384 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I May 30, 1867. 



hognhead of meath, boil in it abont 6 ozs. of best hops for about half 

 an honr ; bythat time tbe water will have drawn out the Btrenpth of 

 the hops. Then skim them clean off ; then dissolve in it warm, abont 

 one part of honey to six of water ; lave and beat it nntil the honey be 

 perfectly dissolved ; then boil it, beginning gently till all the scum he 

 risen and scummed away. It must boil in all about two hours. Half 

 an hour before you end your boiling put in some rosemary tops, 

 thyme, sweet marjoram, one sprig of mint ; in all about half a hand- 

 fnl, and as much sweet-briar leaves as all these ; in all about a hand- 

 ful of herbs, and 2 ozs. of sliced ginger and 1 oz. of bruised cinnamon. 

 Let these boil about half an hour, then scum them clean away, and 

 presently let the liquor run through a strainer cloth into a keever of 

 wood to cool and settle. When you see it is very clear, lade out the 

 liqnor into another keever carefully, not to raise the settlings from the 

 bottom. When it is cool and perfect clear, then run it into a cask that 

 has been used for sack, and stop it up close, having an eye to give it 

 vent if it should work. When it hath wrought and is well settled, 

 which may be in two months or ten weeks, draw it into glass bottles, 

 and it will be ready to drink in a month or two. If you would have it 

 sooner ready to drink you may work it with a little yeast." 



" White Mfthcglin of my Lculy Jliaigrr/onI, vhi*Ji is exceeduiffly 

 jrraised. — Take your honey and mix it with fair water until the honey 

 be quite dissolved. If it will bear an egg to be above tbe liquor, the 

 breadth of a groat, it is strong enough : if not, put more honey to it 

 till it be so strong, then boil it, and when skimmed put into it one 

 handful of strawberry leaves, and half a handful of violet leaves, and 

 half as much sorrel, a dozen tops of rosemary, four or five tops of 

 balm leaves, a handful of hart's-tongue and liverwort, a little thyme 

 and red sage. Let it boil an hour, then put it into a wooden vessel, where 

 it will stand till it be quite cool ; then put it into tbe barrel, then take 

 half an ounce of cloves, as much nutmeg, four or five races of ginger ; 

 bruise it and put it into a fine bag with a stone to make it sink, 

 then stop very close. The herbs and spices are in proportion for six 

 gallons." 



*' A Eecn'pt to Malcc MetheyJin as If w Mark af Antwerp. — Contains 

 one measure of honey to three of water ; 1 lb. of hops to every barrel 

 of meath ; 1 lb. of best raisins to every gallon of water." 



*^ Strong Menel. — Take one measure of honey, and dissolve it in fonr 

 of water, beating it long up and down with clean wooden ladles. The 

 next day boil it gently, scumming it all the while till no more scum 

 riseth. The rule of its being boiled enough is, when it yieldeth no 

 more scnm, and beareth an egg. Then pour it out of the kettle into 

 wooden vessels, and let it remain there nntil it be almost cold. Then 

 turn it into a vessel where sack hath been." 



*' To Make Hornby Drhik. — Two quarts of water, 1 lb. of honey. Boil 

 and skim it. Bottle it next day, putting in each bottle four or five, 

 cloves and as many races of ginger. Stop it close, and it will be ready 

 to drink in ten days." 



*' Ilydromel, as it was made weak for the Queen Mother, and was 

 exceedingly liked by everybody. — Take eighteen quarts of water, and 

 one part of honey. When the water is warm put the honey to it. 

 Continue skimming it as long as any scum will rise. Then put in one 

 race of ginger, four cloves, and a little sprig of green rosemary. Let 

 these boil one hour, then set to cool till it be blood warm, and then 

 pnt to it a spoonful of ale yeast. When it is worked up, put it into 

 a vessel of fit size, and after two or three days bottle it. You may 

 drink it after six weeks." 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Chicken Dead in the Shell (B. B.).— If out of nearly three hundred 

 yon have only lo^t two chickens in hatching, you have been indeed for- 

 ttinate. The chicken enclosed to us is malformed, and would not have 

 lived if it had extricated itself from the shell. The other you mention 

 was trampled upon by the hen probably. 



Books (M". if. I,.).— "The Poultry-Keepers' Manual." You can have it 

 free by post from our office, if you enclose your address and 7*. lOcf. in I 

 postage stamps. 



Hens not Laying (M. H. L.).— Your hens are feverish. Discontinue 

 the whole corn for a time, give meal instead, and feed plentifully on 

 lettuce. If they have no grass run let them have one, and they will soon 

 lay. Nothing is a more certain sign of fever than for the hen to sit so 

 long on the nest without laying. If you c.innot give them a grass run, 

 give them large sods of gro\ving grass. 



Eggs not Hatching (Idem). — The eggs were what is called clear, and 

 would have remained the same had the hen sat three months. They 

 were not fecundated, and therefore were not susceptible of change. The 

 cause of failure was no doubt the same in both cases, nr it may be in the 

 first place the eggs were frozen. In that case they would produce nothing, 

 but they would change. 



La Fleche, Creve C(KUR, and Houdan Fowls (La Flccke)- — Onrex- 

 perience of the French breeds is that the Houdan is the really hardy 

 bird. La Fleche and Creve Coeurseem subject to epidemics. Some time 

 since all our cocks died off, young and old. We do not consider them 

 strong, but the hens are stronRer than the cocks. The best treatment 

 we have discovered is to withhold water. allowinR them only a very limited 

 quantity twice a-day. We some time since visited the parts of France 

 where most of the poultry is bred, and we were confirmed in our opinion 

 that the cocks are weaker than the hens, by heincr told the same observa- 

 tion had been made there. As we are bound to give all our experiences, 

 and happy to do so, we can eay that at an establishment in Wales the 

 La FKche have succeeded better than any fowl had ever done previously. 

 We believe La Fleche chickens want more food than any other, and the 

 old birds are great eaters. 



Gave Cock's Bill Dakaged (North Lanca8hirf).~Tn competition 

 half as close as it generally is in the Game classes in your county, the 

 slightest defect, even an accidental one, is sufficient to turn the scale 

 against you. The perfect can hardly win, the faulty cannot hope for 

 success. 



Colour of Dorking Chickens when FrnsT Hatched M. B. B.), — 

 It is an old saying that any colour is admissible and correct in a colomred 

 Dorking, save black and white. Many chickens hatched apparently wMto 

 become grey and silver grey, and apparently black onng arc only the dark 

 birds that are so much admired both for weight and beauty. Wo have 

 never seen a Black Dorking. 



Millet Seed and Millet Meal as Food poh Poultrv (B. B.).— We 

 have tried millet and millet meal for fowls, but it did not answer, as they 

 disliked it. It makes the heaviest meal of anything we have tried. The 

 French use meal made of buckwheat. We think both millet and back- 

 wheat are better for fattening than for making flesh and muscle. 



Combs of Dorking Hens (E. ilf". B. ^.).— The comb of a Dorking hen 

 Is of small importance. It should be moderate in size, well serrated, and 

 should hang over the side. Those who are skilled in, and very observant 

 of poultry, look "awry " on ver>- upright combs in hens. The ladies who 

 deliRht in such distinctions (generally go on till they crow. For leg-weak- 

 ness give nourishing diet, plenty of green food, and four grains of citrate 

 of iron daily until the bird's strength is improved. 



Cochin-Chinas not LAvrNG (A'tVf;/).— We are vcrv unbelievers in the 

 assertions that are made that three or four healthy hens do not lay 

 at this time of year. Our belief is that your hens lay and eat their 

 eggs. It is a simple impossibility that four Cochin-China hens should 

 go on ^\ithout laying till now, and you are hiKhly favoured that they 

 are not broody, or at least three of them. Our fate is very different ; 

 when we went into one of our houses this morning each corner was 

 tenanted by three or four hens, swelled to monstrous dimensions, and en- 

 deavourini? to produce life in tbe largest stones they could scrape to- 

 gether. We were ^\ii(\ their language could not be interpreted when they 

 remonstrated against being moved. 



Bantams (A. B. (7.).— Your White Tropical Bantams are the Japanese 

 Silky fowl, or an offshoot from it. Any dealer can procure them for you. 



Pigeons (if.l. — We have not seen more than the first part of the work 

 on Pigeons, by Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier and Mr. Harrison Weir ; but a disap- 

 pointed purchaser writes to us that *' the second part contains twenty-two 

 pages and a half, of which ten piges and a half are quotations, and the 

 remaining twelve contain nothint* new. If Mr. Tegetmeier makes the 

 f uturolparts like tlie two I have, the work will be a pretty picture book, bat 

 not one from which the experienced fancier will learn anything; still I 

 rejoice at the publication of ' Pigeons,' as it will increase. I trust, the 

 number of admirers of these beautiful birds. There are four illustrations 

 — a pair of Frillbacka, those uncomfortable-looking Pifjeons which, like 

 the sight of Frizzled Fowls, fill one with an uncontrollable longing to 

 smooth their feathers ; then a pair of Fantails, in which Mr. Harrison 

 Weir's skill is seen very favourably; then a pair of Blue Brunswicks and 

 a pair of Black Priests, very priestly-looking indeed, with M.B. waistcoats 

 and shaven crowns. I fear we are doomed to an increased invasion of 

 German Toys, mere birds of feather. I wait anxiously to see, not the 

 drawing, for that is sure to be excellent, but the colouring of the Almond 

 Tumblers, which will test more than any variety the powers of Leighton 

 Brothers. In how many bird books the colours are too bright! Morriss's 

 ' British Birds ' is a glaring instance of this fault, and it is one which a 

 colour artist should try to avoid." 



Rabbits (A. H. E.).— Your Rabbits are unusually good, and well de- 

 veloped for their age. 



Canaries Laying Shell-less Eggs (Suthinffs). — Place a piece of old 

 mortar in the cage, and keep it there while the birds are breeding. One 

 cock and two hens will do very well in the same cage. Birds in a cage 

 and placed in the avairy where others are flying loose will make no diffe- 

 rence to their breeding. Canaries will endure cold in winter in the hoase 

 without fire, either in cages or loose in a room ; but care should be taken 

 that there be no draught, and that they be not removed suddenly from a 

 warm place to a cold one. 



Ferrets (A Consiant R'^adfr).~W6 never heard of any difficulty in 

 keeping them. Any raw meat, birds, &c. ; abont the size of a mouse daily 

 is enough for one. They should be kept very clean, and the floor of the 

 hutch covered thickly with sand, or they become footsore. 



Payne's IsrpRovED Cottage Hive ( ). — It can beobtainedof Messrs. 



Neighbour, High Holborn. 



Questions on Bees (Stttpid). — 1, Langstroth on the Hive and Honey 

 Bee, published in America at IJ dollar, and procurable in England for 

 about 7s. 6rf. 2, We do not think it matters much if the ventilators in bee 

 glisses do not reach to within 2 inches of the bottom. 



Small Bee (A South Lancashire Bec-kccper).—The small bee is named 

 Andrena albicans, and is common throughout England at this season. 



Dressing Hives and Feeding Swarms (J. M, B. K ).— We know not 

 how far it may he usual to dres« or anoint hives intended for swarms 

 with either salt or sugar ; but we believe it to he a custom more honoured 

 in the breach than the observftuce, being of opinion with Mr. Taylor, that 

 *' a dry clean hive is preferable." We do not, however, c^msider that the 

 dressing with sugar and salt injured the cast which issued on the 19th 

 inst. ; the fact, doubtless, being that the bees are dying, if not already 

 dead, from starvation, owing to the recent inclemency of the weather. 



POULTRY MARKET.— May 29. 



We have still a dearth of poulty, and consequent high prices. We are 

 suffering from the terrible winter, and the poultry we are waiting for 

 makes little progress in this uncertain and trying weather. 



