AprU 4, 1872. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



Carrier, and widening towards the breast, which should be full ; 

 the shoulders well defined and forward, the back rather hoUow 

 TS-ith long wings and tail; the colour, a leaden blue, extending to 

 the tail ; the neck feathers, dark, lustrous, and resembling a coat 

 of armour ; the bars broad, distinct, and black. In Silvers it 

 should be of a dark brown, approaching black. — George South. 



PIGEONS GOING LIGHT. 



I THINK no satisfactoi-y reply to your inquiry on the above 

 subject has appeared. I notice that some recommend castor oil 

 and others cod-liver oil, but, as it appears aU parties agi-ee that 

 worms are the cause of going hght, I cannot see how the birds 

 can be benefited by oil treatment. I should have supposed the 

 first necessity was to get rid of the woi-ms. "Will you be so kind 

 as to give me some fiu*ther information on the subject ? I should 

 have thought some bitter drag would have been of more service 

 than oil — Areca nut, for instance. I cannot help thinking some 

 of the older fanciers must have a remedy but will not djselose 

 it. — W. Sevekn. 



[In reply to the above, I would observe that by no means do 

 " aU agree that worms are the cause of Pigeons going light." I 

 believe that it is simply consumption, and as scrofula is in the 

 human subject one form of it, so is wing disease in Pigeons ; 

 also, that as cod-liver oil does the consumptive patient good, so 

 it does the bird good. Let all fanciers dissect their birds after 

 death and see if worms exist. This woidd be the best plan. I 

 think that close interbreeding produces scrofula and consump- 

 tion in Pigeons, as in men and women. Now that high-fancy 

 birds are so closely bred, and the very best in siich few hands, 

 I expect we shall hear of more going hght. As yet I go in for 

 the cod-liver oil treatment until another is found to be more 

 efficient, and, I say, avoid close interbreeding, and attend well 

 to the health of the birds in all ways. Thus, out-door exercise 

 if possible ; clean water — mark this — clean water in clean vessels 

 daily (I often see the contrary) ; and condiments which Pigeons 

 are known to delight in ; then sound good f ood aud variety in it ; 

 and lastly, beware of hemp seed. — Wiltshike Eectoe.] 



JUDGING RABBITS AT NORTHAMPTON. 



The following is from a letter received from an exhibitor at 

 the above Show. 



" A gentleman called on me yesterday who was at Noii:h- 

 ampton ; he was a disinterested party. I asked him his opinion 

 about the Show (Babbits). Those of the Committee who exhibited, 

 and Northampton folks, seemed to monopolise the prize list. He 

 also told me a little bit he overheard whilst looking at one of the 

 pens, it was from one of the Committee, or rather an exhibitor, 

 but I will not be quite certain which ; he said he was the latter 

 because he told me his name, a member of a firm. * Look here, 

 he (Eayson) was going to highly commend this before mine, but 

 I wouldn't have it.' Here is a pretty state of things ! — the Judge's 

 decision set at naught by an exhibitor who had no business on 

 the premises at that time ! A copy of the above was sent to Mr. 

 Eayson, and here is his reply. ' The man who assisted me — I 

 was not aware until after the awards were given that he was an 

 exhibitor, or I shovdd decidedly have declined his services. I 

 wiU give him credit for not in any way alluding to any Rabbit 

 coming under my notice, and I could not say that there were 

 two Eabbits in the Show I had ever seen before, my own ex- 

 cepted.' " 



I will leave to Mr. Eayson and the above member of the Com- 

 mittee to explain how the prize and highly commended business 

 was done. I decline exhibiting at a show where any but a 

 competent person is appointed to judge. — S. G. Hudson, Hull. 



EVENLY BIARKED CANARIES AND MULES. 



Mr. E. L. W.u^lace's views of how birds should be marked so 

 as to compete in an Even-marked class are in some respects 

 very different from what I have always understood to be the 

 standard ; for I hold, no matter what variety, whether Belgian, 

 Norwich, Yorkshire, Cinnamon, or Mule, they must all come 

 imder the same conditions as to the position and description of 

 their markings. I am pleased that Mr. Wallace has taken this 

 matter up, for, mth a Uttle ventilation aud friendly intercourse 

 through your Joiu-nal, we ought to arrive at a definite and satis- 

 factory conclusion of what the standard of an Even-marked bird 

 shoxild be, and if adopted by the various committees of shows, 

 fanciers would no longer be in doubt in which class to enter 

 their birds. 



That which I take objection to in Mr. Wallace's views of an 

 Even-marked bird is the cap mark, which I think is anything 

 but admissible, as I have always understood that the greatest 

 quahty an Even-marked bird could have is being clear from 

 beak to tail, botli over and under the body. If a cap-marked 

 bird is eligible, I contend so should be a bird marked on the 



saddle. All marks, in my opinion, should be separate and de- 

 fined, and for reasons mentioned above no bird with a cap or 

 saddle regardless of how good the eye and wing marks may be, 

 should be allowed or considered an Even-marked bird ; and in 

 fuiiherence of this I would ask, ^\^lat exhibitor would think of 

 sending a Mule with cap and wing marks, or cap, eye, and wing 

 marks, to an exhibition with any hope of gaining a prize in an 

 Even-marked class ? None, I say. If a cap is not allowed in an 

 Even-marked Mule, why should it be in a Canary '? Ought they 

 not to be judged from the same standard ? The dark feather on 

 one side of the tail, if only to prevent fraud, ought, I think, to 

 be allowed, as Mr. Wallace states. In the West Biding of York- 

 shire aud in Lancashire, where the eye, wing, and tail-marked 

 Yorkshire birds are mostly bred, it used to be considered that a 

 dark feather on one side of the taU was no objection, but, on the 

 contrary, an advantage. Of course, it was there judged that sis 

 points or the nearest thereto should have the preference ; last 

 season the rule was that all birds with a dark feather on one side 

 of the tail should be judged as if clear, the eye and wing marks 

 to be the primary points, which meant that a six-marked bird 

 would have to compete successfidly with eye and wing marks 

 before the tail marks were allowed. 



I quite agree with Mr. Wallace that there should be com- 

 parison in the markings. 



In the above I have only dealt with the markings, and leave 

 the question of quahty, colour, &c., to the judge's opinion. I 

 should also like to hear through " our Journal," the views of 

 other known fanciers and exhibitors on even marks, for now is 

 the time to prepai'e for another campaign. — B. Hawman. 



LIGURIAN VERSUS COMMON BEES. 



Can you, or any of your correspondents, inform me from ex- 

 perience whether or no the Ligui*ian bees are superior to the 

 common black bee '? I have been persuaded by a friend that there 

 is no difference as far as the honey-gathering qualities ; it is only 

 the novelty, the colour, and the stripes. — An Amateur. 



[We should be glad if any of our correspondents who may 

 have had experience with Ligurian bees would give " An Ajia- 

 teur" their opinion as to the comparative merits of the two 

 varieties. 0>ir own experience decidedly bears out the usually 

 accepted truth of the opinion of the superiority of the ItaUans 

 over the ordinary brown bees of Europe aud Great Britain.] 



RE\^EW. 

 £70 a-year. Sow I Make it by my Bees, and hew a Cottager 



or Others may soon do the same. Ninth Edition. By J. W. 



Pagden, Alfriston, Sussex. 



A cH-UiMiNG title to the ninth edition of a new bee book ! We 

 wonder how many " cottagers or others" since the publication 

 of the first edition have followed Mr. Pagden's instructions and 

 example, and become rich on £70 a-year ! Not that we doubt 

 that so much money can be made out of bee-keeping, and here 

 and there such feats in parts of England might be accomplished 

 — but only, we think, by buying oft or starving out all hives of 

 bees belonging to others within a radius of fifteen miles of such 

 an apiary. ' Let the apiai-ian readers of this Joutnal read and 

 judge for themselves. We wiU let Mr. Pagden expound his 

 own plan. t .,i 



'■If you are not already in possession of bees I wiU suppose 

 that you purchase a swarm at an outlay of ten or twelve s h il lin gs, 

 with 'the intention of forming an extensive apiai-y .... Well, 

 then, to commence. The following summer you will have one 

 swarm independent of the old stock, and will havf taken suffi- 

 cient honey, at the very lowest calculation, to pay aU current 

 expenses, and also to purchase another strong swarm. Then 

 your stock wUl consist of three hives ; the next season they will 

 have increased to nine, and if you continued this system for sis 

 years and had no losses you would have 729 hives ; but we wiU 

 suppose it to be only 500 (leaving the 229 to allow for aU 

 possible casualties), it is no mean return for the first investment. 

 This calculation is not a credulous imagination, or even theo- 

 retical or visionary, as it is based on wha,t anyone may see pro- 

 gressing practically yearly in my own apiaries." 



Certaioly if we were liviog within easy railway distance of 

 Alfriston we would take our return ticket on the first holiday 

 we could get, and run down to see the 729 hives which Mr. 

 Pafden must by this time be managing, for imless his nine 

 editions have been sold off in an incredibly short space of time 

 he must have been worMng-up his apiarian stock for at least 

 twice six years, and have more than made up " aU the possible 

 casualties " which could have reduced his estimated numbers. 

 Three hundi-ed stocks in each village round Alfnston must be a 

 pretty sight to see! We confess to feeUng a Uttle staggered m 

 oui- power of faith at such a picture as our imagination conjures 

 up, for our own experience of the possibilities of bee-pasturage 

 in those parts of England which we have experience of faUs to 



