Aagnst 14, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



120 



their excellent health daring the long tedious winters. It is 

 only quite lately that they have created any sensation at cur 

 potiltry shows, and only the past year that the numbers shown 

 have made the work of the judges anything more than a short 

 inspection. 



" The earliest knowledge we have of them is from Mr. F. J. 

 Kinney, of Worcester, Mass., who writes: — 'The tirst I ever 

 owned I bought on board a ship in Boston Harbour, in the 

 spring of 18.53. This was the first trio I ever saw, and I believe 

 them to have been the first ever brought to America. I have 

 since had two other small lots direct from the city of Leghorn, 

 in Italy, and expect more soon from the same place. The first 

 trio weighed 9 lbs. 3 qrs., and were yearlings. Their combs and 

 wattles were very large and coarse ; ear-lobes entirely red, same 

 as face, comb, and wattles. They were not Blaek-Ked Games, 

 nor Black-Ked Leghorns, but Brown-Red — i.e., the cock's breast 

 was dark brown, spotted with hghter brown, the dark brown 

 ruDJung-up the under side of the neck ; his hackle was light 

 brown, striped with black; the hens were feathered and 

 coloured the same as the good ones are now, the colours being 

 very distinct, and the pencilling the most beautiful of any fowl 

 I ever saw, and the most distinct.' " 



We have seen that there is some doubt as to the origin of the 

 White breed ; but besides the above importation, many others 

 from Leghorn have been made since of the Browns, so that in 

 their case at least the name is appropriate enough. Of this fact 

 we have not the slightest question, having had it confirmed from 

 nomerons American correspondents, who testify to having seen 

 birds recently imported either from Leghorn or other ports in 

 Italy ; but as to another point named by Mr. Kinney, the colour 

 of the ear-lobe, there seems to be a great difference of opinion 

 among American fanciers — Mr. Halsted and some others beUev- 

 ing that the deaf ears on the earlier importations were red, 

 while Mr. A. Beard, Mr. W. E. Bonney, and other breeders, say 

 the early birds had white ears. The natural supposition would 

 be that both were imported ; and the difference is of little con- 

 sequence, since all agree that the deaf-ears ought to be white. 

 Of this there can be no question, as it not only agrees with the 

 whole Leghorn or Spanish type, but is incomparably superior 

 in appearance. There is, however, yet much difficulty in breed- 

 ing all the chickens with white ears, but this, no doubt, will be 

 accomplished before long. 



American breeders have unquestionably much improved the 

 Brown Leghorn since its first importation, which would account 

 for the breed only lately coming into notice. Mr. W. E. Bonney 

 writes of them : — 



" In Brown Leghorn fowls, their gay plumage, lively appear- 

 ance, and, in fact, every feature connected with them, is attrac- 

 tive and pleasing ; and in this class we must soon recognise the 

 leading variety, whether for fancy or profit. They mature early ; 

 I have known pullets to commence laying at three months of 

 age, and continue laying during the entire season. They are 

 non-sitters ; and I never saw a case of roup or any hereditary 

 disease among my fowls during the whole period of my success- 

 ful breeding. I have bred all classes of fowls, aud by far give 

 the Brown Leghorn the preference ; I shall continue making a 

 speciality of them, adding fresh-imported blood when needed. 

 I have bred them since 18(30 {the first importation ever made 

 into this country being in 18.5.5), and when I commenced to 

 breed they would hatch all colours — brown, black, Dominique, 

 and in 1862 I had one white chicken (a puUet). Since then I 

 have added fresh blood, sparing no pains to get select stock, and 

 by carefol breeding have accomplished their hatching true to 

 colour." 



The first Brown Leghorns ever received in England were sent 

 to ourselves, by the kindness of Mr. A. M. Halsted, specially for 

 portraiture in this work. They arrived on June 17th, 1872, one 

 hen again being unfortunately injured in some way, bleeding 

 profusely from the beak, and dying a few hours after receipt. 

 The other hen laid next morning, and continued for a few days, 

 when she stopped ; this fact, as in the White birds sent us, 

 showing well the laying qualities of the breed. We might 

 describe the birds very briefly as combining the Spanish comb 

 and type of head and body, with the colour or plumage of Black 

 Red Game of a rather darkish type ; the cock being a black- 

 breasted bird, with hackles orange-red striped with black, aud 

 the hen salmon-brea-sted, with rest of the plumage parlridge- 

 marked, or brown finely pencilled over with dark markings. 

 They are somewhat larger than White Leghorns, aud rather 

 shorter on the leg, averaging about half a pound heavier in the 

 opinion of American breeders. 



Being anxious to test the stock, and having some suspicion 

 the birds might have been created by crossing White Leghorns 

 with Game, we hatched a brood of chicks on the 1st of August : 

 Except one or two broken, every egg hatched, and not a chick 

 died. We know no fowls which feather so quickly, except 

 Hondans and Andalusians. Being very short of room and ac- 

 commodation, owing to a recent removal, the chicks had an open 

 shed to roost in, but grew up perfectly hardy, and with no care 

 whatever, in spite of the very late date of hatching. They were 



very uniform in colour in their first feathers, but in their second 

 or adult plumage two of the cockt'rels moulted black, all but 

 some reddish feathers ou the hackle aud wings. The pullets 

 varied little, two being just like the mother, and the rest of the 

 same type, but darker, somewhat like darkish grey Dorkings. 

 One cockerel was just like the father, aud a fourth brown-breasted. 

 On the whole, and considering the want of what English fanciers 

 consider careful breeding in nearly all American stock, we were 

 surprised aud gratified by the degree of uuiformity thus apparent, 

 and fully convinced that the breed was genuine, or a really dis- 

 tinct race. 



Tastes differ, but we were much pleased with these fowls, 

 and much regretted that utter want of accommodation at that 

 time prevented our keeping more than our old favourites, the 

 Brahmas. A neater and more pleasing style of bird could not 

 possibly be ; and as layers we consider this breed the best we 

 have ever met with for moderate confinement. The Silver- 

 spangled Hamburgh may even surpass it on a wide range, as 

 regards the number of eggs, but these are inferior in size ; and 

 the Brown Leghorn will thrive in a moderate-sized yard. The 

 hen laid an egg nearly as large as that of a Spanish fowl, and 

 after moult recommenced early, before any of our Brahmas had 

 "begun to think about it." — (Wright's "Illustrated Book u/ 

 Poultry.") 



SWAEMS AND HONEY HABVEST, 1873. 



I COMMENCED this seasou with four boxes and four skeps, 

 mostly fed liberally till May. The apple blossom was hardly 

 used, the weather being bad and chilly ; however, towards the 

 middle of May I made two artificial swarms, which are doing 

 fairly well. On June 19th I had a weak swarm, which died out 

 or disappeared during nay absence, having built some small 

 pieces of comb ; on June 22nd a very strong swarm, the largest 

 I have ever seen, from one of the artificial swarms made in May, 

 and transposed at once with the original stock. The various 

 hives have built plenty of comb, but have no great stores of 

 honey. Last year the lime blossom did wonders, this year it 

 showed very little results. 



I may perhaps just have honey enough for the winter, though 

 I doubt this, and shall have, as compared with last year, six 

 boxes and five skeps. My boxes are of the German type, of 

 which I imported a pattern years ago. — Buz, Gloucestershire. 



BEE-GOSSIP.— No. 1. 



The honey seasou in Devonshire, so far as I have been able 

 to gather from my own experience and the reports of other bee- 

 keepers, has been a very unfavourable one, more particularly 

 for those who endeavour to obtain their share of their favourites' 

 labours by the use of extra boxes or hives as supers, nadirs, or 

 otherwise. Very few of these have been completed, and fewer 

 still have been filled, without several of the combs having been 

 largely occupied by brood. We have had short spells of pretty 

 good honey-gathering, but these have been generally succeeded 

 by much longer intervals of unfavourAble weather, in which 

 the bees have been able to collect but little, added to cool nights, 

 which drive the bees down from the supers — conditions alto- 

 gether antagonistic to super-filling. The queens, under such 

 circumstances, are much more likely to ascend for the purpose 

 of laying eggs in the sparsely-occupied combs than when these 

 last are being rapidly stored with honey. I think that cottagers' 

 hives will generally be found tolerably well supplied with honey, 

 with the exception of very late swarms. Swarms from cottage 

 hives, so far as I have been able to learn, have been most un- 

 certain. Some made their appearance in May, many did not 

 swarm till July, and others hung out in large clusters under 

 the floor-boards and round the hives for several weeks without 

 swarming at all, thereby wasting the best part of the summer. 



In my own experience this season with artificial swarms, and 

 also of raising queens in nucleus boxes for this purpose, I have 

 had more than usual disappointment. From the brood combs 

 of my best Liguriau colony, from which I drove the bees to 

 make a large artificial swarm, I succeeded in obtaining more 

 than twenty sealed royal cells, which were distributed among 

 various small and large families of queenless bees. The ma- 

 jority of the queens hatched-out satisfactorily, giviug promise 

 of success, Ijut, on subsequent inspection, several were missing, 

 having probably been lost on their wedding trips, thus necessi- 

 tating the entire process of queen-raising to be gone through 

 over again. Also others of those young queens were a very 

 long time before they commenced laying, so long in some cases 

 that, not being able to find the queens or any signs of egg-laying, 

 I concluded them also to be among the missing, and supplied 

 the supposed disconsolate bees with royal cells or suitable brood- 

 combs for raising fresh queens. A tew days after, finding the 

 royal cells given had been torn to pieces, and no royal ceUs 

 commenced in the brood-combs supplied to the others, a search 

 revealed the fact that queens had been present all the time, 

 though their breeding had been unusually delayed. Not 

 haviug been sufficiently particular in observing the dates of the 



