332 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ May 5, 1870. 



tun experience to be that the qneen is not changed more often than 

 with the black bee. By experiment with six stocks he found that four 

 queens reached the age of five, and two that of six years. As regards 

 the charge of building drone comb even in the first year, he considered 

 that it merely proved that the Italian bee reaches in its first year the 

 stage of development, which the black bee only attains to in the next 

 spring. The other disparaging statements of Mr. Vogel were disputed 

 by this Bpeaker, who also, in reply to a question asked by Mr. Kohler, 

 stated that having received two colonies of black bees from Germany, 

 he had observed that they were much less laborious, and much more 

 fond of stinging than their Italian sisters. 



(To be continued.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Wattle Around Spanish Cock's Eye (Spanish atid Iberia).— In both 

 your cases the white of the face is overgrowing the eye. It is an excess 

 of beauty. The only remedy, and it is not a certain one, is to cut narrow 

 strips of plaister and strap the face back so that it cannot hide the eye. 

 It is also well to wash it freqnentlv with a strong solution of alum. 



Fleas tn a Fowl House (E. it. P.).— Sweep all the walls and the 

 ceilings thoroughly with a stiff birch broom or any other as stubborn. 

 Seek and clean out all cracks, crevices, and corners. When yon have 

 done this, lime-white the whole, being careful that the mixture shall 

 penetrate everywhere. 



Game Bantam Chickens (,V. E.).— No doubt it is either confirmed or 

 incipient roup. If in the latter stage it will not give you much trouble. 

 Wash the faces with cold water and vinegar. Feed on bread and ale, and 

 give pills of camphor once per day, each pill the size of a pea. If it is 

 cold or incipient roup, this will cure them ; if it does not, try Baily's pills. 

 Remove the sickly from the healthy birds. 



White Cochin-China Pullet (J. JO.).— It is not uncommon for very 

 early eggs to be unfertile, especially when they are laid by pullets. In 

 cold weather cocks are very capricious in their attentions to hens, and 

 cannot always be depended upon. Sometimes they neglect all, some- 

 times they confine their attentions to one. In nineteen cases out of 

 twenty the cock that is condemned as useless in January, is found an 

 excellent stock bird in March and April. It is evidentlv so in your case. 

 Wooden Floors for Coops [C. B. Lynton).— You will do no good in 

 rearing chickens if you have wooden flooring to your coops. Let them 

 stand on the ground, and let the ground he covered with 2 inches thick 

 of dry road-grit. The hen should be shut in at night, and all day till the 

 chickens are two months old, she will make a good fight with any weasel 

 trying to get in through the bars in front. The chickens have no business 

 in the hen-house We should be half disposed to think the ben eats her 

 eggs, and should watch her narrowly. Give her a good dose of castor 

 oil, a tablespoonful and a half. It will cure some of her eccentricities, 

 and likely induce her to become more useful. 



Chickens Long Alive in the Shell (H. C. J.)-— Some other hens 

 have access to the Bitting birds, and lay in the nests. We do not think 

 the vitality conld be supported as long as you say. The activity of the 

 eggs in the water is not so much an indication of their being near to 

 hatching, as it is that the chick or poult is sufficiently advanced to feel 

 the influence of the warm water. It is nothing uncommon to have a 

 difference of three days in the hatching of eggs all put under the hen at 

 the same time. If to'these three days we add five more that had elapsed 

 before the egg was laid into the nest, it will give a difference of eight days 

 between the first off, and this lively one. Without deviating from the 

 plain rule, or having the appearance of going beyond nature, you defer 

 wetting your eggs too long. If the operation is performed everv day 

 while the hen is sitting so much the better. It is the lack of this 

 moisture that causes the tough skin. It is the inner membrane of the 

 eggs that has become hard and dry, so much so that it successfully resists 

 the action of the water. It has passed into the state of leather. You 

 may soak leather and it becomes soft and almost pulpy, but you cannot 

 hite it, and it is hard to make a hole in it. How, then, can a poor little 

 chicken with its weak beak make its escape ? The only assistance you can 

 give the chicken is to moisten the eggs every day. If you will confine your 

 sitting hens, so that none others have access, you will have no more of 

 these startling irregularities. 



Ducks Lame (F. C. S.).— The Duck is cramped, or she has great diffi- 

 culty in laying. Examination will prove it. If there is anything like 

 being egg-bound, the egg will be easily and distinctly felt. The remedy 

 will be to dip a large wing feather in oil. and pass it up the passage till it 

 reach the egg, as soon as this is lubricated it will be laid. As a rule the 

 drake should be the largest, but at this time of year the Duck is often 

 much heavier than the drake. If the Duck be cramped, let her be put in 

 some sheltered place, and littered well with hay or soft straw. Her food 

 should be put in a shallow vessel. It should be a sod of grass, a few oats, 

 some meal, and some gravel, the whole covered with water. It is quite 

 likely there may be a natural cause for it all. 



Hens with Spasmodic Actions (H. T.).— The twitchingsof the necks 

 and legs indicate pressure on the brain. They are over-fat; give them a 

 dessert-spoonful of castor oil, feed sparingly on barlev-meal and mashed 

 potatoes; give no hard corn, but plenty of lettuce leaves. 



Spanish Irregularities (R. A.).— The laying two shell-less eggs 

 united, and at another time a double egg with very rough shell, indicate 

 that the egg-system is inflamed, and probably from over-fatness. Give 

 only Boft food, barleymeal and mashed potatoes, with plenty of lettuce 

 leaves. Spanish hens will git occasionallv, but it is unusual. 



Packing Eggs for Travelling and Sitting (C. Drake).— We know 

 of thirteen eggs which, after journeving three hundred miles (from Win- 

 chester to Kendal), produced nine chickens. Thev were in a strong box, 

 liincbesof bran at the bottom, then an inch layer of oats, on this the eggs 

 weie laid on their sides, covered an inch deep with oats, and then 2 inches 

 deep of bran. A gentleman of much experience wrote as follows to us on 

 this subject : — " As an experiment to test my mode of packing eggs, I sent 

 five eggs more than 17U miles by railway ; they were absent three days, 

 and twice travelled through London in the railway van. On their return 

 they were placed with some other eggs under a hen. and four out of the five 

 eggs were duly hatched. These eggs were carefully packed, and the lid of 

 the box screwed down. The only objection to oats as a packing material 

 w, that sometimes, but very rarely, an egg may be pierced with the sharp 

 end of an oat ; I have only known, however, one or two instances of such 



an accident. The plan I now adopt in packing eggs is to wrap each egg 

 in several folds of newspaper, and then place a thick layer of cotton wool, 

 and straw cat to the length of the box, both under and ovor the eggs, 

 filling up every interstice with pledgets of cotton wool. This plan prevents 

 any chance of the eggs being broken, and preserves their vitality as well 

 as is done by the oats. There is one thing I invariably do, and I think 

 it ought to be done by every one who sells eggs for sittings, and that is to 

 write on each egg, legibly with a pencil, the date on which it was laid. 

 Egg-boxes should invariably have their lids screwed down. I have con- 

 stantly reoeived boxes of valuable eggs, of which not one has hatched, 

 and, I believe, solely in consequence of the lids being nailed down, the 

 jar of tke hammer destroying the vitality of the egg. No eggs should be 

 packed in sawdust, nor should eggs more than ten days old be sent to 

 any distance." 



Mice is a Pigeon Loft (Weekly Subscriber).— We went through the 

 same trouble a year since, but succeeded in getting rid of the mice in 

 the following way :— The vermin come after food; stop, therefore, the 

 food supply, and they come no more. First we fed our Pigeons, weather 

 permitting, out of the loft, but this cannot always be done. We found 

 the mice especially liked Indian corn, and would be eating it all day long, 

 so we ceased to give it ; then they preferred barley, so we ceased to give 

 that. Peas they cared not much for, preferring food elsewhere ; and as to 

 vetches, these they would not touch, they declined them without thanks. 

 We alBo adopted Mr. Blakston's suggestion ; we closed all the holes but 

 one, that one being near the entranca into the loft, and putting a brick 

 before that, like a door half open. We put in a strong box just an inch 

 from the wall on one side of the loft. Thus being all prepared we quietly 

 ascended the loft at nine at night, closed the brick over the one hole, 

 then struck a light, and away ran the mice behind the box, which we 

 pressed to the wall; there was a Blight crunching sound as of broken 

 bones ; then removing the box we found a row of dead mice. This plan 

 we followed every night, killing many at first, then fewer, until all were 

 gone. The mice that ran into the nests or other places we forced out 

 towards the box, and not one escaped, or lived to tell the tale. Wo now 

 always cover up the food closely before night, and have no mouse troubles. 

 Boys enjoy the meuse hunt as much as men enjoy fox-hunting. 



Fowls not Laying ( Idem).— You fed them too well as the post-mortem 

 examination showed ; more than half the number of domestic fowls are 

 over-fed and lay less, or cease to lay, for that reason. 



Cutting the Wing of a Cockatoo (G. C.).— We do not recommend 

 it, better chain the bird, it is their nature to be destructive. We never 

 like to see a bird with a cut wing, it has falls and gets bruised. 



Moisture in Glass Supers (D. E. F.).— The oresence of much in- 

 ternal moisture shows that the glasses are insufficiently protected, and 

 in thiB Btate they are so cold that the bees are not likely to take posses- 

 sion of them. They should be well covered and wrapped up in several 

 thicknesses of flannel, or other nonconducting material. The holes in 

 the top had better be tied over with cap-net to prevent egress in that 

 quarter, or. better still, an upright stick may be inserted through each, 

 to the lower end of which a piece of clean worker comb should bo 

 attached in its natural position as regardB the dip of the cells. Neigh- 

 bour's hives may be obtained either at 149, Regent Street, or 127, Ilolborn, 

 and Stewarton hives from Mr. R. Eaglesham, Stewarton, Ayrshire. If, 

 however, yon mean to go in for moveable-comb hives and scientific bee- 

 keeping, you had better write to Mr. Woodbury, Mount Radford, Exeter. 



Ants in Store-room (E. T.).— Guano sprinkled round the walls and 

 over their haunts would prevent their inroads. It does not smell 

 pleasantly. Scotch snuff might do as well perhaps. 



Sparkling Rhubarb Wine (Amateur). — To every pound of rhubarb 

 stalks, when bruised, put one quart of cold spring water, let it stand threo 

 days, stirring it twice a-diy ; then press and strain it through a sieve, 

 and to every gallon of the liquor, put 3j lbs. of good loaf sugar ; barrel it, 

 and to every five gallons add a bottle of white brandy. Hang a piece of 

 isinglass in the cask, suspended by a string, and stop it up close. In six 

 months, if the sweetness is off sufficiently, bottle it for use, otherwise let 

 it stand in the cask a little longer. No yeast is added. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— May 4. 



New Potatoes are coming In large quantities, but have no influence on 

 the price of good sound samples of old, which have made a considerable 

 advance in price during the last ten days. 



Cherries lb. 6 



Chestnuts bushel 14 



Currants ft sieve 9 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 9 10 



Gooseberries quart 9 16 



Grapes, Hothouse., 



Mulberries quart to 



Nectarines doz. 



I Oranges ^100 4 10 



i Peaches doz. 



1 Pears, kitchen doz. 4 6 



dessert doz. 4 10 



Pine Apples lb. 7 10 



1 Plums iBieve 



doz. 



lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



Walnuts bushel 10 u 



do V100 1 



Beans, Kidney do. J 



Broad bushel 



Beet, Red doz. 2 



Broccoli bundle 1 



Brussels Sprouts.. J sieve 



Cabbage doz. 1 



Capsicums ^100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 8 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworts. .doz. bunches 3 



Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Endave doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish .... bundle 3 



VEGETABLES. 



s. d. a. 



Leeks bunch 4 to 



Lettuce doz. 10 1 



Mushrooms pottle 10 2 



Mustard X Cress . .punnet 2 



Onions bnahel 4 7 



pickling quart 4 



Parsley sieve 3 



Parsnips doz. 







Pea 





3 



Radishes .. doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows.. doz. 



