February 3, 1670. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



97 



saying nothing against the Roller Pigeon. All I wish to say is, 

 that it is not the Sky Tumbler I described. — Old Bob Ridley. 



A kit of birds once a-day in the sky has been my delight for 

 a quarter of a century. The sort of Pigeon "Old Bob 

 Ridley" makes mention of, with broad breast, short legs, and 

 a short beak, is quite gone from this part. Fifteen years ago 

 they were in the town. They were black-mottled, with black 

 flights. They would be good for one hour, and that was con- 

 sidered an extra length of time. 



My kit consisted of forty Pigeons. Three parts were my 

 own breeding, therefore I knew what spirit those birds had, and 

 could depend upon them doing their work, and they had that 

 daily, unless snow was on the ground. Three hours was their 

 time on the wing. You might lay on your back and watch them. 

 They would be out of sight for one hour, and the remaining 

 two as compact as a cricket ball, and they seemed mere specks. 



There was a match here, and noticed in Bell's Life and the 

 Leicester Advertiser. There were fifteen birds each, the longest 

 on wing to be the winner. Mine were on the wing seven hours 

 and a half; the winner seven hours and three-quarters. I 

 could find numbers that will fly five hours, but these extra long 

 flights are caused by artificial food and the manner of giving it 

 to the birds, so that a beginner has no chance to compete with 

 one who has been accustomed to the tricks of feeding, which 

 varies according to the time you require them to fly. They 

 must be fed like a racehorse, and when in condition for flying, 

 should have the flesh as hard as a nut kernel, which brings 

 out the muscles and feathers as fine as silk. Our birds are 

 various in colour — red or black saddles, badges en odd sides, 

 and every one should roll or double-tumble, at the turn of the 

 kit. "Old Bob Ridley" speaks of twelve how nicely they 

 crack their wings before tumbling ; that is a great fault, it is 

 idleness from oarrying too much flabby flesh. I would behead 

 that lot, or the bird that drops before the kit. I have sold 

 scores that have dropped at two hours to the cages, and one 

 such is quite sufficient to spoil a whole lot in a very short 

 time. There is one young gentleman who is very fond of start- 

 ing his kit at five o'clock in the summer time, and has to light 

 them in at ten o'olock with candles, and in some cases cannot 

 get them down, so that he is obliged to put the eggs in the oven 

 all night, and to sit up so that they should not become too hot. 

 This is not a solitary case. A splendid eighteen were flying 

 over home last week, and were watched for six hours. All were 

 lost except one, sinee found at Derby, twenty-six miles away. — 

 Leicesteb. 



THE HIMALAYAN RABBIT. 



Unfoetonately my Joubnal of Hokticoltcbe for 1869 is 

 at the binder's, and as I have no other copy of my first letter 

 about the Himalayan Rabbit I cannot say whether it is so 

 worded as to countenance the strange mistake into which Mr. 

 Hudson has fallen. It may be so, as it certainly never oc- 

 curred to me to guard against the supposition that I deemed a 

 cross between a Babbit of any breed and a veritable Chin- 

 chilla as possible. What I mentioned was, a cross between 

 the Silver-Grey and the Chinchilla varieties of the common 

 Rabbit. Had Mr. Hudson referred to the book I quoted he 

 would not have written his last letter. Here the correspon- 

 dence, as far as I am concerned, must end. Whatever may be 

 thought of Mr. Darwin's theory, every naturalist knows that 

 as an accurate observer and recorder of facts he stands with 

 out a rival. — Duckwtnb. 



DR. PREUSS ON FOUL BROOD AND INFECTION. 



(Concluded from page 38.) 



The idea that foul brood has been introduced by the Italian 

 bee must be entirely discredited. I have seen it in an aTpiary 

 and in a district in whioh Italian bees had never existed, and 

 have found it in stocks of pure old Prussian origin, whose an- 

 cestors had undoubtedly fnrnished our heathen aboriginal Teu- 

 tonic forefathers with honey. 



I do not venture to decide whether or nor Leuckart is right 

 in supposing that a connection exists between the foul-brood 

 fungus and the muscardine of the silkworm. It is possible 

 that both may have a common origin, and that both may be 

 traced bi.ck to the same first cause. • 



* It has been urged, as a reproach against Professor Leuckart, that by 

 expressing at tho Darmstadt moetinft, in 186S, an opinion that a relation 

 existed between the foul-brood fungus and the mnscardiue of the silk 



A bee-keeper residing in Baden has written' me, stating that 

 his bees obtain water from dung-puddles, and that he believes 

 that this may be the cause of foul brood in his apiary. I in- 

 deed hold this to be probable, as fungoid forms luxuriate in 

 dunghills, and may from thence be carried by bees into their 

 hives. 



Relying upon the fact that nitrogen is found in the cocoons 

 of the bee-nymph, their presence has been assumed to be the 

 cause of foul brood. This is disproved by experience as well 

 as theory. If cocoons were the cause of this disease, it must 

 be a universal evil, as all stocks, if only a few months old, 

 contain them, but we never heard of their producing foul brood. 

 The web spun by the bee is of the same construction as silk, + 

 which is an incorruptible substanoe.J 



The Prevention of Foul Brood. — The mode of preventing 

 foul brood is in accordance with the causes which have been 

 alleged for it. In the words " we are careful to enforce the 

 greatest cleanliness everywhere " is comprised the receipt for 

 preventing foul brood. As by this means we keep even the 

 wax-moth, which, where it prevails, may be deemed as bad as 

 an infectious disease, far from the apiary, so do we prevent in 

 the most effectual manner the importation of those more 

 minute enemies the Micrococcus and Cryptococcus. The follow- 

 ing precautions may be especially mentioned : — 



1. We only purchase stocks from apiaries which are known 

 to be healthy. 



2. We use, if possible, only the purest honey for feeding 

 bees. Careful preparers of honey, Buch as I know in my own 

 neighbourhood, scrupulously separate all combs containing 

 brood and pollen from the honeycombs, and the delicious pro- 

 duct thus obtained is sure to keep unchanged throughout the 

 year. If, however, we possess only badly-damaged honey, we 

 may still use it as bee-food if we boil it for some time and give 

 it immediately. As before stated, all fungoid forms are de- 

 stroyed by boiling, and all danger may in this way be obviated. 



3. We remove from the hive all mildew, and everything 

 which promotes its formation , such as dead bees, refuse wax, &c. 



4. We provide the bees with pure water. In every apiary 

 should be found a large dish filled with moss, in which clean 

 water is supplied daily. This is a convenience to the bees, 

 and prevents their visiting dung-heaps. 



The Cure of Foul Brood. — If we discover foul brood in a 

 hive, the first thing we do is to remove the queen, in order to 

 stop the deposit of brood, and thus withdraw the pabulum of 

 the disease. I would here refer to what Dzierzon says in page 

 273 of " Rational Bee-keeping." She is returned afterwards, 



worm, he countenanced the parasitic theory which he combated in 1860. 

 This fact can. however, only redound to the fame of the illustrious 

 naturalist. Science is never-ending, and scientific instruments have 

 during the last eight years been very much improved ; whilst at that 

 time the great importance of these minute bodies, the Micrococcus, 

 which still appear but as dots under a microscope of many thousandfold 

 magnifying power, was entirely unknown, as it is indeed an acquisition 

 of the last few years. I may also recite a similar and far more striking 

 example. No one, I believe, will question the title of Ebrenberg, who ' 

 in his old age. still lives in Berlin, to be considered the greatest micro- 

 scopist of this century. In 1834, I addressed him as one of his old 

 scholars, and asked him whether the itch-acarus, which is spoken of by 

 old medical writers, really existed. His answer was, "The itch-acarus 

 does not exist. I have examined alt the cases of itch in the hospital, 

 and have never found one." Some years afterwards a professor in Paris 

 offered a reward of 10,000 francs to anyone who would show him an itch- 

 acarus. An Italian student, who happened to be present at the time, 

 immediately earned the reward. He opened with a needle a burrow near 

 the itch pustule under the scarf-skin, which is indicated by little black 

 specks, and is especially easy to find on the sides of the fingers, and to 

 the astonishment of all, produced the itch-acarus, an animal easily 

 visible to the naked eye. The student was familiar with a district in 

 Italy where old women employ themselves in curing the disease by 

 searching for and extracting the acari. At this time everyone is able to 

 detect the acarus in its hiding place. Thus had Ebrenberg searched 

 through the whole of the skin, and yet the faint traces of the mite under 

 the skin had escaped him, through being concealed by its excrement. 

 This, however, will in no way detract from this distinguished miero- 

 scopist's immortal fame. 



r The silk fibre is so far from being a simple structure, that it consists 

 of three different layers. The outside integument is a lime-producing 

 material, soluble in water by long-cou'iuued boiling only; the second 

 consists of albumen, which is soluble in boiling acetic acid; whilst it is 

 the innermost fibre or serein that is nitrogenous. 



t I have a silken ribbon which I myself unbound from a skull which, 

 being that of a near relation, I know to have lain in the grave precisely 

 forty-eight years. There were no minuto perforations, no mildew, tor 

 any traces of decay perceptible, and to-day, three y ars afterwards, it 

 looks like new. When graves are opened we often fin ' remaining unin- 

 jured the cocoons of larva? which have been buried with the budies, ar.d 

 have afterwards turned into chrysalids A few years ago I examined a 

 comb which had been thrown away twelve months bef ) e in a corner of 

 the apiary. The wax had entirely disappeared, and the r mainder con- 

 sisted only of a kind of silken felt, which showed no signs of decom- 

 position. 



