in the country on a given day. The average number of eggs laid by each hen, exclusive of those engaged in breeding, we shall take at one hundred, which is a fair average as between those fowls which lay seventy per annum and others that lay three times that number. Assuming the foreign egg-supply of the year 1884 to have been one thousand millions, our own hens, it can be calculated-taking the five million layers overhead as each contributing a hundred marketable eggs-will give us five hundred millions, and the two sets of figures added together represent the consumption of eggs in the United Kingdom at the present time. The value of the lot, counted at one penny each, gives us a sum equal to six million and a quarter sterling!

The poultry and egg supply of the United Kingdom is derived from ten thousand different sources, each contributing so much to the total. There are not any poultry or egg producing farms on a large scale in the United Kingdom, nor, so far as we know, in any other country; the bringing to market of these luxuries of the commissariat affords remunerative employment to a large number of persons; and there is not a cottager in the kingdom but who could, if he does not already do so, add to his income by keeping a few laying-hens or other fowls. As has been shown, the sum of the national enrichment by the sale of poultry and eggs is a matter of millions sterling; and were we to add to the account the sums derived from the sale of game and wild-birds of various kinds, the total figures might be considerably augmented.

THE CHINA HOUSE BURGLARY.

IN THREE CHAPTERS.-CHAP. II.

FOR some time past it had been an accepted theory that the particular but unknown artists in burglary who had been troubling our division were foreigners,' who drove into business after nightfall; but I was now led to believe that this was a mistake. It seemed to me now much more probable that they were inhabitants of the division, having general knowledge of local men and things, and in particular having some ground for enmity to Mr Dorrington. The last point was a moral certainty, a thing that went without

in the Emerald Isle was 'figured up' to over thirteen million head, more than half of the number being domestic fowls. Nearly every single head of poultry kept in Ireland is taken into account. It has not yet, however, been found possible to enumerate every fowl kept in England or Scotland; indeed, a very large number must have been omitted in the recent census, as those fed by cottagers were not taken into account; so that, in fact, if another million were to be added to the poultry figures of Great Britain, it would not probably be an exaggeration of the grand total, which is at present slightly over sixteen millions of individual fowls. But in addition to our homegrown supplies, we draw every year from foreign sources a contribution to the national poultry account of close upon six hundred thousand pounds; or including eggs, our imports of these luxuries of the table in the year 1883 amounted in value to more than three millions and a quarter sterling.

Accepting the fact that at a given date-midsummer-we had thirty millions of all kinds of poultry on hand, it becomes interesting to know that, large as the number of domestic fowls undoubtedly is, it is simply the parent or breeding-stock from which we derive a portion of our daily food. That a fourth of the number of fowls enumerated will prove active in laying and perpetuating their kind, and that a considerable percentage of the number of eggs produced will be hatched, still leaving, however, a vast number for sale, may, we think, be taken for granted. The laying power of our barn-door fowls is being gradually improved; of late years, much attention has been given to the subject by breeders of poultry, and the number of eggs obtained from well-arranged 'crosses' has been much increased-from one hundred and sixty to a little over two hundred per annum having by special care in feeding and housing been proeured from individual hens. A notable housewife of our acquaintance set aside two years ago a couple of pens of strong healthy hensa cross, she told us, of Cochin and Spanishfor the purpose of observing and duly noting their powers of production. The number selected was thirteen, six in one pen, seven in the other. The fowls of each pen were fed with care, and were allowed a daily run of three or four hours over a quarter of an acre of fine turfy ground. Without giving details of the quantity of food consumed, it may be mentioned that the thirteen hens produced in the course of the year two thousand two hundred and seventy-six eggs; and in each coop there was besides a hatching of chickens-twenty-one in all.

Taking the barn-door fowls of the United Kingdom overhead, the average number of eggs per hen, counting contingencies of all kinds, will be greatly less than is indicated by the above figures-namely, one hundred and seventyfive eggs, although there are thousands of individual hens which contribute two hundred per annum to the stock. Houdans, Andalusians, and Leghorns are splendid layers, so also are Hamburgs. But hens everywhere vary very much in their power of laying-some will lay five or six eggs a week for a period of nine months in the year; whilst others yield three, and in some cases only two, every seven days.

As regards the Irish hens, the number of eggs obtained from each laying-fowl has been variously estimated as ranging from seventy to a hundred and ten; and if it be set down, therefore, that each hen lays on an average eighty eggs per annum, that will be a very fair figure. The barn-door fowls of Great Britain produce a higher total; but then they are more cared for and better fed than the Irish fowls.

The total number of barn-door poultry in the United Kingdom being twenty millions, it may be taken for granted that one-fourth the number will be laying-hens. This it may be honestly confessed is an estimate, but it is one that has cost the writer some trouble to frame. It has to be borne in mind that the stock is always in a state of transition, and that a large number of the mature fowls are frequently engaged in producing chickens, to take the place of those which are sold. The male birds constitute a large percentage of the whole; indeed, a poultry-merchant recently told the writer that far more male than female birds were hatched in the course of a year; but this is a statement which requires confirmation. It is easy to suppose, however, that fewer hens pass through the hands of the dealers, as they, being the more valuable in virtue of their laying powers, are not sent to market till their services have been well utilised. As to the number of fowls which are consumed per annum in the United Kingdom, we ascertained, two years ago, from a Sussex* higgler' that it might be set down as being considerably over one-third, but not quite half of the stock in hand. The authority consulted was pretty certain to be well informed, as it is the business of a higgler or haggler to buy lean poultry from farmers and cottagers, in order to its being fattened for sale by persons who make a business of doing so 'crammers,' they are called. The higgler has a run of ground over which he is constantly travelling, picking up chickens every here and there for his employer, who prepares them for sale. Some of the English cottagers derive as much from their fowls in the year as twenty-two pounds, more than half of which is profit. In the county of Sussex a very large number of fowls are annually bred to be fattened for consumption; the number stated in the agricultural returns as stock is three hundred thousand one hundred and ninety-seven; but in reality it is much greater, as the enumeration was not extended to the smaller cottagers, who, however, are the most industrious breeders, and many of whom rear from twenty to a hundred and fifty chickens every year. Some of the crammers do a large trade. The fowls are now fed by machinery, the feeding process being accomplished with great rapidity; and the extent of trade in Sussex in the way of fowl-fattening may be judged from the fact that one firm has occasionally done business to the extent of close upon twenty-five thousand pounds in a year. Our informant told us that the trade was a growing one, and also that it was remunerative, especially to those fatteners who are clever

its poultry; our present information, however, is based The county of Surrey has also been long famed for chiefly upon returns from Sussex.

Journal

in studying the state of the market. One industrious hand at the business, we were told, usually paid weekly wages to twenty-five persons. The fowls are of course fattened chiefly for the London poultry-vendors, and usually bring an average price of about three shillings and ninepence each. We have only in these notes, derived from our interview with the higgler, taken account of the barn-door fowls. Ducks, however, are also dealt with, likewise turkeys; but Sussex-fed fowls command a ready market.

Founding on the information of our informant, the Sussex chicken-seeker, we set down the home poultry supply as being eight millions of fowls per annum; and that number, calculated as being overhead of the value of two shillings each, represents the handsome sum of eight hundred thousand pounds. In this account we are not including the money derived from the sale of turkeys, ducks, or geese, of which over eight millions are fed in Great Britain and Ireland; and if the same proportions of these as of the barn-door fowls are brought to market, we may add the proceeds of four millions of these animals to our account at, say, the average figure of five shillings a head, which gives us a million pounds sterling. Turkey poults and ducklings realise a high price in their season in the London markets, so that the average taken is a moderate one. The flesh of the turkey at some periods of the year commands in the shops of the London poultry-men two shillings a pound weight.

As every householder knows to his cost, the consumption of eggs is enormous, whether at the breakfast-table, or in the preparation of other foods. 'What are a dozen eggs here?' said recently to us the mistress of a well-to-do middleclass family of nine persons including two servants. They are but a sight. Six or seven are required at breakfast; one has to be beaten up to make meat for baby; whilst probably two or three will be needed twice a week for puddings. I have seen, indeed, when we have had a little company in the house, that a hundred eggs have been bought in the course of a week; and at the present high prices, I grudge the payment very much. But eggs are so handy, one cannot very well want them.'

How many eggs do you go through here?' we asked the intelligent manager of a large railway hotel in the course of our inquiry into this subject. 'We need about two thousand a week in the summer season, and about a hundred and twenty a day at other times,' was the reply; and in a house which makes up three hundred beds, and on some days supplies as many breakfasts, the number given as being consumed could readily enough be credited.

Assuming the egg-eating population of the United Kingdom to number twenty million persons-leaving out of the calculation the very young and the very poor-and that each individual only consumed one egg per week, the number required would be ten hundred and forty millions! It is impossible, however, to calculate exactly the number of eggs we consume; but we know for certain that there were imported into this country, in the year 1883, eggs to the value of two million seven hundred and thirtytwo thousand and fifty-five pounds; the exact number received for that sum being nine hun

dred and forty million four hundred and thirtysix thousand one hundred and sixty individual eggs. In 1884 the number imported was in all likelihood much larger, as up to the end of August six hundred and eighty-one million six hundred and eighty-three thousand and forty had been received, the greater proportion from France; Germany and Belgium being also large contributors.

We come now to consider the question of our home supplies of eggs. As has been already stated, we possess twenty million head of poultry of the barn-door kind, and we do not propose to take note at present of the consumption of any other eggs than those of the common hen. Ducks' eggs and the eggs of the turkey are certainly offered for sale, but not to any remarkable extent. The number of productive fowls contributing to the egg-supply may be computed as being five millions, or a fourth of the entire stock represented as being in the country on a given day. The average number of eggs laid by each hen, exclusive of those engaged in breeding, we shall take at one hundred, which is a fair average as between those fowls which lay seventy per annum and others that lay three times that number. Assuming the foreign egg-supply of the year 1884 to have been one thousand millions, our own hens, it can be calculated-taking the five million layers overhead as each contributing a hundred marketable eggs-will give us five hundred millions, and the two sets of figures added together represent the consumption of eggs in the United Kingdom at the present time. The value of the lot, counted at one penny each, gives us a sum equal to six million and a quarter sterling!

The poultry and egg supply of the United Kingdom is derived from ten thousand different sources, each contributing so much to the total. There are not any poultry or egg producing farms on a large scale in the United Kingdom, nor, so far as we know, in any other country; the bringing to market of these luxuries of the commissariat affords remunerative employment to a large number of persons; and there is not a cottager in the kingdom but who could, if he does not already do so, add to his income by keeping a few laying-hens or other fowls. As has been shown, the sum of the national enrichment by the sale of poultry and eggs is a matter of millions sterling; and were we to add to the account the sums derived from the sale of game and wild-birds of various kinds, the total figures might be considerably augmented.

THE CHINA HOUSE BURGLARY.

IN THREE CHAPTERS.-CHAP. II.

FOR some time past it had been an accepted theory that the particular but unknown artists in burglary who had been troubling our division were foreigners,' who drove into business after nightfall; but I was now led to believe that this was a mistake. It seemed to me now much more probable that they were inhabitants of the division, having general knowledge of local men and things, and in particular having some ground for enmity to Mr Dorrington. The last point was a moral certainty, a thing that went without