Many of those engaged in poultry breeding know nothing—have never heard—of the blue dun game or of the demand for it and the kindred varieties, though they might do worse than run a pen or two of them, only bearing in mind that, though at present the demand is not met by the supply, at no time will it ever be very large or of a size to make game fowl breeding by itself a profitable commercial undertaking.
Besides shortness of fibre the other peculiar merits of the game hackles are their brilliancy, hardness, and ability to shoot the water. They are best obtained from a mature cock in the pink of condition (in cocking days this would have been the eve of a match), during the last two months of the year, except in the case of dun hackles, which are blue at Christmas, but before the autumn moult have golden tints. Of course, now that paraffin is used by the waterside, hen hackles are by no means to be despised, indeed, some tiers care little which they use provided they come off a game bird.
One and not the least advantage of being able to tie his own flies himself is that it enables the fishermen to judge of the work put into those he buys, and to put his finger on the exact material that is wrong when patterns are not copied accurately. This is not infrequently the case, and a good fly gets a bad name, most undeservedly, in consequence.
H. L. T. P.
Navicular Disease.
By Professor J. Wortley Axe.
There is no disease which so seriously affects the feet of our horses as “navicular disease.” Its commencement is subtle and its progress so insidious that it is only when the malady has reached a dangerous condition that it becomes known to the ordinary horseman. At this stage veterinary aid is usually sought, with the result that the owner has to be told that nothing can be done in the way of cure and very little towards stemming its onward progress. Why, it may be asked, do we occupy the pages of this Magazine with a subject so absolutely devoid of matter to which attention can be profitably directed. Our reply is that if little can be done in these directions we are not without hope of ministering to its prevention, and for this we claim some justification for so far imposing on our readers.
Before the days of Moorcroft and Turner navicular disease, although much in existence, was not recognised by the profession, and the lameness arising out of it was referred to the shoulder, with no other reason, save that indications of disease were not detected or detectable in other parts of the limbs. Then, as now, the feet of horses were noticed to contract, and when this condition was found to exist the lameness was attributed to it, and it alone. No one seems to have thought to look for the cause of contraction, and thus to trace the fons et origo mali, but all remained satisfied that the lameness arose from the pinching of the sensitive structures of the foot by the contracting hoof.
No doubt in some measure this was true, for it is impossible to think of a normal state of the sensitive parts of a structure like the foot being enclosed within a small and contracted hoof. As a secondary cause, therefore, contraction would be sure to make itself felt sooner or later by diminishing the size of the foot and interfering with the play of the parts within.