March 28, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



235 



Peabb at Eighteen Guineas a Dozen (Htfacint/iiK).~The Pears you 



allude to, as shown at the fruiterers' in Coveut Garden Market, are im- 

 ported from France, where they nre grown ngaiust a wall, very few- 

 allowed to be produced on the tree, and other modes adopted lo promote 

 grossness. The fruiterer called them Belle Angeviue, hut the true name 

 is Uvedala's St. Germain. 



Heating a Greenhouse (if. J. S.).— 'V^'e conclude thnt the jupes heat 

 the slates above Ihtm, but thnt the heat does not pass into your six-inch 

 bed of tnn and 4 inches of soil nbove that, so as to make it impossible to 

 obtain more thnu from 6u" to 65- of heat in your bed for propagating, &c. 

 With such a heat in the bed, what is the heat in the house ? because if 

 much lower, still the bed will part ike of the general temperature, unless* 

 you cover the bed with hand-lights, small frames, Ac. If the slates 

 become warm enough we have no doubt that the tan is the cause, not be- 

 cause it is too close or is at all inferior to cocoa-nut fibre, for in similar 

 circumstances that would be the same, but because it becomes dry next 

 the slates, and then refuses to conduct the heat. Eef<ire you try your per- 

 forated zinc, clear out the bed and place on tbe slates li inches of rough 

 chnkers, rouph cinders, and an inch of tine washed gi-avel, and on that 

 the soil. Have some tmall drain-pipes standing uprigbt in which you 

 can pour water at pleasure to wet tbe clinkers and slate, and stop 

 the opening to keep in the steam, and we shall be mistaken if you have 

 not plenty of heat. Of course, if the pipes do not heat the slates it is 

 either owing to the heat not being strong enough, the pipes not being 

 close enouL'h to the slates, or the chamber in which the pipes are con- 

 tained not being close enough. That chamber should only have a few 

 elit openings near the floor. Let us know. 



Peaches, &c.. nj a Greenhouse {An Inquirer). — In your span-roofed 

 house, with a pit on each side, you may grow Peaches, Cherries, and Figs 



admirably in pots, but the first two should have very little of the bottom 

 heat. If for them chiefly, it would be as well, by means of openings, to 

 let the bottom heat out into the atmosphere of the house, and then the 

 Peach roots may be 5 ' or more warmer than the atmosphere. The use 

 you cau make of the pits afterwards depends ou th« carliness of the 

 time at which you bring the Peaches in and the due ripening of tbe 

 wood afterwards, and moving them out in a dull day, so as to give no 

 sudden change at first. Then you might have Melons, Cucumbers, and 

 other things in the samo pits. 



Flower Garden Plan (Inquirer). — We presume yourplan is on gravel, 

 or the paths between the beds will be too nan'ow. For a beginner your 

 plan and proposed planting do you ^'reat credit ; so far as the materials to 

 be used are concerned, we can find no fault, and when all are in bloom it 

 will look well. As a lasting group you will fail to have a continuous 

 mass of bloom from using so many Stocks. Asters. Carnations, Pinks, 

 Pansies, and Chrysanthemums, and there will be in some cases a defect 

 in the respective heights — thus, E-^chscholtzia tenuifolia would make a 

 better edging to Phlox Drummondi than a centre to it, as the Phlox is 

 much the taller gi'owing. If your position is cold we doubt whether Por- 

 tulacas will make a good edging to Vtrbeuas, and they show little in dull 

 weather. They flourish on a warm knoll. On the same principle we doubt 

 if Acroclinium and Khodanthe will make good edgings to Asters. Some 

 of the Nemophilas and Silencs would be more sure; but it is well to 

 try. The Rhodanthe, is beautiful in warm sheltered places. 



Names of Plants {M. OakUy). — We cannot name plants from single 

 leaves. (A. B. C). — It is a Mammillaria, but the species cannot be 

 identified from such a small specimen. (.4. W.]. — There are two forms of 

 leaves on Retiuiapora Icptoclada, and those you sent may be the young 

 form ; but we cannot be certain from such a fragment. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending March 26th. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



NOTES ON FANCY riGEONS.— No. 7. 



FORMER WRITERS ON THE SUBJECT— RECENT WRITERS. 



DELAMEB EATON — EEENT. 



After the publication of Windus (1802 and 1804), there was 

 not, BO far as I can learn, any special work published for many 

 years on the subject of fancy Pigeons, or, rather, any worthy 

 of mention. In books on poultry Pigeons were indeed men- 

 tioned briefly, and also in books on natural history, but rarely 

 was more given than the names of the fancy birds. Windus, 

 therefore, remained the authority on the Almond Tumbler and 

 its short-faced brethren, and Daniel Girton sufficed for the 

 general fancier; nor could it have been better, as each author 

 was the best of his kind. Girton was frequently reprinted, and 

 well-worn copies were lent from one to another by the humbler 

 fanciers, and thus Pigeon knowledge by book was kept up. 

 Yeai'S rolled on, and so things remained. P.geon love in those 

 pra;-railway, and therefore home-keeping and home-enjoying 

 days, was ardent, but the knowledge of the fancy was learned 

 orally, cr from the two books just named ; but one thing is 

 certain, that never were better birds bred than at the time to 

 which I allude. 



In 1851 appeared a well-got-up volume by Murray, entitled 

 " The Dovecote and Aviary," by the author whose name stands 

 first at the head of this paper. This writer was a scholar, a 

 naturalist, and master of a very attractive style of writing — • 

 indeed, no one of equal literary powers had as yet handled the 

 subject. The engravings of the book were not equal to the 

 letter-press, being evidently the production of one who did not 

 understand fancy Pigeons, and no one but a fancier can accu- 

 rately and justly draw a fancy Pigeon. Very pleasantly indeed 

 is " The Dovecote " written; free and picturesque was the pen 

 of the author — more than that, the work was original to a great 

 degree ; but the writer was rather a scholar and naturalist 

 than a fancier, indeed he laughs at what he calls " the ultra 

 fancier." Thus he says, " And now for the Tumblers, the 

 prettiest of the pretty. In approaching them one had need 

 have more courage than Master Slender in the presence of 



sweet Anne Page ; for the dealers and ultra fanciers are stand- 

 ing by, like so many duennas and chaperons over a supposed 

 veritable heiress. But give me in its unsophisticated and vul- 

 garly bred state the pretty little Tumbler." And elsewhere he 

 speaks of the Almond and other high-class Tumblers as " the 

 much-valued specimens of hereditary deformity, with spherical 

 heads and no beak." Now this is too bad, for high-class fancy 

 Pigeons are to common-bred birds what florists' flowers are to 

 ordinary flowers of the same kind — far superior, and advanced 

 by care and pains to a higher state of beauty. Indeed " ultra 

 fancier " there cannot be any more than an ultra florist ; each 

 is only a striver after greater excellence, and produces a higher 

 class of beauty. 



The author of " The Dovecote " makes a mistake concerning 

 Kite Tumblers which needs correction. They are not, as he 

 says, "those Tumblers which are self or whole-coloured — i. e., 

 all black or all cinnamon," but black birds with a strong glow 

 of red in their flight feathers, and they are bred from Almonds, 

 which latter — hear it not, ye short-faced fanciers — he calls 

 " dirt-coloured when seen from any distance." The author of 

 " The Dovecote " does not appear to have ever seen Moore's 

 "Columbarium," as he speaks of "the excellent treatise on 

 Pigeons attributed to Dr. Moore, from which subsequent pam- 

 phlets have taken so much without acknowledgment." He 

 had, however, seen Girton's book, which he quotes, and speci- 

 ally and rightly states is " without date." 



By the way, I may remark that I have learned a little more 

 concerning Girton since reviewing his book. The Catalogue 

 of the British Museum assigns to it the date of 1800, but a 

 mark of doubt (?) is added. The compiler of the catalogue was 

 right as to his doubt. Alexander Hogg was the publisher of 

 Girton, and he was also a noted printer of books sold in 

 numbers ; he published a family Bible with illustrations by 

 Benjamin West, who came to England from America in search 

 of employment in 1763, and worked for the printers, for he was 

 then unknown to fame, and continued to be until George III. 

 smiled upon him. Now, putting this fact and the appearance 

 of my copy of Girton together, and that Girton is referred to 

 by Moore and mentioned also by name in the Treatise, I have 

 little doubt as to placing his date at from 1765 to 1770. 



AVhile mentioning Girton for the last time, I cannot refrain 

 from quoting a pleasant notice of his work in that mai'velloQ£ 



