PRESENT TO QUEEN VICTORIA.
I have already alluded to the fine Grey Shanghaes which I forwarded to
Her Majesty the Queen. In relation to this circumstance the Boston
papers contained the following announcement, in the month of April,
1853; a circumstance which did not greatly retard the prospects of my
business either on this or on the other side of the water! The
compliment thus paid me by Royalty was duly appreciated, and its
delicacy will be apparent to the reader. This picture is the only one of
its _kind_ ever sent to an American citizen.
"A COMPLIMENT FROM VICTORIA.--Some weeks ago, Mr. George P. Burnham, of
Boston, forwarded to Her Majesty Queen Victoria a present of some _Grey
Shanghae_ fowls, which have been greatly admired in England. By the last
steamer Mr. Burnham received the following letter from Her Majesty's
Secretary of the Privy Purse, accompanying a fine portrait of the Queen,
sent over to Mr. B.:
THE QUEEN'S LETTER.
{ "Buckingham Palace,
{ March 15, 1853.
"Dear Sir: I have received the commands of Her Majesty the Queen,
to assure you of Her Majesty's high appreciation for the kind
motives which prompted you to forward for her acceptance the
magnificent 'Grey Shanghae' fowls which have been so much admired
at Her Majesty's aviary at Windsor.
"Her Majesty has accepted, with great pleasure, such a mark of
respect and regard, from a citizen of the United States.
"I have, by Her Majesty's command, shipped in the 'George Carl,' to
your address, a case containing a portrait of Her Majesty,[10] of
which the Queen has directed me to request your acceptance.
"I have the honor to be,
"Sir, your ob't and humble servant,
"C.B. Phipps.
"To Geo. P. Burnham, Esq.,
Boston, U.S.A."
I caused a copy to be taken from this portrait of the Queen, and have
had it engraved for this book; it appears as the frontispiece.
Immediately after this paragraph appeared, a new zest appeared to have
been given to the Grey Shanghae trade. Orders came from Canada and from
Nova Scotia to a very considerable amount; and during this season my
sales were again very large. During the year 1853, I started and raised
over sixteen hundred chickens of all kinds; but this did not supply my
orders. I bought largely, and paid high prices, too, generally. But few
persons were now doing any business in the fowl-trade, except myself,
however.
The _N.Y. Spirit of the Times_ published portraits of the birds sent to
the Queen, and remarked that "the engraving represented six of the nine
beautiful _Grey Shanghae_ fowls lately presented to Her Majesty
_Victoria_, Queen of Great Britain, by _George P. Burnham_, Esq., of
Boston, Mass.
"These birds were forwarded by one of the last month's Collins steamers,
in charge of Adams & Co.'s Express, and passed through this city on the
24th ult. Their extraordinary size and fine plumage were the admiration
of all who examined them. The picture is from life, engraved by Brown,
and is a faithful representation of the birds, which are very closely
bred.
"The color of this variety of the China fowl is a light silver-grey,
approximating to white; the body is a light downy white, sparsely
spotted and pencilled with metallic black in the tail and wing tips; the
legs are feathered to the toes, and the form is unexceptionable for a
large fowl; this variety having proved the biggest of all the
'Shanghaes' yet imported into this State.
"The two cocks above delineated weighed between ten and eleven pounds
each at six months old; the pullets drew seven and a half to nine pounds
each at seven to eight months old; the original imported pair of _old_
ones now weigh upwards of twenty-three pounds, together. In the existing
rage for weighty birds, this variety will naturally satisfy the ambition
of those who go for the 'biggest kind' of fowls!
"The group represents this variety with accuracy, and are, without
doubt, for their kind, rare specimens of the genuine _gallus giganteus_
of modern ornithologists. As Her Majesty has long been known among the
foremost patrons of that agreeable branch of rural pursuits,
poultry-raising, we do not doubt but that this splendid present from Mr.
Burnham will prove highly gratifying to her tastes in this particular."
Portraits of these fowls appeared in _Gleason's Pictorial_ for January,
1853, and the editor spoke as follows of them:
"The Grey Shanghae Fowls lately presented to Her Majesty Queen Victoria,
of Great Britain, by George P. Burnham, Esq., of Boston, were
extraordinary specimens of domestic poultry, and were bred the past
season by Mr. Burnham from stock imported by him direct from China. They
were universally admitted, by the thousands who saw them before they
left, to be the largest and choicest-bred lot of chickens ever seen
together in this vicinity. These fowls were from the same broods as
those lately sent to Northby, of Aldborough, by Mr. Burnham, who is,
perhaps, the most successful poultry-raiser in America; and while these
beautiful birds are creditable to him as a breeder, they are a present
really 'fit for a queen.'"
The New York journals alluded to them in flattering terms, during their
transit through that city on the way to their destination; and the
numerous orders that crowded in upon me was the best evidence of the
estimation in which this variety of domestic fowls was then held, as
well as of the determined disposition of "the people" to be supplied
from my "_pure_-bred stock."
By one of the British steamers, in the summer of 1853, the express of
Edwards, Sanford & Co., took out to Europe from my stock, for Messrs.
Bakers, of Chelsea, Baily, of London, Floyd, of Huddersfield, Deming, of
Brighton, Simons, of Birmingham, and Miss Watts, Hampstead, six cages of
these "extraordinary" birds. The best of the hens weighed nine to nine
and a half pounds each, and three of the cocks drew over twelve pounds
each! There were forty-two birds in all, which, together, could not be
equalled, probably, at that time, in America or England, for size,
beauty and uniformity of color. The sum paid me for this lot of Greys
was eight hundred and seventy dollars.
Of the three fowls sent to Mr. John Baily (above mentioned), and which
he exhibited in the fall of that year in England, the following account
reached me, subsequently:
"Mr. Geo. P. Burnham, of Melrose, sent out to England, last fall, to Mr.
John Baily, of London, a cage of his fine 'Grey Shanghaes,' which were
exhibited at the late Birmingham Show. The London _Field_ of Dec. 24th
says that '_one pair_ of these fowls, from Mr. Burnham, of the United
States, the property of Mr. Baily, of Mount-street, were shown among the
extra stock, and were purchased from him, during the exhibition, by Mr.
Taylor, of Shepherd's Bush, at one hundred guineas' ($500)!"
This was the biggest figure ever paid for _two_ fowls, I imagine! Mr.
Baily paid me twenty pounds sterling for the trio, and I thought that
fair pay, I remember. The following brief account of my trade for the
year of our Lord 1853, I published on the last day of December of that
year, for the gratification of my numerous friends, and for the
information of "the people" who felt an interest in this still exciting
and (to me) very agreeable subject:
"EDS. BOSTON DAILY TIMES: In a late number of your journal you were
pleased to allude to the sales of live-stock made by me latterly.
At the close of the present year, I find upon my books the
following aggregate of sales for 1853, which--to show how much
has been done by _one_ dealer--may be interesting to some of your
readers who 'love pigs and chickens.'
"I have sent into the Southern and Western States, through Adams &
Co.'s Express alone, from Jan. 1st to Dec. 27th, 1853, a little
rising $17,000 worth of Chinese fowls and fancy pigs. By Edwards,
Sanford & Co.'s Transatlantic Express, in the same period, I have
sent to England and the continent about $2000 worth of my 'Grey
Shanghaes.' By Thompson and Co. and the American Western Express
Co., I have sent west and south-west, in the same time, over $1200
worth; and my minor cash sales (directly at my yards in Melrose)
have been over $1000; making the entire sales from my establishment
for the past year nearly or quite _twenty-two thousand dollars_ in
value. Of this amount, $7300 worth has been sold since the 10th of
Sept last.
"By the first steamer that leaves New York in January, '54, I shall
send to New Orleans (to a single customer) between five and six
hundred dollars' worth, ordered a few days since. I have also now
in hand three large orders to fill for Liverpool and London,
immediately; and the present prospect is that the poultry-trade
will be considerably better next year than we have ever yet known
it in New England. Wishing you and my competitors in the trade a
'Happy New Year,' I am theirs and yours, truly,
"GEO. P. BURNHAM.
"_Melrose, Dec. 30, 1853._"
I have offered these statistics and facts to give some idea of the
amount of trade that must have been current, in the _aggregate_, when
these isolated instances are considered, and for the purpose of
affording the reader an opportunity to judge measurably to what an
extent this _fever_ really raged.
Thousands and tens of thousands of "the people" were now (or had been)
engaged in this extraordinary excitement, who were continuously
humbugging themselves and each other, at round cost. And when these
thousands are multiplied by the fives or tens, twenties or fifties, one
hundreds or five hundreds of dollars, that they invested in this mania,
the "prime cost" of this hum can be fancied, though it can never be
known with accuracy.
[10] See Frontispiece.