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TABLE,

Showing what Weights Horses are to carry, that run for Give and Take Plates, from Twelve to Fifteen Hands high.

Twelve Hands

And for every half a quarter of an inch
Thirteen Hands.

And for every half a quarter of an inch
Fourteen Hands.

And for every half a quarter of an inch
Fifteen Hands

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st. lb. oz. 500

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COCKING.

THIS game, if it may be so called, had its rise and adoption in the earliest times among the Barbarians, Greeks, and Romans. It appears to have been a standard diversion among the latter at the time they abolished the combats of the gladiators in the Arena. The islanders of Delos, it appears, were great lovers of cockfighting. Tanagra also, a city in Boeotia, the isle of Rhodes, Chalcis in Euboea, and the country of Media, were celebrated for their partiality to and their breed of chickens. It has continued a sport among the English for a long period, although now much on the decline.

Directions for breeding Game Cocks.

The breeding cock should be selected from a strain which has generally, if not always, gained the odd battle when equally matched; be also thoroughly convinced that he is quite sound, by attending to his mode of feeding, where, should he eat corn enough to make his crop very hard, and digest the same speedily, that is as sure a token his constitution is good, as that it is rotten when he eats but little, and has besides a bad digestion. To be still more sure, try also by running him down in a field, and sparring with another cock, at either of which, if he is unsound, he will turn black in the face. Try the hens too in like manner.

The cock ought to have a long thin head, or very taper, if short; full large eyes, stout crooked beak, thick long neck, short compact body, round breast, firm stout thighs, well placed up to the shoulders, long strong legs, and if they agree in colour with the beak, it is reckon. ed a perfection; broad thin feet, and very long claws; a stately walk, and an upright easy carriage, his wings not lying close on his back, but rather extended.

A cock possessed of the preceding qualifications, in condition to fight, ought not to weigh more than 4 lb. 10 oz., for when above that weight, and the hens of a

good size, their progeny, if well walked, will be too large to fight, being beyond the articles; and if the cock is much less in weight than 4 lb. 8 oz. the chickens will not have the due share of bone requisite to contend with cocks that are true bred. The hens should correspond to the cock in feather, shape, and make, with bodies sufficiently roomy behind for the production of large eggs.

The breeding walk should be where there are outhouses for shelter in bad weather, on a dry soil, all the better if gravelly, at a distance from any house where fowls are kept, lest the hens should be trod by other cocks: and, if possible, where there is a constant rill of clear water running near the house, as all foul water, especially soap suds, causes the roop, a fatal disease that never can be thoroughly cured.

In February, put the cock and not more than three of four hens together, and let them be sisters, if possible, for greater certainty in breeding. Before the hens be gin laying, provide distinct and separate nests for them, else they will be apt to quarrel and fight, till they at last entirely spoil one another. The first egg being usually smaller than the others, mark and leave that in the nest; take out all the others the same day they are laid, write on, and put them in a box with bran. When the hens begin to grow broody, put the eggs laid by in the nest, as most likely to produce good chickens. Plenty of food and water should always be near the sitting hens, and if they are in a floored place, lay a quantity of gravel upon it. Those chickens are of little value that are hatched later than May; and those hatched before the end of March are often cramped by cold; such as are later than the beginning of June never run cocks so high upon leg, light fleshed, or large boned. If the weather turns out dry, and the sun shines, the chickens may be put out of doors, even the day after they are hatched, confining the hers under crates.

For the first fortnight the chickens should be fed on bread and eggs mixed, besides grits; and if kept in a room, where they cannot get insects, led them have some raw bones of beef or mutton to pick, with a sup ply of fresh cool water. Feed them three times a day with as much as they can eat. After the hens are removed, put the brood cock along with the cock chick

ens, whom he will keep in proper subjection, provided no hens come near them.

With a view to try the virtue of a brood, choose from those hatched early, some of the stags that are shortest upon leg, get them weighed into a match to fight in the main about March the year after they are hatched; bestow great attention to their mode of fighting, and the reputation of the cocks they contend with; and if they keep the battle equally up, and only seem beat by age, they will most likely make excellent cocks.

RULES AND ORDERS.

On the day of weighing, he whose chance it is to weigh last is to set his cocks and number his pens, both byes and main, and deposit the key of the pens upon the weighing table, (or the adversary may put a lock upon the door,) before any cock is put into the scale; and after the first pack of cocks is weighed, a person appointed by him that weighed first shall go into the other pens to see that no other cocks are weighed but what are numbered and so set, if they are within the articles of weight that the match specifies; but if not, to take the following cock or cocks, until all the number of main and bye cocks are weighed through. When they are all weighed, proceed directly to match them, with the least weight Erst, and so on; and equal weights or nearest weights to be separated, if by that separation an increased number of battles can be made: all bianks must be filled up on the weighing day, and the battles struck off and divided for each day's play, as previously Agreed on, and the cocks that weigh the least are to fight the first day, and so upwards.

At the time assented to by both parties, the cocks that are to fight the first battle are produced upon the pit by the feeders, or their helpers; and after an examination to see whether they correspond with the marks and colours stated in the match bill, they are given to the setters to, who, after chopping them in hand, give them to the masters of the match, (who always sit fronting each other,) when they turn them down upon the mat; and by no means are the setters-to to touch them, except they should hang in the mat, in each other, or get close to the pit's edge, until they shall cease fighting, while

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a person can tell forty. When both cocks leave off fighting, until one of the setters to, or one appointed for stating the law; can tell forty gradually; ther. the setters to are to make the nearest way to their cocks, and when they have taken them up, to carry them into the middle of the pit, and directly deliver them on their legs beak to beak, and not to touch them again until they have refused fighting, so long as the teller of the law can tell ten, unless they are on their backs, or hung in each other, or in the mat; then again they are to setto as before, and continue it till one cock refuses fighting ten several times, one after another, when it is that cock's victory that fought within the law. Now and then it happens that both cocks refuse fighting while the law is telling; in this case a fresh cock is to be hovelled, and brought forward upon the mat as soon as possible, and the setters to are to toss up, which cock is to be set to first, and he that gets the chance has the choice. Then the other which is to be set to last must be taken up, but not carried off the pit; and setting the hovelled cock down to the other, five separate times, telling ten between each setting to, and the same to the other cock: if one fights and the other declines, the fighting cock has the battle; should both fight, or both refuse, it is a drawn battle. The meaning of setting to five times to each cock, is that ten times setting to being the long law, so on their both refusing, the law is to be equally shared between them.

Deciding a battle by another way, is, if any one offers to lay ten pounds to a crown, and no one takes it until the law teller counts forty, and calls out three separate times, "Will any one take it?" and if no one does, it is that cock's battle the odds are laid on, and the settersto are not to touch the cocks all the time the forty is telling, unless either cock is hung in the mat, or on his back, or hung together. If a cock should die before the long law is told out, notwithstanding he fought in the law, and the other did not, he loses the battle.

There are often disputes in setting to in the long law, for frequently both cocks refuse fighting until four or five, or more or less times, are told; then they sometimes commence telling from that cock's fighting, and counting but once refused, but they should continue their counting on, until one cock has refused ten times:

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