MmcU 14, 1372. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE G.OJDENER. 



canuot speak so fully as I could have desired, never having tried 

 any exijeriments in"that direction; but having some Itnowledge 

 of chemistry, I may express the opinion that birds can be dyed 

 by a person experienced in that art so as to defy detection. I, 

 like Mr. Blakston, have a difficulty in conceiving how the Buff 

 KoiTvich birds are done, but I am assured by an experienced 

 fancier in Norwich that it '■ can be done," and " is done." I 

 wish some person who knows the secret would give it publicity, 

 as such dishonest practices are sure ultimately to have a baneful 

 effect on the "fancy" at large. I think some means maybe 

 devised to sift this out. If a few clubs would unite in defray- 

 ingthe expense, no doubt some experienced dyer or experimental 

 chemist could be found to solve the mystery, and set the matter 

 at rest. 



With regard to trimming, I think this practice is quite as cul- 

 pal.ile in its bUghtiug effects, and, no doubt, many of the 

 fanciers who retire from the ranks from " causes beyond our 

 ken " are disgusted with the malpractices which have been per- 

 petrated upon them from time to time by some unscrupulous 

 vagabond, who trades upon the enthusiasm of a uewly-fangled 

 and ardent fancier. They do not generally attempt to gull ex- 

 perienced fanciers knowingly, although it is not, I believe, from 

 any lack of disposition on their part to do so. Something surely 

 can be done to lessen this evil Hke'O'ise ; some alteration in the 

 classes, or some fixed rules, ought to be used by every com- 

 mittee who hold an open show. All experienced fanciers know 

 what a difficult matter it is to breed an Evenly-marked bird, 

 and how many there are within an ace of being perfect. A 

 fancier may breed a nice Evenly -marked wing bird, with regular 

 eye marks, and — no, I will not digress from my subject to give 

 3'ou a description of the watcliful and anxious care that is be- 

 Gtowed upon every marked bird as he begins to show " his 

 marks " — not <'i la Tichborne — although a little tattooing is too 

 ■frequently resorted to when Nature has not accomplished her 

 task in a manner satisfactory to the " claimant " of the would- 

 be real Roger, or I should certainly break my promise at the 

 beginning of this cominentar3'. 



WeU, I daresay some of my disappointed brother fanciers 

 {and many, including myself, have been often sorely disap- 

 pointed) in discovering the diaboHcal black feather on one side 

 of the tail, or the dark feather on the outer edge of the shoulder 

 of the wing, or the two small feathers in the saddle, or the 

 Bmall tick behind the head, and so forth, although I have no 

 doubt that many people make very light of a tail feather, or 

 even a few coverlets or saddle feathers, and readily dispose of 

 them. Now, my principal object is to get rid of this gross 

 fraud, and I think that every person wishful to promote the 

 fancy -n-ill wiUingly add his quota to devise some means for this 

 very desirable end. I think that all birds with wing marks and 

 eye marks, and having a solitary black feather, or even one or 

 two on each side, should be shown in the Evenly-marked 

 classes, and that the single feather merely count one point 

 against the bird; and with regard to one on each side, I would 

 leave it to the discretion ancl opinion of the judges to decide, as 

 one man fancies a four-marked bird, whilst another prefers a 

 Gix-raarked bird, ancl this principle, in my opinion, acts the 

 same as handicapping winning horses for future performances, 

 and so equahsing their chances. 



I think a book of rules should be drawn up and submitted to 

 the committees of every bird show in the kingdom, and all re- 

 quested to give their views, so that ultimately a code could be 

 established for the guidance of the whole. For example, I 

 think that a bird having nine clear flights in each wing, and the 

 secondaries all black, is a perfect wing-marked bird. I prefer a 

 bird vidth circular eye marks, neither too heavj- nor yet too light ; 

 but how few circular eye-marked birds are there to be found ? 

 Well, it probably does not matter, but they could very readily 

 be counted, I know. Few birds are alike in eye marks ; some 

 are marked behind the eye, and if in a line with the centre of 

 the eye I term them " back centres," and if in front, " front 

 centres." Now, I think a bird marked both in front of and 

 •liehind the eye is much more perfect than a bird marked simply 

 in front, or at the back of the eye only. Then there requires 

 ^•eat judgment in defining how these should be treated. I 

 think a heavy-winged bircl should have heavy eye marks, and 

 a light-winged bird light eye marks, so as to be, to use an 

 .iirtistic phrase, "well-balanced in its composition," and I think 

 this a great element in judging; in addition to this j'ou have 

 size, shape, colour, closeness of feather, carriage, and many 

 •other minor points to consider, that really when you think of it, 

 one dark feather in the tail is a very small difficulty to deal with. 

 In the Even-marked class I consider that all birds with even 

 wings and cap, even wings alone, eye marks alone, mng marks, 

 cap, and eye marks, and any of the above with a dark feather 

 or feathers in their tails, are equally entitled with the true 

 Four-marked bird to compete for Evenly-marked honours, and 

 I make no doubt but my opinion will be vei-y generally sustained 

 throughout the "fancy" at large. 



I quite concur with Mr. Blakston regarding the Evenly-marked 

 or Variegated Cinnamons, that it is necessary to save this very 



beautiful varietv from becoming a reminiscence of the past. I 

 think there is not a more beautiful and delicately pretty bird in 

 all the various classes of the large Canary family than this 

 delectable varietv. Markings are, in my opinion, the great 

 criterion of excellence, and the most difficult featm-e to obtain. 



With regard to the north countrymen preferring size and 

 contour to rich colour, preferred, as Mr. Blakston states, by the 

 southern fanciers, this, I think, could easily be settled. Let 

 even marks be regarded as the distinguishing point of perfection 

 as a " basis of future operations," and then leave to each judge 

 to exercise his own judgment as to whether the colour or the 

 size, lire, predominate— that is, let him weigh these points to- 

 gether and decide accordingly. I think there ought to be three 

 classes, if not four, at every good show for these birds, and they 

 should be classed as follows : — 



Evenlj- -marked Yellow Cinnamon. 



Eveuly-mai'lied Bufl Cinnamon. 



Variegated Buff or YeUow (uneven-marked). 



Evenly-marked and Crested Cinnamon. 

 There are a great many birds of the last class now in exist- 

 ence, and I find them gi-eatly and justly esteemed ; and now that 

 the Norwich birds are so very plentiful, and so many people 

 appear to be getting tired of them, I am certain it only wants a 

 beginning, and I hope that some judicious secretary or com- 

 mittee of management may see it to his or their interest to adopt 

 the suggestion. I am sure it would pay well at the Crystal 

 Palace, as it is very unsatisfactory to send aBuff bird competing 

 against a Yellow. The same remark, of course, is objectionable 

 to my having put the Unevenly-marked YeDow and Buff to- 

 gether, but I beg to observe that I merely suggest it as an ex- 

 periment to see if it will pav, and if so, as I doubt not, then the 

 classes can readilv he divided. I hope that some other fanciers 

 may take up the "cue and make a few " cannons and pockets, 

 and that you will considerately allow all intelUgent commumca- 

 tions a space in your Journal, which has been a useful and 

 valuable medium for the extension and improvement of the 

 science of ornithology. — Robert C. Wallace, Berwick-on- 

 Tweed. . 



■WINTERING BEES. 



I in\T3 two apiaries situated about two miles distant from 

 each other. One I will call my home apiary, and the other mj 

 o£t-hand farm. In the former I have twenty-six stocks of bean- 

 tifid Ligm-ians, and in the latter twenty stocks, consisting ot 

 black bees and hybrids ; for as soon as I discover any sign ot 

 impurity in a Ligurian stock, it is at once removed to my ott- 

 hand fai-m." This wiU sometimes happen in spite of every care 

 and attention. . ,, . 



I have wintered aU mv bees in both apiaries on their summei 

 stands, except two stocks which I found late m the autumn to 

 be rather weak. I took these two stocks into my bee house, a 

 kind of summer-house, which I constructed about ten years 

 a"0, and in which I have at the present time twelve stocks o£ 

 Ligurians. These two stocks have been taken from the bee 

 house and put on their summer stands on fine days a 1 througn 

 the winter, in order that they might avail themselves of an 

 airin- " on the wing." Unlike " B. & W.," I have the pleasure 

 to state that I have not lost a single stock out of foriy-six during 

 the winter, and I have hope, now the season is so far advancetl 

 of saving the whole of mv stocks, as I have examined most ot 

 them to day (March 4th), and find that I have not a tad or 

 doubtful stock amongst them. With tlie exception of the two 

 stocks already referred to, aU were well provisioned for the 

 muter in October last. In conclusion I may say, whatever the 

 coming summer may be, that I have never during thirg years 

 wintered bees so siccessfully.-WvATT J. Pettitt, Hall of 

 Apiculture, Dover. 



APIARIAN NOTES. 

 Brown Sugar not Suited fob Winter Feeding. — In the 

 winter of 1860-61, after an unfavourable honey season, my bees 

 were fed-up in the autumn with moist sugar and beer boiled 

 hito a thick syrup. Owing to a cold and protracted winter they 

 were for some weeks unable to come out *» /<=1'7« 'J^^^ff ,y|f ' 

 and when the weather became warmer I found ^at the bees 

 were severely affected with diarrhoea or dysentery, whilst those 

 Urin- upon honey were not so affected. The bees svirvived 

 but were so much reduced in strength that they were not ready to 

 swarm until the end of June, whilst the g'="««^ty °/^l^'^s?n,e 

 the locality had swarmed three weeks or a month earher Since 

 that date 1 have always used either lump dust or crushed lum 

 sugar for winter supplies, and have found bees hving i^ipo^ ^J^ilP 

 mfde by boiUng 3 lbs. of sugar to 2 lbs. of ^''t";./" ''11 lespec s 

 quite as strong and healthy as those hving entu-ely upon theu 



natural food. j nTiocwB that 



D.oip GiiE.iTLV Remedied by Ventil.vtion.-I observe that 

 m. B. Fox complains that his bees have ^^f'^'^ed severely f.om 

 the excessive mUsture of the P^-^f "' ^"'"•- M'^e ai^.^^d 

 always have been, in a state of perfect health, and compaiative 



