JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jamiarr, 25, 1872. 



Gabte Coce (C.J. S.). — We are disposed to believe you have one between a 

 Black Bed and a Duckwing, or between a Black and a Duckwing. This latter 

 cross is often tried where a tendency has been Bhown on the part of the 

 Duckwing to throw white spots or grey feathers in the breast. The ob- 

 jectionable parts are bred out, and sometimes the first crosses are sold. It 

 may be you have one of them. 



DiSTiNGuisinNG THE Cock FROM Hen Guinea Fowl (J. fi".).— There is no 

 certain test. The " comeback " is not one. The knob on the head of the 

 cock is larger than that of the hen, and the gills are larger and drop lower. 

 This cannot be depended upon, as those of an old hen sometimes become 

 greatly developed. U it is intended to breed them, there is no certainty 

 unless they are kept in pairs. 



Two Cocks with Forty-four Hens (TV. H. P.).— You want two more 

 cocks now and for the nest month, after that one more would be enough, 

 and in the hot weather two would do. Go on sitting now, and a week after 

 the introduction of fresh cocks we should do so confidently. 



White Fowts (Tam.herUque).—YovLr fowls are Silkies. If they are 

 thorough-bred they should have dark flesh and faces. It mar be they have a 

 stain, but they are Silkies. The pure birds have a small top"-knot. They are 

 good layers and exceUent sitters. TheT are much valued for sitting on Par- 

 tridge and Pheasant eggs. Their chickens are the oddest and prettiest 

 things imaginable, being like balls of white down. 



Ducks (C/iff).— Carolina Ducks are har-iier than . 

 They feed freely 



wild 



Ducki 



barley, Indian com, and buck 



wheat. They do not require a 



large run. A few feet of grass 



extending from the water all 



round is the most they require . 



They should be pinioned, then 



they cannot fly. They are not 



wanderers. They breed freely 



in England. They will not 



make nests nor lay on the 



ground. They require small 



boxes shaped like dog-kennels, 



to be fastened on poles in the -^^ 



water, as in the accompanying 



figure. Theywilllayandbatchinthem. 



Pigeons "Going Light " (ij. H. ^eaftlc).— This disease, otherwise called 

 consumption, has been sadly prevalent during the present season, possibly 

 from the great damp. We believe there is no remedy known. We invite 

 the opinion and experience of the fancy on this subject. 



Points in Nuns (Jarfc).— We believe the right number of dark feathers in 

 each wing should be six, some say seven. Tour birds having more on one 

 wing than on the other would not win. Their being free from black feathers 

 inside their hood is a great excellence, also their having no foul feathers in 

 the body. Breed on until you breed birds with a level number of flight feathers, 

 and you will have a good chance of a good prize. Jacobins should not have 

 white thighs. 



Canary and Goldfinch Cross (S. J. T^.}.— The age is immaterial, the 

 main object being to get a hen from a strain which, from some inexplicable 

 cause, has a tendency to throw birds more nearly allied to the Canary in 

 plumac;e than to the i^ch. By far the greater proportion of Goldfinch Mules 

 are dark, seli-coloured birds, not half so bright in plumage as the Finch 

 himself; but where the Canary shows itself, either by giving brilliancy of 

 colour to the naturaUy dark feathers of the self-coloured bird, or by causing 

 it to break into a beautifully variegated specimen, the Mule becomes valuable 

 according to the amount of brilliancy so bestowed, or the exactness of the 

 markings ; or if the Mule be perfectly clear, a cock of good colour, il it have 

 a bright blaze on its face the breeder may write himself down among the 

 lucky men of the nineteenth century. I can give no opinion as to the best 

 age for pairing Cana-ies. Breeders never wait for breeding stock to reach any 

 particular age. You cannot go far wrong by following Nature, but put your 

 birds up in the spring, about the time when they are beginning to make love 

 out of doors. Young birds of last season will breed this year, and breeders 

 are only too glad to _ get nests from them while in the heyday of their 

 strength. I have read somewhere, I do not know where, that certain dis- 

 parities in the ages of the sexes have a tendency to produce more cocks or more 

 hens in a nest, as the case may be, but I have never recorded any statistics, 

 and seldom relate any experience but my ovm. — W. a. Blakston. 



Canaries Unwell (H. C. TI'.).— The cage of the Canary No. 1 is infested 



with a very familiar friend (?), of the Canary breeder, a parasite which 



X was going to attempt a learned disquisition on the nuisance, but the truth 

 is, I know nothing of the natural history and private life of these pests. I only 

 know them by sight, and when they intrude am always desirous to cut the con- 

 nection. I said parasites, and that, I apprehend, they must be. Ex nihil 

 nihil fit, and I do not see how wood, wire, paint, and varnish can by any 

 fortuitous combination produce animal life. They must emanate from the 

 bird; but what they are, what they turn to (if they turn to anything at all), 

 or whither they go, is more than I can say. When I get a visitation they 

 usually go into boiling water. One year I put away some felt nests without 

 eiamming them— very careless, I admit, but at the close of a busy eea=on 

 one is glad to get the rubbish out of the way and clear np for moulting— 

 and I found them some time after completely perforated, tunnelled by some 

 long maggotty-looking worms, which I fancied were one form of the red 

 insect, mite, spider, bug, or by whatever name it may be called. They con- 

 gregate in masses round the inside of nests;, in cracks, between ca^es in con- 

 tact, in any snug comer, and there they multiply and increase in a^'wonderful 

 way. They do not show themselves, much till nightfall, when they emerge 

 from their dens and feast on the blood of the Canary, and if a cage" infested 

 with them be examined by candlelight, they may be* seen running over the 

 feathers of the birds by scores, with a nimbleness and activity quite foreign 

 to them in the daytime. . However, your cage seems to be infested with them, 

 and the best thing will be to get rid of them, and study their natural history 

 afterwards. This will best be dong by immersing it in boiling water, and 

 afterwards varnishing it, taking care to rub the varnish well into the cracks 

 by itself? Are the tips of the young feathers 

 or by its knocking itself about ? From 

 presi.nt state, I apprehend it has been 

 >-rl (^yc-i and general debility point to 

 II'' V, ;iv unless a change for the better 

 baize or other warm stuff. 



and joints. Is No. 2 

 injured by any other bird peckiii 

 the length of time it has been ' 

 making a late moult. But the 

 a state of things which can onl 

 Cover it up entirely 



and place it m an extra warm place. Take away its water for half a day and 

 replace the vessel with the surface well floated with castor oil. Feed on 

 Canary seed only. — W. A. Blakston. 



Canary's Eye Blind (Laice).—Ji the complaint is of sis months' stand- 

 ing, it says little for any prospect of recovery. It must be the result of old 

 age, or causes other than temporary inflammation from cold. — W. A. Blak- 

 ston. 



Husk in Canary (D. H.).— Give bread and milk, and hang in a warm place 

 away from draughts. — W. A. Blakston. 



Nutt's Hive, &c. (SubscribeT's Sister).— V^rite to Messrs. Neighbour, 127, 

 High Holbom. They can inform you better than we can. 



Unhealthy Hive (Alpha). — We should imagine yoiir bees have been suf- 

 fering from dysentery. We shall be better able to advise you if you will farom' 

 us with replies to the following questions. 1, Was the hive very light when 

 you united the bees ? 2, How much food did you give ? 3, Do the bees fly 

 out at all on warm days ? 4, "UTiat appearance and substance do the yellow 

 combs (as you express it) present ? 



Various (Stultus).— The Mountain Finch, Bramble Finch, or Brambling, 

 is the Fringilla montifringilla of ornithologists. Yon will find it described 

 in Macgillivray'a " British Birds." Oatmeal and ground oats are not the 

 same. We do not know what you mean by " an ordinaiy out-door grape," nor 

 do yon say where your vine is growing. 



Melilotus leucantha (H. B. ,S.).— You must raise plants from seed* 

 You can obtain it of any agricultural seedsman. All the clovers and melilota 

 are good bee-flowers. 



Fixtures (W. B. S.).— You have no legal right to 

 copper without your landlord's consent. 



the grate and 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51* 32^ 40" N. ; Long. 8' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 



I7th. — Very rainy morning, and so continued all day, the wind getting more 

 and more boisterous till night, when it blew a gaft. 



18th. — Fine morning, rain about noon, and in the afternoon, but fine between, 

 and lovely night. 



19th. — Beautiful bright sunny morning, dull afternoon, fine evening vr.th 

 lunar halo at 5.30 p.m., but dull night. [night, 



20th. — Wet in mommtj and showery during the day, fine evening and very fine 



21st.^ — Slight mist early, then dry, rain at 0.40 p.m., fine afterwards, but damp 

 and disagreeable. 



22nd. — Stormy, dark, and damp all day. 



23rd. — Wet and windy morning, but fine from noon, all the afternoon and 

 evening. Lunar halo at 9.30 p.m., and rain at 10.30 p.m. Barometer re- 

 markably low at 1 P.M., reading corrected and reduced to sealevel only 

 28.832. 

 The week has been as damp and cloudjt a 



barometer very low, below 29 inches tw" 



23rd at 1 p.m. 



24th. — Shortly before midnight the barometer a^ain turned to fall; and 

 at 4.47 A.M. on the 24th it was, corrected and reduced to sea level, 

 only 28.332 inches being lower than for the last 25 years, and with, I 

 believe, one exception the lowest for half a century. — G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— January 24. 

 We have still an excess in the supply of rough out-door produce, and i 



duced prices have been the consequence. Forced vegetables are quite sufii- 

 cient for the trade. Cornish Broccoli is very good. Consignments to us from 

 Paris chiefly consist of salading ; the general trade with the Continent has 

 been large this week. 



FRUIT. 



Apple 



Chestnuts bushel 10 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Grapes, Hothouse.... lb. 

 Gooseberries quart 



. d. B. d 

 2 Oto4 



Len 



flOO 7 10 



Melons each 2 3 



Mulberries lb. OtoO 



Nectarines doz. Co 



Oranges ^100 4 10 



Pears, kitchen doz. 2 i V 



dessert doz. 8 8 



Apple 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. 



Asparagns 1M0O. 



Beans, Kidney per 10 1 



Broad bushel 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts. .J sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capficums ^ino 



Carro*9 bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 

 Cucambera each 



pickling doz. 



Garlic _ 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish bundle 



Leeka bunch St 



Lpttuce....'. d.»z. 1 n 



Mushrooms pottle 1 



Mustard & Cress, .punnet 2 



Qpions bushel 2 



picklinfT quart 6 



Parsley per doz. bunches 3 



Parsnips doz. 9 



Peas quart 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb b_- ndie 1 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-Kale basltet 1 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel S 



Vegetable Marrows, .doz. 



