Feljraary 21, 1867. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTDKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



155 



ing in the air, sunning themselves on the house, or promenad- 

 ing the bright, clean gravel, is attractive even to those who do 

 not understand them, for the eye is pleased by their variety of 

 form and feather ; while to the fancier the pairing the adult 

 bird3, the watching for beauties iu the young, and marking 

 the various properties in all, form unceasing sources of in- 

 terest and amusement. As yet there have been few Pigeon 

 writers, and the most accurate, Mr. Brent, must, alas ! be 

 spoken of as the late ; but I do not doubt there will be plenty of 

 writers on this subject now that many well-educated people 

 have become Pigeon-fanciers. 



I have been led to make these ohservations from the nature 

 of the subject rather than from the bulk of the publication at 

 the head of this paper, which contains but four pages, one of 

 them being the title-page ; but a writer who speaks in the 

 following modest manner disarms criticism. "I have given," 

 says Mr. Rule, " all the information I can on the present sub- 

 ject, and hope it will not be taken in a wrong light, for it is 

 not with any arrogant feeling or presumptuous thoughts that 

 I have dared to give these few expressions, but merely to give 

 to the less-experienced what I have learnt by a few years of 

 close and attentive observation." I will not say more criti- 

 •tieally than that the pamphlet is not very well expressed, and 

 the price, marked in ink on the copy before me — viz., 2s. 6;^., 

 must surely be a mistake. 



In regard to Trumpeter Pigeons, I had recently an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing some birds, brought from Egypt by a gentle- 

 man long resident there, and called by him Esyptiau Pigeons ; 

 but they were to all intents and purposes AYhite Trumpeters, 

 though not quite equal to our best fancy birds. This fact con- 

 firms the late Mr. Brent's observation, that " Trumpeters are 

 of Egyptian origin." It is a good plan, especially for those 

 fanciers who have not much space, to devote themselves to one 

 variety, and try to bring it to perfection, or at least to test its 

 capabilities of improvement. Probably Mr. Eule has done 

 this^ with the Trumpeter : hence his pamphlet. In the esti- 

 mation of some fanciers the Trumpeter holds a high place. I 

 have known, both formerly and in recent years, gentlemen who 

 were life-long Trumpeter-fanciers, so that there must be much 

 in the breed to repay such regard, pains, and attention. Indeed, 

 the Trumpeter, if well-bred and kept clean in feather and feet 

 ge is the very bird for the country), is a noble looking fellow. 

 His size and feather helmet, moustache, and jack boots mark 

 mm out as a cavalier. He has something to say also for anti- 

 quity of race, as he is mentioned by our oldest writers, and 

 always ranked by them among the better Toys. 



Mr. Rule has studied his birds well, and what he says in 

 regard to breeding Mottles, which are perhaps the handsomest, 

 appears Hkely to be correct. In his chapter " On Laying " the 

 cure for apparently barren hens, which has been known at any 

 rate since the days of Windus (1802), and has been copied by 

 Eaton, Mr. Rule appears to have found correct. The non-ad- 

 visabihty of allowing Trumpeters the free use of the bath is a 

 good hint, and the " Notes on Food and Nesting " are worth 

 remembering. 



In conclusion, I would observe that if fanciers of special 

 varieties of Pigeons would year by year note their failures and 

 success in their pocket-books, and send their notes to this 

 Journal, they would secure a greater number of readers than 

 any one publishing a smaU pamphlet, and they would also 

 serve better the cause of the fancy generally. Some varieties 

 may yet be improved, the best fanciers may yet have something 

 Z „ ''°' *^'^ beginner much. It .^eems pretty evident that we 

 shall soon have a Pigeon show attached to every poultry show, 

 and no birds are better suited to be ladies' pets than fancy 

 Pigeons. I will not say more of Mr. Rule's p:imphlet as I am 

 not a Trumpeter :— Wilishike Rectoe. 



them handsome, although they prove an agreeable contrast 

 to the Angora, which is the prettiest of Rabbits. — David P. 

 Gooding. 



WELSH RABBITS. 



In your notice of my " Instantaneous Reference Guide for 

 Poultry, Pigeons, and Rabbits," you appear to doubt the ex- 

 istence of a breed of Rabbits stated in the Guide as Welsh 

 1 beg to inform you and others iu doubt that those Rabbits 

 Known as Welsh in my neighbourhood have long black coats 

 aark eyes, and are of much the same shape and size as the 

 common tame Rabbit. It is certain they are a distinct breed 

 WtHongh some persons might think them Angoras from having 

 lonj coats; but this is an error, for Angoras to be pure must 

 09 perfectly white, and have shorter ears. I do not consider 



FOUL BROOD. 



While making these remarks I have no desire to re-kindla 

 the ashes of the once celebrated foul-brood controversy, but 

 solely to contribute to the stock of general information, with 

 the view of assisting such of your correspuuuents as the esti- 

 mable " R. S.," who, instead of carping, methodically applies 

 himself to the task of endeavouring to discover the cause and 

 cure of a malady at once the most mysterious and destructive 

 which can affect the well-being of our interesting little favoiuites 

 — and his efforts in this direction are beyond all praise. 



First of all I may relate a curious circumstance connected 

 with this subject. 



It is now some time since I chanced to receive a visit from a 

 stranger bee-keeper, from a considerable distance, who had 

 come, on the recommendation of a mutual friend, to inspect 

 my apiary and have a second look at those " new foreign 

 bees," as he styled the Italians. His wishes iu this respect 

 having been duly gratified, we adjourned to the house ; and my 

 new friend, although a plain man, I found shrewd and tho- 

 roughly inteUigeut, quite an enthusiast in bee-keeping, as his 

 father had been before him, and, I subsequently learned, no 

 mean authority iu his own district, from his sound judgment 

 and integrity, being by common consent the favourite judge 

 at all honey shows far and near. On the first favourable op- n- 

 ing of the somewhat lengthened but most interesting discussion 

 which followed, I asked if ever he had met with foul brood. 

 "Oh, yes, often enough," if it was " back gaun brood " I meant; 

 and then, having been fairly started on the subject, there fol- 

 lowed a long list of illustrations, brought to a stand I imagined 

 by my putting the rather pertinent question. What was its 

 cause ? Oh, for the graphic pen of our worthy chaplain, 

 " Wiltshire Rector," to depict, in solemn conclave met, the 

 numerous band of correspondents and readers of the bee corner • 

 of " our Journal " to discuss the origin of this dire mnlady ! 

 the derisive shout that must have arisen from your talented 

 contributor Mr. Lowe and his disciples the chillists, on hear- 

 ing his ready reply, that instead of their pet theory of experi- 

 menting with subsequent chill, it altogether arose from " jist 

 overheating ! " How came he to this conclusion ? was followed 

 I by an array of instances, terminating with, " Take the first 

 1 time I saw these foreign bees of yours," and he proceeded to 

 relate how he, along with a few friends and neighbours of a 

 gentleman in his part of the country, had been invited to wit- 

 ness a first fiight of Italians just arrived — not any small artifi- 

 cial swarm from the experimental apiary of our good friend 

 " A Devonshire Bee-keepee," in some abominable compound 

 bar-and-frame hive, but, on the contrary, direct from their na- 

 tive mountains, a teeming population in an orthodox common 

 straw, skep. The bees having been liberated, and the first few 

 emerging and taking wing having been duly admired, the com- 

 pany proceeded to the house to share their host's hospitality, 

 but my informant (I have not a doubt the most interested of 

 the group), speedily stole back to the garden to feast his eyes 

 on the glittering foreigners, and threw quite a gloom over the 

 company by returning in a short time, and telling their owner 

 his new bees would do him no good from " back gaun brood," 

 as they were fairly overheated, streaming in masses over the 

 board. And had his prophecy been verified ? I asked — he was 

 certain it would, but had never been there since. 



It so happened last spring that I received a communication 

 from a most experienced apiarian, and amongst the incidents 

 of his apiary he narrated the loss of a very precious ItaUan 

 queen, and to replace which he had taken a trip to try and pur- 

 chase the queen of an imported colony badly infected with foul 

 brood, but had arrived too late, as on examination he found 

 that the queen as well as her entire subjects were numbered 

 with the dead. Could it be possible ? I at once wrote to my 

 friend, and found that by one of those strange coi!i(:idences we 

 sometimes meet with, this was the identical colony whose 

 " welcome home " the honey judge had attended. 



I was accidentally enabled to test the point for myself last 

 summer as follows : — To prevent a swarm from a very populous 

 and most healthy Italian colony, I transferred a few frames 

 along with the queen to an empty hive, and dispatched it to 

 the outlying apiary more than a mile away ; and so rapidly had 

 the population increased, that my man on carrying it home 

 some weeks afterwards, thinking it unnecessary to take a 



