Pebrnarj 15, 1873. ] 



J0UENAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



157 



Growing i-ate Melons in Frames (Amuteur). — By sowing the seeds about 

 the middle of March, and shiftiuf^ the plants into largei' pots as required, 

 you may fruit them early in August by planting them in n frame in June, 

 The plants will have set fruit earlier than the plonting-out time, and it is just 

 as well to plunge the pots in the bed, so that the roots may come over the top, 

 or they may be planted out. We would not sow until the beginning of May, 

 and would grow the plants in pots, so as to have them strong for planting-out 

 when the frame is ready, and with linings you have every prospect of a crop 

 of late Melons in September. 



White Bedding Pansy {Id<in). — The best white Pansy for early summer 

 flowei-ing is Cliveden White, and for summer late-struck cuttings Viola 

 cuiTiuta alba planted in spring, ami wellsupphed with water in dry weather. 



Geranttm Cuttings ^Idem). — The beginning of Moi-ch is not too early to 

 prick out ou a gentle hotbed, autumn-struck cuttings of Tiicolor, Bicolor, aud 

 Bedding Geraniums, giving them air liberally after a few days. It will be 

 necessary to cover the hghts after a few days to keep up a suitable tempera- 

 ture. We should place about a handful of soil to each plant, and tie up in 

 moss. You may then move the plants mth good balls. 



Oi'R Back Volumes (A Younij Gardi-ner). — They all contain communica- 

 tions from the writers you name; and so do many of the Manuals and vol- 

 umes published at our office. 



Geranium (Amy). — Any of the principal florists who advertise in oui* co- 

 lumns could supply the variety you name. 



Geranium Leaves Yellow (C. P.). — The leaves appear to have been kept 

 in a dose, damp, and cold atmosphere, with more than enough water at the 

 roots. Give the plants a temperature of from 45^ to 50= at night, and athuit 

 an- freely, watering moderately at the i"oot, and only when the soil becomes 

 dj7. We would further adrise you to shake out the plants, free them of the 

 old soil, and pot them in tm-fy loam, with one part leaf soil or old dry manure 

 added, and a free admixture of sand. We think they will come round. 



Crickets in a Forcing House {Edicard flbr/if).— They are best de- 

 stroyed by poison. Entice them for two or three nights with sis table- 

 spoonfuls of oatmeal mixed with a teaspoonfrU of aniseed and a like quantity 

 of can-away seed, bi-ought to the consistency of a crumbling paste with honey. 

 If they devoiu- these baits gi-eedily, then on the thii'd night add to half a pint 

 of the oatmeal a tablespoonful of ground aniseed and carrawny seed, and 

 1 oz. of arsenic. Mis thoroughly with honey, and put down the mixture in 

 balls about the size of marbles. Chase's beetle poison is also excellent and 

 kills them ou the spot. Phosphor piste they likewise eat greedily, and it also 

 kills them. Be careful in remo\"ing the poisoned material, and to prevent 

 domestic animals getting at it. 



Plants for TTnheated Conservatory ^^th a North Aspect ( W. T.). 

 • — The most suitable Tvill be hardy Ferns aud hardy fine-foliaged plants, or 

 such as require but slight protection. Of hardy Ferns, which may either be 

 grown inrockwork and planted out, or in pots, wc advise: — Adiantum Capillus- 

 Venoris, Asplenium Adiautum-nignuu, A. mai-inum, A. Trichomanes, aud 

 A. Trichomanes cristatum ; Athyrium Filix-foemina, varieties con'mbiferum, 

 plumosum, multifidum, aud depauperatum ; Blechnum Spicant ramosum, 

 Lastrea cristata major, L. opaca, L. Filix-mas cristata, Lomaiia chilensis, 

 Osmxmda regalis cristata, Polypodium alpestre, P. Drj'opteris, P. vulgare can> 

 biicum, Polystichum acrostichoides, P. angulare cristatimi, P. angulaie prc- 

 liferum, Scolopendrium vulgare, varieties coi-ymbifenim, crispum maximum, 

 ramo- cristatum, Bubmarginatiun, and eubcomutum, and Woodwai-dia radi- 

 cans. The dwarfness of these may be relieved by a few plants with fine 

 foUage, as Yucca aloifolia and voiiegata, Y. filamentosa aud variegata, Y. quad- 

 ricolor ; Aralia Sieboldi and voi-iegata, Araucoiia excel-sa, Retinospora plumosa, 

 and others of the more compact and graceful-habited Conifei-s. A few plants 

 of the new Aucubas, especially the berried sorts, come in well for such houses. 



Names of Plants {J. Lock). — 1, Echeveria glauca; 2, E. gibbiflora vor, 

 metaUica, the E. metaUica of gardeners. (J. W.). — The scraps sent ore insuffi- 

 cient for deteiTuination. No. 2 might possibly belong to Pachysandra tenni- 

 nalis. ( Thos. Mayes). — The " Wild Flowers " con be had as you desue, monthly 

 from the beginning. We do not recommend you to use the Reindeer Moss 

 (Cladonia rangiferina), enclosed by you, as a substitute for sphagnum. Pos- 

 sibly it may answer well in some cases, but we prefer sphagnum. The Orchid 

 flowers sent were in very indifferent condition. 1 Appears to be Cymbiiiium 

 sinense ; 2, Dendrobium Pierardi. Well-rotted cow dung may safely be used 

 for the coarser terrestrial Orchids, as Phajus grandifolius and WoUichii, Pe- 

 risteriaelata, &c., but of course must not be used with Cattleyas, Odontoglots, 

 or other epiphytal species. Peat answers very well indeed for many Orchids 

 when wired to the block instead of sphagnum, and it is not unusual to find a 

 plant growing on a block subsequently partly sunk into a pot containing a 

 compost of rough peat, with its accompaniment of charcoal and crocks. 

 {A.B. C.).— Whiter Aconite, Eranthis hvemalis. {HiUhwaite).—!, Not in a 

 condition fit for determination ; certainly some Leguminous herb, possibly an 

 Astragalus. 2, Habrothamnus fasciculatus. 



POULTET, BEE, AM) PIGEON OHEOKEOLE. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS AT SHOWS. 



Would you allow me, as a rather old breeder of fowls, to make 

 a few remarks on the two letters in your Journal, signed by 

 " WiMNER OF Four Curs " and " James Clark?" The reason of 

 poultry suffering so much from exhibition arises mostly, if not 

 entirely, from, firstly, the unnatural state the birds are in when 

 sent to the show ; sccomUy, from the waut of pure air in the 

 exhibition pens ; and probably, thii-dly, from the birds being 

 partially fed ou some of the rubbishy mixtures called fowl foods 

 — rather I would say foul foods. 



With regai-d to the first point, it is well known to all ex- 

 perienced keepers of animals that it is much easier to get them 

 into high condition than to keep them so. It seems to be 

 almost the natural state of things, as soon as an animal has 

 attained a certain state of perfection, that it should begin in- 

 stantly to go back — that is, if you have poultry in such a con- 

 dition as to be " fit to show anjTfhere," and then turn them 



down in as a healthy run as you can meet with, you will find they 

 will not keep in this condition , but go back. Now if this is allowed 

 to be the case (and I think few large breeders of prize poultry 

 will fail to do so), is it at all strange that fowls penned-up in 

 a dii'ty pen, or in hot close hampers or baskets, should go much 

 more rapidly out of condition than they would at their' owners' 

 yards , aud that they are very hable to those diseases caused by 

 bad air ? I say nothing about there not unlikely being diseased 

 fowls actually at the show. It is, I beUeve, well known as a 

 case in point that dogs, if sent to a show before they have had 

 distemper, are very Uable to have it as soon as they reach home. 

 Now no one would say that improper food, or the want of a 

 certain kind of food, will cause (Ustemper, nor will anyone say 

 because a healthy young dog gets distemjier, that therefore there 

 was actually some dog at the same show that had the disease 

 at the time. 



I beUeve that the birds youi- correspondents refer to were 

 suffering from diseased livers, such being in an unhealthy state 

 when sent to the show ; if so, the ale was about the worst thing 

 possible for them. My plan, when bu-ds come home, is to give 

 them nothing but w^'m bread and skim milk ; if they look dull 

 in the morning, a pill of simply one grain of calomel, continu- 

 ing the bread and milk. That bii'ds do not suffer from want of 

 lime aud gravel is perfectly clear to my mind, at any rate as 

 respects cocks. I have a lot of Game cocks in pens 3 to 4 feet 

 every way ; they are fed on Indian corn, barley, and every other 

 day a little hoUed rice and skimmed rmlk. They are all in perfect 

 health, though they have been penned for six or eight weeks,, 

 and look better than their brothers running at large with the 

 hens. The pens — and here is the grand secret — are covered at the 

 bottom with sawdust, and every day a handful or two is thrown 

 over it, dusted over it I might say ; the consequence is that 

 with the exception of the smell of sawdust my pens and hen- 

 houses are quite sweet. I adopt the same plan with my hen- 

 houses, only in them the sawdust is about 2 inches deep all over 

 the bottom. If aU secretaries of shows would adopt this plan 

 I should send valuable birds for exhibition with far greater 

 pleasure than T now do. It is astonishing how soon a lad can 

 go over a lot of pens , and how little sawdust makes things sweet. 

 I find the same plan succeed with my cliickens ; and though I 

 was warned that if the bu-ds, young or old, ate the dust — as they 

 cannot help doing when fed with soft food — it would kill them, 

 it has not done so with me. 



I find at some shows exhibitors have said sawdust killed 

 their bu'ds, and to avoid this the secretai'ies had spread at- 

 the bottom chaff (chopped straw), which is almost as bad a 

 material as coxrld be used. The same remark applies to saud 

 gravel, for this reason,thatitbeing the nature of fowls generally, 

 as well as when at exhibitions, to have loose wateiy evacuations 

 which are every moment giving out unhealthy fumes, it is 

 absolutely necessary for the birds' health either to be con- 

 stantly removing this liquid, which cannot be done in shows, 

 or to deodorise it by means of sawdust or earth, and the former 

 is after all almost the only readily attained article that can be 

 had, and that anywhere. 



I hope the bird referred to by your correspondent will re- 

 cover his comb. I have known of cases in which the comb turned 

 quite as black as he mentions, and yet came all right again. 

 The only cases in which, according ta my experience, this does 

 not happen are where frostbite is the cause, and then I fear it 

 is hopeless to expect any improvement. I wish your corre- 

 spondents would try the sawdust plan and let your readers 

 know the result. Would they also say what the exhibition birds 

 were fed upon before sending them to exhibitions '? as I find that 

 birds if too highly fed will appear in perfect health, be going 

 on quite well, and suddenly show that their hvers are out of 

 order — in fact, as I said before, they seem to thrive up to a 

 certain point and then rapidly go back. — Ajliteur. 



PURE-BRED VERSUS CROSS-BRED FOWLS. 

 I SHOULD gladly be of Mr. Fraser's opinion that pure-bred 

 fowls produce as many eggs as cross-bred, or even more, but 

 my experience has inviuiably disproved such a result being the 

 case. My fowls are kept in close confinement with the ex- 

 ception of an occasional run iu the garden, and I have now a 

 pullet (by a Dorking cock from a cross-bred hen), hatched at 

 the end of April, which has just laid her hundredth egg, none 

 weighing less than 2 ozs. She commenced laying at the begin- 

 nmg of October, is still in perfect health and condition, shows 

 no signs of becoming broody, and promises to accomphsh still 

 gi-eater things. Not one of my pure Brahmas kept under pre 



