24G 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 25, 1873. 



consins, it was not so to English ■workmen in foundries and 

 factories. "When, for many years, a great iron foundry and rail- 

 way works were open near me, the master was wont to give out 

 regularly a quantity of oatmeal for the purpose of being con- 

 verted into this drink. The men alwaj^s spoke to me most highly 

 of it, and that, although the heat was very great and they drank 

 much, yet they never were the worse for it, catching no cold, 

 and not suffering in any way. But my object in writing is to 

 note that there was one addition made to the oatmeal and water, 

 which was a few grains of cayenne pepper. This was considered, 

 especially by the Lancashire men, to be a great improvement to 

 the drink. I suppose the cayenne pei^per prevented any cold 

 on the stomach, and was relished in the heat on the same prin- 

 ciple or by the same instinct that curry is most relished in the 

 heats of India. The proportion of oatmeal used was about a 

 table-spoonful to a pint of water. Would that British workmen 

 generally would adopt such a healthy and supporting drink. 

 Seer — beer — beer is their bane, and much evil would be avoided 

 of this innocent thirst-appeaser could be adopted in the place of 

 that headache-causing, muddle-brain-making drink, which does 

 not quench the thirst, and unless good, which it usually is not, 

 imparts no support. — Wiltshike Eectok. 



OUK LETTER BOX. 



Dealeks anu Amateurs [Tyneside). — The tone of yonx communication 

 is too offensive to effect any good. 



TuBXEY Fattening (L. A. £.).— A certain quantity of food is necessary to 

 fatten Turkey, fowl, Goose, or any other bird. Proper management reduces 

 this quantity to a minimum, while waste and carelessness increase it, till the 

 captious outcry of a friend of ours every time a sack of barley or bushel of 

 meal is wanted, "Drat the hirds 1 every morsel I eat costs me 3s. GtZ. per 

 pound," hecomes nearly true. Birds that are intended for fattening should 

 be well fed from the first. Fattening should be that which it professes to be 

 — the process of adding: fat to lean. Poultry intended for the table and 

 Itilled in running condition needs no fattening. If well kept it is full of 

 flesh, and sufficiently fat for ordinary purposes, ^lien, however, it is wished 

 to send poultry to market something more is required. Presuming your 

 Tmkeys are iu good fleshy condition, and only require fat, we advise you to 

 put them in an outhouse where they can perch, and where there is plenty of 

 air. They shouJd feed from a pig-trough or such vessel, and be well fed 

 three times per day. Ground oats or barleymeal mixed with milk, if to be 

 had, if not, with water. Many people add a httle bean and peameal; we 

 believe it does good. The part should be as one in twenty to the oats or 

 baiieymeal. Nettle tops are also good mixed with it. In a fortnight, or at 

 most three weeks, your birds should be fat enough for any market. They 

 should also increase greatly in weight during that time. As you intend to 

 Bead them to market we advise you to fast them from all food or water for 

 fourteen or fifteen hours before killing them. It makes them more saleable, 

 and though they may weigh a pound less, they will make more money. We 

 omitted to mention the three feeds per diem must be each time fresh-mised 

 food. If any of the former feed is left, give it to the runners, and mix rather 

 less. 



Brahmas with BoEKiNa Cock {^. B.).— You will not require more than 

 one cock to the six hens. 'When you buy. always buy pure birds. If you buy 

 crosses you never know what you are buying. If you keep your own birds, 

 keep one of each, one pure and one half-bred. 



Caeolina with East Indian Ducks (A. ^.).— The Carolina will not cross 

 with the East Indian Duck. It seldom takes up with any other than its 

 mate, but it has been known to do so with the Wild Duck and Pintail. The 

 Carolina will neither lay on the ground nor make a nest. It will therefore 

 bJ necessary either to provide a pollard stem to stand upright in the water, 

 or to put a hut like a small dog-kennel on the top of a pile driven fast into 

 the ground at the bottom of the water. It should have a small plank leading 

 from the poinf to the water. It should be sufficiently long to reach the 

 water at all times, even if very low, and should have small bars nailed across 

 it, to give the Ducks footing to ascend and descend. 



Ground Oats {Exp>Ti€ntia Doci't).—'We are satisfied you will find no food 

 so cheap as the best, and your 38-Ibs. oats will be less costly than the 

 rubbish that is sold at a low price, and called chickens' meat. Fowls do not 

 like whole oats, and will only eat them when starved out. We have described 

 the properly -ground oat so cften, there is no occasion to do so again. It is 

 the best and cheapest food we know, and we find the better the oats the 

 longer the food lasts. "We do not for a moment believe the mixed breed of 

 your fowls had anythmg to do with your failure. Our notion is to give no 

 potatoes at all. Your food should be ground oats, barleymeal, scraps, and 

 Borne greaves. On these yoin- birds will do well. 



Eggs Unpleasantly Flavoured (T. S.).— Your fowls are endently suffer- 

 ing from weakness. Give them some ground instead of whole corn. Give 

 them barleymeal slaked with water or milk night and morning, some Indian 

 corn and some scraps for a mid-day meal. We suppose from the fowls' yaid 

 being dug over once a-year, and always covered with cinder ashes, it is not 

 laid down in grass. Encourage your birds into the meadow as much as you 

 can. The eggs may be flavoured by the scraps. An egg takes any pervad"ing 

 smell into its compoeitiou— thus, it will smell of garlick or onion if the hen 

 be fed on them. There should be no smell inyourorchaid. Put the chickens 

 in the meadow. 



Young Pigeons with Maggots in their Crops (R. E. H.).— We are at 

 a loss to know how this could be, but have heard of similar cases. The only 

 thing we can think of is that the birds were diseased from close-breeding. 

 This idea is strengthened by the fact that of a former hatch from the same 

 pair one died similarly. So many fancy Pigeons are scrofulous from close 

 interbreeding, this appearing from wing disease aud going light. We should 

 change ihe strain by buying one fresh bird. In your case it could not be bad 

 food or want of exercise. 



Rabhits for Profit {T. O.).— There are methods of making Rabbits pav, 

 but all depends upon their kind and quality. If they are valuable Lups, with 

 ears from ^0 to ;i3 inches, and well marked, or of other varieties equally 

 superior in their pomts of exceileace, there will be no lack of puichasers if 



you advertise them, for all fanciers are ever on the alert for really firet-class 

 specimens ; and if you aspire to the honours of the prize-winner, and are 

 successful, about which there is no doubt with good Rabbits, their value wiil 

 be gi'eatly increased. If you wish them to pay for domestic purposes, the 

 Belgian Hares or Patagonians will be found the most profitable, as they are 

 so large, hardy, and soon arrive at maturity. If fur turning down in semi- 

 wild state, the Silver-Greys will be found adapted to this mode of life, and 

 with profit if well managed. The floor of the stable may be damp, as the 

 cause of your want of success in rearing young ones, more especially if they 

 are of a delicate kind, and for which a hutch would be more suitable. Seek 

 information from some large breeders. ' 



Canary Feathers Seemingly Yellow (Dat). — The feathers in the mealy 

 cock are not yellow. They appear so at first, and ai'e of a much deeper 

 colour than they will ultimately be. — W. A. B. 



Books (J. ii.). — Read ''Bee-keeping for the Many." Yon can have it fi*ee 

 by post from our office if you enclose five stamps with your address. 



Bees on a Fir Tree.— If " A. R." has not yet touched his out-door bees, 

 let me beg him to try whether he cannot keep them through the winter by 

 giving them a roof. In 1866-7 Major V. Hruschka, the inventor of the centri- 

 fugal honey macliino, contrived to secure an out-door swarm .ind to keep it 

 through the winter, making many interesting observations. It is true that 

 he brought it into a room for the winter, but it was without sun or fire, aud 

 exposed to a temperature varying from 23^ to d^Fahr. — Buzz. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Loug. 0° 8' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 

 17th.— Dull morning, slight rain at 10.20 a.m. ; fine afternoon. 

 18th. — A very pleasant day, morning, noon, and night. 

 19th.— Fine morning; rather dull in the afternoon, a slight shower at 



4.30 P.M. 

 20th. — A sprinkle of rain at 10.15 a.m. ; fine afternoon and evening. 

 21st. — Fine morning ; but rather cloudy all the after part of the day. 

 22nd. — The early part of the day fine; but rather cloudy evening and night. 

 23rd. — The whole day bright aud eujuyable. 



A slight increase in temperature, a barometer, the mean of which is higher 

 than during any week since the eai'ly pai't of June, and such slight rain as to 

 be scarcely measurable, has rendered the past week much more agreeable than 

 many of those which have preceded it. — G. J. S\tions. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— September 24. 

 Suppl"? and demand about equal, the principal attendance now being 

 Tuesdays and Saturdays. Vei-y httle wall fruit is coming forward, aud 

 that not of very good quality, owing, no doubt, to the sunless wet weather 

 that has prevailed. Among foreign imports some good Dutch Peaches ai'e to 

 hand, and also some Pines fi'om St. Michael's and Madeira. 



FRUIT. 



