November 7, 1887. ] JODBNAL OP HOETICDLTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



357 



numhor of leaver, and to a groat oxteiit warded oflf rains from the Ubodo- 

 dundron roots. Tlio Biirlior yon pluut after the leavus of the cover trees 

 have fiillen tho better. 



WIXTERINO Fuchsias (B. A. ;j.).— Vour plants witli the leaves quite 

 ;rTOon hhould not have more water after this than a little now and then 

 to prevent thiir dryinR up and the wood shrivelling. You cannot keep 

 thoni too dry. oniv tho foliafje must not be ullnwed to flap; hnt wo pre- 

 sume it will soon fall. In that ense five no water beyond a little occa- 

 sionally when tho soil becomes dust dry. in order to keep the wood from 

 3brivollin(,'. Tho plants must be kept from frost. In February, or early 

 in March, you may out tho shoots back, loavinK an inch or two of last 

 season's p-owth to all the shoots shortened, and when tho plants have 

 made fresh shoots an inch or so lonj; you may shift into pots inches in 

 diameter, removinc moat of tho old soil, injuring the roots as little as 

 possible. After pottinK the plants should be kept moist and shaded for 

 a few days until tho roots are working freely in the fresh soil. When the 

 ahoots are from 8 to fi inches in lent-th stop them, keepinK an eye to the 

 formation of symmetrical plant, and in a few days ycm may «ive them their 

 bloomin(;-pots, which will, of course, be regulated by those they aro to be 

 eibiliited in. Tho shoots should not bo stoppecl after tho end of May, or 

 from six to seven woeks prior to tho time of exhibition. 



Naiteb of FaciTs (E. 11. D.).— It certainly is not Loniso Bonne of 

 Jersey, but a worthless variety which we cannot identify. (Ojcar).— 

 1, Drap d'Or; 3, Scarlet Pearmain ; 6, Evewood ; 7, Delaware; 8. Sel- 

 woods Uoinotto; 9, Nelson Uodlin ; 10, Apple, DumeloWs Secdhng; 

 lU, Pear, Winter Nelis ; 11, Apple, UoBset Table Pearmain; U, Pear, 

 Viear of Winklleld ; 12, Beurre Lombard; 10, Henrietto BoUTier; 

 22, Winter GrecninR ; 23, Benrre liosc ; 25, Dumelow's ScedlinR ; 27, Ros- 

 aet Nonpareil ; 41, Oendcbieu ; 42, Beurre Lombard; 45, Dnchessc d'An- 

 Roulemc; 47, Beurre Diol ; .OO, Louise de I'russo ; 80, Easter Beurre; 

 no. Black Worcester. (.S.i*.).— Priir« ; 1, Broivn Beurre ; 2, Seckle; .■), "'ipt"' 

 Nelis; 4, Bczido Caissoy; 6,7, Passe Colmar. Apvl"'- 5. Lamb Abbey 

 Pearmain ; 8, Court of Wick ; 9, Scarlet Pearmain. No. 1 is the well-known 

 Brown Benrre.morebighly coloured than usual, (/f. B.Jl/.).— Pear rotten. 

 IJ. li.P.,Chicht»tcr).—Pcari: 1. Chaumontel ; 2, Not known; 3, Paoso 

 Colmnr; 4, Olou Mori;cau; 5, Not known. Applet: 1, Margil ; 2, Blen- 

 heim Pippin ; 3. KinR of tbo Pippins. 



NASIB8 or Plants (C. Lf»reri-).— Polygonnm ovatum. (TiiuHc).— 



1, Quamoclit vnlparis ; 2, Equisetum sp. {John).— 1, Sedum Sieboldl; 



2, (Florists' flower). {.In Irinurniit Sulicrtfterl.— Ptcris pnlmatn. (T. C). 

 — Teucri-m chamiedrys. i./. NoMK).— 1, MedicnRo ciliaris; 2, Gesnertt 

 Herbstii. iTrji).— Must wait till next week; the plants being without 

 flowers aro difficult to dotermiae. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIOMS in the Saburbs of London for the Week ending November 5th. 



POULTRY. BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



DELUDING BROODY HENS. 



How often we bear the question asked, " What am I to do 

 to cure a hen of her broodiness ?" What numerous recipes we 

 have in our poultry books, most of them harsh, many of them 

 cruel, for compelling the poor hen to relinquish her natural 

 propensity ! AH I think miss tlieir object in that they try to 

 oppose nature. It is natural for certain kinds of fowls to 

 become broody, and lot mo ask. What is the object Nature has 

 in view '.' Is it not that the hen may hatch chickens = 



Now, have any of your readers ever sat a hen almost imme- 

 diately after she has become broody, and caused her to hatch 

 the eggs on the following day? If they have not, I have. It 

 happened in this wise. Last year I had a Light Brahma hen 

 sitting on a batch of eggs, when, to my dismay, on taking her 

 off the nest for the purpose of feeding, the morning before that 

 on which I expected her to bring out, I found the poor thing 

 suffering from vertigo to such an extent, that after tumbling 

 about for some time she at last lay sprawling upon her back in 

 the middle of the yard. I saw at once that it was of no use 

 expecting her to sit out the eggs, and had just made up my 

 mind to a certain loss of the whole batch, when my little 

 daughter who was with me said, " Papa, my hen was clocking 

 yesterday, perhaps she will sit them out." Happy thought, 

 worth trying; and soon the little maid came hugging a great 

 Brahma hen, which she called her own, across the yard. 

 " Cluck, cluck," went the old lady when she saw the eggs ; and 

 after a little gentling and smoothing of feathers, we soon had 

 the satisfaction of seeing her screw herself down upon the eggs, 

 and settle " quite old-fashioned," as little mis.=y remarked. 



Next day the eggs were hatclied. and on the day following 

 that there marched out an arp,arently happy mother and a 

 dozen chicks, for she took to them as kindly, or, perhaps, for 

 anght I know to the contrary, more kindly than she wouldhave 

 done had she had a three-weeks sitting bout. 



Here, then, Was an instance of a hen laying eggs to within 

 a few days of her hatching and rearing a brood of chickens. 

 But you will say, What of all this ? what does it prove ? It 

 proves this, that although nature has prescribed three weeks 

 as the time of incubation, there is, nevertheless, no necessity 

 that a hen should sit more than one-twentieth of that time to 

 qualify herself for bringing up the chickens. 



And now, let me ask, when eggs are hatched and the hen 

 has had the care of tho chicks for two or three days, what wiU 



be the result if she is deprived of them entirely ? Will she go 

 and commence sitting again ? No ; never, in my experience 

 at least, have I found her do so, although I have removed 

 chicks almost directly after they were hatched. She will cluck 

 about and look very miserable for a few days, but that is all ; 

 for, like a sensible" being, she makes the best of it, and gene- 

 rally begins to lay again in the course of a fortnight or so ; 

 and this, mind, holds good whether she has sat on the eggs for 

 the whole, or for only a portion of the three weeks. 



Allow me one other anecdote from my little poultry world to 

 further show how I came to adopt my present system for 

 overcoming broodiness. I had three Bantam chickens whose 

 mother had left them, that were housed at night in a small 

 building by themselves. In this place a Brahma hen took it 

 into her wise noddle to commence sitting upon no eggs at all, 

 as Brahmas and Cochins constantly do. About a couple of 

 days after the commencement of this sitting bout you may 

 judge my astonishment at seeing her ladyship strutting proudly 

 down the yard with the three half-grown Bantams at her heels, 

 running to her ■' clucks," and evidently enjoying the tit bits 

 she offered them from time to time. She had adopted them, 

 in fact, and, after remaining with them for a fortnight or three 

 weeks, left to commence laying again. Many a laugh we had 

 at the way in which the old hen had been taken in by the 

 Bantams. Our most approved theory was, that, catching her 

 napping, they had nestled under her for warmth, and she on 

 waking up in the morning fancied them the fruits of her sitting 

 and was satisfied. However it might be, here at any rate was 

 another instance of her nature being satisfied with the result 



1 notwithstanding the absence of the three-weeks incubating 



I process. 



I The whole thing seemed so curious, that I began to think 

 whether it might not in some way or other be turned to acootmt 



I for curing hens of their broodiness in a manner not rcpellant 



; to the nature of the bird, but, on the contrary, to a great ex- 

 tent in accordance with its laws. The Bantams had imposed 

 upon the ben, and it was only for me to do the same by others, 

 and upon these principles I founded my system. It is one 



j entire imposition — a pious, or some will say, perhaps, an im- 



I pious, fraud upon the sitting lady. 



If I do not want a hen to sit, as soon as I find her thoroughly 

 settled down I take two or three of the youngest chicks I have 

 at the time (most yards of any size are supplied with some at 

 the time of year hens are most broody I, from under their 

 mother, and place them after dark, and unseen, under the hen 

 that is broody. Finding all warm and comfortable, the little 

 ones at once nestle among the feathers and remain quiet until 



