Decombor S, I867> ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICOLTUEB AND COTTAGE GABDENBB. 



43l> 



UEEHr (Orey or Mottled),— First, Rov.C.H. Lucas. Second, J. IC Fowler. 

 HiAbly CommendtMl, (*. Goopor, Seai^ravo ; T. Hardy, Crowlond. Ooslinyn. 

 — Pirat and Highly Commondod, T. Hardy, Crowland. Secoud, Rev. C. 

 H. Lucas. 



PIGEONS. 



TCMBLEns, — First, p. II. Jones, Fulhara. Second, II. Ileadley, I^eicenter. 

 Highly Coinjaended, G. Hturijcss, Leicester ; .T. E. Breward, Coventry; 

 MeBflrs. T. C. & E. Newbitt, Epworth. Commended, A. Storrar, Peter- 

 borough. 



CAJtRlERa.— First and Second, G. Stnrffe.^s. Highly Commended, A. 

 Storrar; .1. K. Broward ; K. WaUter. Leicester. 



PooTRBs.- First and Second, W. R. Rose, Cransloy Hall. Highly Com- 

 mended, H. I.. Bradshaw, Wakerley ; H. Draycott ; J. E. Breward ; O. 

 Storgeaa ; MesBra. T. C. & E. Newbitt. 



JAC03IN8.— First and Highly Commended, G. Sturgosa. Second, P. H. 

 Jonea. 



Pantails.— First, H. Hoadlny. Second, F. H. Paget. Highly Com- 

 monded, J. E. Breward; G. Bturgess. 



TncMi'KTERH. — First, E. Sheerman, Chelmsford. Second, Mrs. J. 

 Thompson, Binglcy. Highly Commended, Rev. W. .T. Mellor, Colwick 

 Kertor>-, Nottinghnm. Commended, H. Headley. 



NDNs.—B^rst. A. B. Bailey, KhootorsHiU, Longton. Second, A. Crosbie. 

 Highly Commended. H. Draycott. 



TuaniTs. — First, Mrs. . I. Thompson. Second, A. Crosbie. Highly Com- 

 mended, H. Draycott; F. H. Paget ; G. Sturgess ; P. H. Jones. 



Hunts. — First, H. Headley. Second, G. Stnrgeea. 



Any otheu NeworDistinctVauiety. — First, G. Storgeaaflce Pigeons). 

 Second, H. Draycott I Yellow Magpies). Extra Second, P. H. .Tones 

 (Yellow Horseman). Highly Commended, H. Draycott (Black Swallows) ; 

 Uov. C. H. Lucas (Foreign Doves) ; F. H. Paget (Toys, and Blue Swalluws); 

 H. Headley (Fairies) ; G. Stnrgess (Ice Pigeons, Isabels and Fairies) ; M, 

 Kow (White Horsemen); P. H. Jones (Wtiite Barbs). Commended, H. 

 J>raycott (Brunswicka), 



The JndgCRwere T. Challoner, Esq., of Barlborongh, Chesterfield ; 

 r.. Hewitt, Esq., of Birmingham; and T. Tatham, Esq., of Kinss- 

 thorpe, NortbomptoD. 



EXHIBITED FOWLS INJURED. 



Ail one of the Oommittee of the late Briatol and Clifton 

 Poultry Show, I cannot allow the letter of yonr correspondent 

 " BnisTOL " to pass unanswered. 



He says, " The annoyance, loss, and mortification felt and 

 esprosaej by several exhibitors at this celebrated Show," &c. 

 Now, with the exception of the one unfortunate pen of White 

 Dorkings under notice, there was no bird injured at our Show. 

 In regard to that particular pen, I am in a position to say that 

 the cock's tail was out when he was taken from the basket, 

 and that it tnnit, therefore, have been plucked by some person 

 while in transit to the Show. 



I believe I can safely say that, with the exception of some 

 errors in j\idpng, which will always oct-nr at large Shows such 

 as the Bristol and Clifton, all the exhibitors who were present 

 were highly pIea.sod with the general management and arrange- 

 ments of the Exliibilion. 



Respecting the remarks of the Editors — " That the Committee 

 should supervise the penning and re-basketing of the birds " — I 

 beg to say we not only did that, but ourselves actually penned 

 and re-bastteted the greater portion of the eight hundred pens 

 entru.-itoj to our care, so as, if possible, to prevent mistake 

 or accident. — E. Caudridoe. 



MY POULTRY YARD.— Nc. 1. 



Mi33 WiTTs in some of her notes on poultry tell us how she 

 first commenced poultry-keeping. The way she began was 

 something like my way, though she began with a cock and four 

 hens, while I woa obliged to begin with one pullet. Hers were 

 given her — so was mine. 1 do not think hers were any especial 

 breed, mine was a brown dunghill ; but in both of ns the same 

 work w.ia effected, both of na were smitten with the poultry 

 mania, the foundation laid of love towards the beautiful 

 birds which grace our poultry yards. 



Now, I will briefly tell all about how I commenced poultry- 

 keeping, and how 1 weut on, and how my poultry are now, 

 touching upon all the breeds which 1 have tried, and upon those 

 which I have now. 



I was only nine years old when I had my first pullet given 

 to me — a pretty little brown pullet, as I have already said of 

 the dunghill breed. I need scarcely say how delighted I was 

 with it. it was committed to my father's poultry yard, in which 

 were some twenty hens and two cocks of mixed breeds. We 

 iiad no poultry bouse then, but the fowls .slept in different 

 tree that overshadowed the back door, generally Ilexes, and the 

 hen.s uted to lay in the wood-house, and in the stable, and very 

 often in the hedges. I used all through the autumn and winter 

 to feed my birds in some out of the way comer where no great 



half-bred Cochin cook could come, giving them scraps from the 

 breakfast table ; and the winter months crept on till, at length, 

 one of the servants with great glee showed me an egg, the pro- 

 duce of my pullet, and again was I delighted. 



My pullet went on laying ; I sold the eggs to my father for 

 one halfpenny each (I sold them at such a moderate price be- 

 cause I did not buy the food), till at length she wanted to sit. 

 She had eleven eggs placed under her, and all through those 

 three weeks I never saw her. She sat in some out of the way 

 place which I was not allowed to approach, but at length all my 

 patience was repaid, for one day my mother led me to the 

 kitchen and showed me eight little chickens. Again, I was 

 delighted, and this time eight times more than before. 



The summer months passed, and I soon beheld my eight 

 chickens grow into large birds, four were condemned to the 

 table for being ugly, but four were saved, a cock and three 

 pullets. 



Thus I began my poultry-keeping. Tears sped onwards till 

 at length, when I was fourteen, all the poultry belonged to me, 

 as they have done ever since. My father gave up to me all his 

 claims upon them, and I was the master of a much coveted 

 poultry yard. I had a hen house built for my fowls to lay and 

 roost in, and then I began to think of procuring some thorough- 

 bred birds ; my fowls had a splendid run over kitchen garden, 

 fields, and woods — and the first thorough bred birds I obtained 

 were some Silver-pencilled Hamburghs. I bought books and 

 read all the poultry news in my father's papers, till at length I 

 gained knowledge of the different breeds, and, as a consum- 

 mation, took in The JonnNAL of Horticultcke and Poultry 

 Chronicle.— K. S. S. W. 



TREATMENT OF HATCHING DUCK'S EGGS. 



YouB correspondent " 11. W., Halifax " (see page 321), com- 

 plains that his Ducks die at hatching-time. Perhaps the eggs 

 are kept too dry during incubation. I have a clean green turf 

 placed at the bottom of the nest and short straw on the top. 

 The eggs are sprinkled once or twice a-week with warm water, 

 and, when they are hatching, once, or even twice, a-day while 

 the hen is off her nest. Thus treated they hatch very well. 



Can yon inform me why half-bred Brahma chickens are with- 

 out grey feathers ? I had a few for the table bred from a White 

 Dorking cock and Dark Brahma hens. The chickens are mostly 

 white, and some have a few red feathers, but the legs are gene- 

 rally feathered. It seems very strange that neither cockerels 

 nor pullets resemble the Brahmas in colour. — A Sussex Podl- 



TBT-HEKrER. 



BEE-KEEPING IN FIFESHIRE. 



In the beginning of this year I had two stocks in straw hives : 

 No. 1, four years old, and weighing about 30 lbs. gross ; and 

 No. 2, one year old, and weighing 20 lbs. 



No. 1, I wrought somewhat after the Stewarton or Ayrshire 

 fashion. About the middle of May, as the bees were beconaing 

 numerous, I put a small G!-inch sijuare box, with a small piece 

 of guide comb into it, on the top of the stock skep, first taking 

 out the pin (U-inch diameter) in the top of the skep, to let the 

 bees up into the box. In about ten daj-s they went up. and 

 seemed to quite fill it, hanging in clusters from the top of the 

 box. In two days more I observed the comb half way dowD. 

 These operations I saw through a small window in one side of 

 the box. The weather becoming very hot the day after, and 

 the bees beginning to lie out early in the morning, I imme- 

 diately put an eke or breeding-box is inches by 13, and Ghigh, 

 under the skep, the box having openings in the top of it to 

 allow the bees to pass down into it, and out through an opening 

 in the floor-board, and in half an hour afterw.-.rds the bees were 

 busy at work again, as on previous days, and continued to be 

 so for about two weeks, when again they showed symptoms of 

 lying out. I then put a second or medium-sized skep between 

 the box and stock skep, and for two or three weeks afterwards 

 ihe bees increased in numbers so much that I had to raise the 

 under box on one side to let them out and in, the passage 

 through the floor-board, 4 inches wide, apparently being too 

 small to let them pass each other freely. I put down this 

 stock (with chloroform) in September, ond added the stupe.>ied 

 bees to a skep I had bought. From the top box I obtained 

 6 lbs. of pure sealed comb, from the secoud skep about IDlbf. 

 of pure comb, nearly all sealed (this skep was only about half 

 ^full of comb), and from the stock skep about 20 lbs. of run 



