JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARD3NER. 



[ April 2 J, 1572. 



MraoRCAS (Fab-play).— To insert ^our letter would be a t:ooJ advertisement 

 for tlie poi-ty you name. Write to him and ask for the particulars, and let us 

 know the reply. 



Scabs on Spanish Cock's Face {L. H. ii.).— Dress the face with citron 

 ointment. It Fometimes comes from the weeping of the eye, and it is some- 

 times caused by the bens pecking it. Strange to say, this seems an atten- 

 tion much appreciated by the cocks. We are disposed to think this is the 

 cause of the complaint in your case. The white face of a Spanish cock when 

 damaged always turns brown, but when it is caused by weeping it seldom 

 bleeds when removed. When it comes fi-om pecking it always does. In either 

 case put the bird by himself for some time, and dress the face with citron 

 ointment. Weight is a desideratum but not an essential in a Spanish fowl. 

 Face and comb are the essentials. 



Brahma Cockerel [F. T. W.). — We counsel patience. If youi-bird is as 

 old as you say, there can be no doubt as to his being all you require. How 

 many hens does he run with ? At what time of the day do you make yom- 

 observations ? The proper time is when they are let out in the morning. 

 That should be now at five o'clock. Be iu attendance the morning after you 

 receive this, and it will solve the doubt. Have you set any eggs fi'om him ? 



DiARHHCEA IN FowLS {Poultry).— 'XoMx feeding has been altogether bad, 

 and we cannot understand why you make such mixtui-es. Discontinue them, 

 Feed morning and evening with ground oats or barleymeal slaked with water, 

 and midday with maize. Throw down three or four baiTOwloads of road gilt 

 in the gravelled run, and give sods of grass. Feed your chickens on bread and 

 milk, cm'd, chopped egg, cooked meat cut up fine, and bread crumbs. If they 

 are not near glass, give them evei-y day a large sod of growing gi-ass cut with 

 plenty of mould. 



h).— Should weigh fi-om 8 to 10 lbs., 



Dorking Chickens Drooping {W. F.).— If the present weather lasts, 

 human beings will be the same. Give them plenty of bread and ale to eat, 

 and ale to drink. Let them have chopped egg and cooked meat chopped fine. 

 You describe no other complaint, but if they gape give them a pill of camphor. 

 If their appearance is that of general discomfort give them a good heap of 

 road grit to dust and busk in. "When they are convalescent let them have 

 only camphor julep to drink. 



Dark Brahma's Plumage {Country Parsoii)-— There is no doubt that the 

 bird from which these feathers were plucked belong to the class of Dark 

 Brahmas. Judging fi-om the dark feathers we should say^he was a little too 

 dai-k. That is a common fault now-a-days; and if we breed to get rid of it, 

 we get light, almost white necks. The Pencilled or Dark Brahjna, as dis- 

 tinguished from the Light, should be pencilled all over delicately ; the tail and 

 wings rather darker than the body, and the neck striped black and white. 

 Bone dust is not necessary for yoxmg chickens. If it be, where do the 

 Pheasants and Pax-tridges find it ? 



CRtTE-CcEUR Cock's Tail (L. W.).—li is a fault in every cock, except a 

 Sebright Bantam, to have a f qum-el tail— that is, turned over his back ; but 

 if we may be allowed to paUiate faults iu any bird, it would be an approach to 

 squirrel tail in a Creve-Coeur. It would be better without it, but many of 

 them have a tendency to cany their tails up. We would be explicit ; we 

 would not keep a squiiTel-tailed cock if we had another. 



Exit end of an Egg.—" W. R.A." says, "I do not know whether it is 

 the experience of other amateurs or not, but one-half of the eggs that I have 

 hatched this year have hatched at the small end of the egg. "l have a hen 

 to come off to-moiTow, and when I examined her nest this morning it was 

 the same— one-half of the eggs were chipped at the small end." 



[Although we hatch many himdi-eds of chickens, and fancy we note every 

 thing about them, we have not yet noticed where the chicken makes its exit. 

 We willdo 60.] 



Exhibiting Eggs (Jacfc).— A nest of eggs exhibited should be all the same 

 breed. They should be good specimens of it. Thus in Spanish they should 

 all be large ; in Cochins and Brahmas they should be chosen not only brown, 

 but of the same shade of brown; in Dorkings and Hamburghs they should 

 be all large, alike in shape and foi-m, and sci-upulously white; and so on. 

 Every nest should be made up of eggs, not only good specimens of then- breed 

 or class, but the best specimens of it. In our opinion a mixed nest should be 

 disqualified. 



Wing-disease in Pigeons (Garwfi!/ ^ma(cur).—Tou bird has this disease 

 common among fancy Pigeons. It will not die, but the wing will probably be 

 stiff for hfe, but being a hen she will breed just as well. The best plan we 

 have found is simply, on first discovering the swelling of the joint, to draw 

 the flight feathers of that whig. This peems to relieve the inflammation, and 

 by the time they have gi-owu the bu-d is well ; but this has always been when 

 the case was taken in hand early. Let us know if yom- bu-d quite recovers, as 

 we should like in that case to pubUsh your treatment for the benefit of the 

 fancy. 



Rat-proof Pigeon Boxes (C. 12.).— No doubt the old walls are. as vou 

 say, honeycomb3d by rats, hence your loss. Probably the walls were of the 

 old loose-fitting stono character. A waU of close-fittmg bricks would secure 

 you. Thou at the back of each hole we should fix a box of strong wood, with 

 half of the back opeuing hke a door for the uispection of the nests, cleaning 

 them, &c buch a wall and such boxes would be secure against rats. Slate or 

 n-oii would be very cold. If you could make the boxes 2 feet square all the 

 better. Have a shelf halfway up on which put a nest-pan in which the bkds 

 could lay and sit, while there wei-e half-giown young ones below. If you do 

 this you wiU raise twice as many young ones, for if vou do not the old ones 

 wiUlay m the old nest with the growing-up young, the eggs be chilled, and 

 the parents disturbed by the young teasmg them to be fed at aU times. 

 Plentyof room 13 the secret of Pigeon success as to breeding and rearing. 

 ihe shelf halfway up is an admirable pli 



and bother their parents, and when tlK- n- 

 themselves. Tou are right as to the ali li 

 Maltese Pigeons and Removin.; " 

 Pigeons are not mentioned, we believe, in .. 

 have of late years appeai-ed sometimes at u .-,,. . 

 ■variety," and at Bristol, last Jannaiy, took a pr, 

 month old, or earlier, you may safely remove on^ ^.^ x^, 

 fine young one brought up wholly by the hen since it 



ided. 



-I. ir.).— Maltese 



I I.I y Pigeons. They 



iv;ii Miu; "Auy other distinct 



e. When young birds ai-e a 



of the old ones. We have a 



a fortnight old, the 



cock having died by accident. 



DlSt^JwYi,^^ Nest-pans for Pigeons {J. T. C.).-We do not know any 

 cheln/h J *f ^ ^""^ "^f ^ ^^ •* speciahty, but, indeed, they are so heavy and 

 idi n? « f?^!"?., .^ ?'*^ ?^y ^°'' carnage. Recently we had some dozens 

 We took Brent's " Pigeon 



-- — J, .— «,« uiicj nuLuu uui yiky lor carnage, 

 made at a pottery that happens to be near i 



and gave 

 the top 

 - bottom 

 V." The 



Book " to the maker, sltowed liim the picture of tli*^ 1^r■.t.u■ 

 the following written iustnictions : — " Make them ^ ■ 

 inside, 3 inches deep, measming from the deepest i 

 inside like a hand-basin. Let them be of rough eai i . 



man had never seen such things before, but made tl...- , charging 



us 2jc/. a-piece. This size does well for Tumblerd auj oiJinaiy varieties 

 Pouters would need them 10 inches across. Form in them a solidly-lying 

 nest of short straw ; beneath it, if you like, put a httle sawdust. 



Error — Silver Dragoon Bars. — On page 339, column 1, line 44 from top, 

 for "blue '' read " thirteen." 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 5V 32' 40'' N. ; Long. 0' 8' 0" W.; Altitude IU feet^ 



n shine at 



1 after i 



at night. 



18th.— Cold cloudy moruiug, shower with a little hail at9.E 

 intervals, but several showers, starlight night. 



19th. — Sunshiny and bi-ightcr on the whole, a little hail s 

 rain to measure, beautiful mounlight night. 



20th.— Cold eai-ly, but beautifully bright morning, came over cloudy at 

 9.45 A.M. for about an bom-, then fiue and bright sunshine all day, and 

 bright at 9 p.ji., but rainy, whuly, and wild during the night. 



21st. — Cold, cloudy, and wet morning, line rain, but not much in quantity 

 till 1 p M., fine and bright till 3 p.m., began to rain sharply at 4.30 p.m.» 

 finer after 7 p.m. 



22nd.— Cloudy morning, shower at 10.15 A.M., hail at 3.20 p.ai., bright sun- 

 shine at intervals, 



23rd. — A warmer moi-ning, sifnshiny but rather cloudy at times, windy, but 

 on the whole a fine ijleasant day. 

 Barometer low, but in other respects tnie April weather. Temperature 



about 5" below that of last week. — G. J. Sy^ions. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— April 24. 

 Sttppetes moderate, and a fair attendance, the auction sales of French 

 goods bringing together a great number of the trade, who buy for distant 

 markets. Hothouse Grapes and Strawberries are good and command fair 

 prices. The supply of out-door produce is about equal to the demand ; good 

 sound Regents have considerably advanced both here and at the depots, quo- 

 tations being at ilO to i*12 per ton. 



FRUIT, 



Apples Jsieve 3 to 6 



Apricots (loz. 



Cherries per box 6 10 



Chestnuts bushel 10 20 



Currants J sieve 



Black do. 



Filberts lb. 6 



Cobs lb. 6 



Grapes, bothouae.... lb. 10 



Gooseberries quart 2 



^100 7 10 



Melons each to 



MuJberries lb. 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges f*^100 4 10 



Pears, kitchen doz, 4 G 



dessert doz. 8 15 



PineApples lb. G 10 



Quinces doz. 



Raspberries lb. 



Piriwberries ^Ib. 8 20 



Walnuts bushellO 25 



ditto %*100 10 2 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. 



Asparagus 1?'100. 



Beans, Kidney.. ..per 103 



Broad bushel 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts.. J a" 



Carrots bunch 6 



Cauliflower doz. 2 5 



Celery bundle 16 2 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 2 4 



Cucumbers each 6 16 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 8 



Garlic lb. 8 



Leeks banch 



L^ittuce doz. 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress, .puanet 



Pai'sley per doz. bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidoey do. 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb b J ndle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-Kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows. .doz. 



POULTRY MARKET.— April 24. 



Large Fowls 4 



Smaller ditto 4 



Chickens 3 



Gosl Eg3 7 



Duckl ings 4 



GuineaFowls 



6. d. s. d 



Partridges o to 



Hares t) DO 



Ilabbits 16 



Wildditto 9 10 



Pitreons 9 10 



Pheasants 



