Mr. Editor : In your valuable magazine for September you had a contribution from my highly esteemed friend P. W. of Tauntou, Mass., on that variety of French chickens called Houdans. From a pretty critical investigation of the merits of this variety, both from personal observation and from reading, I have come to the conclusion that my friend failed to do them the fullest justice in his communication, and I have made up my mind to present their claims to popular favor a little more elaborately than he did, in the article referred to.

M. Jacques, one of the most intelligent and reliable French authorities on Poultry, in speaking of Houdans, says: "It is one of the finest breeds of fowls, and nothing is richer than the aspect of a poultry-yard composed of Houdans; but their good qualities are far beyond their beauty. Besides the small weight of bone, the quality and delicacy of the flesh, it is admirably fecund and precocious. The cock chickens attain a large growth in four months, and with ordinary care put on fat and attain a large size. The pullets make magnificent poulardes, and, among all breeds, this it is that shows the least difference in weight between the cock and pullet. They lay abundantly at an early age, - the eggs are large and remarkably white. Like all large layers, this is a poor sitter".

Mr. C. W. Gedney, of Kent, England, in a recent communication to the London Horticulturist and Poultry Chronicle, says of Houdans: "I have reared an averageof nine chicks from every sitting of thirteen eggs during the past two seasons. Some breeders would call this good luck, but in my opinion it is what any person, by the commonest attention, might do with Houdans, in the most limited space for rearing chickens. I reared all my birds in a sandy yard for the first three days, giving them chopped egg boiled hard with bread crumbs and lettuce; and after the third day their staple food was middlings and lettuce, with an occasional handful of shelled oats. "With this food, supplied little and often, the birds grew with wonderful rapidity, - and an aptitude to make flesh is a strong argument in favor of this breed for table purposes. Its flesh is delicate, tender, and nutritious. My Houdans, hatched in April, were fit to kill a month before Dorking chickens of the same age; but, unlike other fowls, the hen birds are the most rapid of growth, and when only a few hours old may be distinguished from the males by their superior vigor and larger crests.

"As layers, the Houdans will hold their own against any fowls with which I am acquainted, - their eggs are large, of a fine rich flavor, and equal in weight to those laid by the famous Spanish. The Houdans never sit - they are gentle, very tame, and of a contented, stay - at - home disposition, and not at all dainty feeders.

"As a proof that fanciers are becoming alive to the increasing popularity of Houdans, I may point to the fact that the "National Poultry Company,' at their late sale, obtained $42 for their prize cock and hen, which was the highest price paid for any two birds among the eight hundred sold".

The editor of the London Cottage Gardener, in a recent number of his paper, and in reply to a correspondent who asked his opinions in reference to the popular French breeds of chickens, says: "Houdan fowls are very hardy, more so than the La Fleche or Creve Coeurs, the cocks of which latter breeds die by scores, and are subject to complaints hitherto unknown. They bear close confinement without injury to their usefulness. They are never sick - they are much heavier than they appear to be - have good square bodies, are broad across the back, have short whitish colored or speckled legs, and five toes on each foot. In color they are speckled, and have crests and muffles, and are superior layers".

A writer in the Journal of Horticulture, of August 15, who signs himself "Lindum," says: "As egg-producers, Houdans are, I have no hesitation in affirming, unrivaled. They arrive at maturity at an early age, are extremely hardy; and their deep, full breasts render them especial favorites with the cook".

"An Amateur Breeder," in the same journal, of September 5, referring to "Lin-dum's " article on Houdans, says: "I can bear testimony to the unsurpassed qualities of this breed. I have four hens which have laid more eggs this spring and summer than all my Cochin - China, Spanish, and Hamburghs together, - and, moreover, they never incubate".

Mr. W. Massey, in a communication to the Cottage Gardener, in speaking of the French breeds of poultry, says: "Having imported and disposed of many hundreds of the French varieties of fowls, for the National Poultry Company, I think my experience may be of some interest to your readers. The three breeds, I think, are very useful introductions to our poultry-yards, and I rank them in order of merit - first, Houdan; second, Creve Caeur; and third, La Fleche. The two latter are more especially suited to a genial climate and dry situation. The greatest drawback in this country to Creve Coeurs is that, in change of temperature, they are subject to attacks of cold, approaching to, and not unfrequently ending in roup. The same may be said, in a certain degree, of the La Fleche, and there is in this variety an unaccountable mortality among the cocks.

" The Houdans are a very hardy race, easily acclimated, have vigorous constitutions, bear almost any confinement, and are prolific layers of large eggs, which they continue to produce nearly throughout the year. They are very fertile, much more so than the other varieties of French fowls, consequently there is a large proportion of chickens, which are particularly hardy and easily reared. It is a common saying at the National Poultry Company's establishment, "You can not kill a Houdan chicken." Being non-sitters it will, of course, be necessary to incubate their eggs by some other breed. Brahma hens accomplish this in the best possible manner. An adult cock, in condition, will weigh from seven to nine pounds, the hens about the same; and chickens from four to four and a half months old, five to six pounds, with a remarkably small proportion of bone and offal. I am strong in the opinion that in a given breeding stock, with equal advantages, a greater weight of flesh and eggs would be produced during a season, and of first-rate quality, from the Houdans than from any other known variety of fowls".

The testimony of breeders in France and England, as well as in this country, is so general and conclusive as to the merits of Houdans, that the writer is compelled to believe that, as egg producers, they are destined to take rank with the most popular breeds in this country, - and, notwithstanding the high prices at which they are generally held, he has made up his mind to make a small investment in them, and test their qualities the ensuing spring. E.