352 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



of pollen varied aa the rainbow's hues, or filled with nectar 

 distilled from hidden cells. Who can stand by the side of 

 an industrious colony of bees, and see its busy inhabitants pro- 

 secute their delightful and daily task with such industry, zeal, 

 and good will, without being moved with feeling3 of admiration, 

 wonder, and love? Let us hope that the summer, so auspi- 

 ciously commenced, will turn ont a favourable one for our little 

 favourites, and more than make up for the backwardness of 

 the spring. — J. Lowe, Edinburgh. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Whaefedale Poultry Show.— We are obliged to some correspondent 

 for sending us a prize li^t ; it is now too late. If the Recr. tary, as re- 

 quested, had forwarded one at the time, we should have inserted it. 



Eggs Small (J. Tyrer).— Having only one cock to so many hens, 

 has no influence over either the size of the eggs or their contents. 

 Those circumstances depend upon the kind of fowl. If they are Cochin- 

 chinas, the eggs and their yo]ks are always small. Spanish fowls lay 

 larger egg*: but as your hens lay well, we advise you to be content. 

 Instead of all hard corn we would give the hens once daily a mash of 

 barleymeal and boiled potatoes, otherwise they will become too fat, and 

 then the plague of soft eggs and inflamed ovaries will occur.' 



Brahma Poothas (C. B.).~- No true Brahma has five toes. If you have 

 such, discard them at once. 



Chicken Management (Cochin- China).— The weather is so unusually 

 severe, that we do not advise you to put ont chickens only a few days old. 

 We advise yon to keep them in till there are no more frosts. In warm 

 weather and where they are sheltered, we would put them out. You may 

 give bread and milk, chopped egg, chopped cooked meat, bread and beer, 

 curd, meal mixed with milk, and bread and beer. Feed early, late, and 

 often. 



Bbeeding Black Cochin-chinas (Black Cochin).— We only said we 

 were told that was the way in which they were made. It is just possible 

 the eggs laid by the hen were rendered fertile before you had her. 



Preserving Eggs (E. C. iT.).— You have been misinformed. We save 

 eggs all the year round in lime. The chief point is to put them in when 

 fresh, because they come out as they are put in. 



Pinioning Silver Pheasants (A. B. C.). — You may pinioo yonr 

 Silver Pheasants at from twelve to sixteen weeks old. You will find the 

 wing has first the flight joint that holds five feathers, then another joint 

 at the end of sis more feathers, and then a third joint at the spur of the 

 wing. A sharp knife should be taken, put under the spur, and then raised 

 with the edge resting on the wing. It requires two persons to perform 

 the operation cleverly. While one with one hand holds the wing of the 

 bird motionlesp, and with the other keeps the knife in the right position, 

 a second strikes the back of the knife sharply with a thick stick or piece 

 of wood, and the operation is done. The bird feels but little, and although 

 there is often a great show ofblood.it is by no means a serious operation. 

 Care should always be taken not to cut off or through the spur of the 

 wing, as it protects the wound while hardening, and ever afterwards. 



Number of Fowls for a Small Yard O. E. S.). —Yards differ. The 

 townsman's experience and idea of a yard is a small space covered with 

 flagstones, and surrounded by high walls that exclude all sun. No fowls 

 will do there. If it be light, sometimes visited by the sun, and if it bo 

 nnpaved and uncovered, then a cock and six or eight hens of Brahma 

 PootraB, Cochins, Houdans, or Creve-Cceurs for your yard, 33 feet by«i 

 20 feet, can be kept healthy on condition of your following the in- 

 structions and warnings we give week after week. 



Hardiness of Brahmas and Houdans (X. Y. Z.). — We consider 

 Brahmas hardier than Hoodans, and their chickens easier to rear. 

 Houdans, in common with all the French breeds, are late layers. Such 

 as you describe will not lay before December. We can answer your 

 question fbout the white feathers more easily if we know on what part of 

 the body they come. 



Food for Chickens (Delta).— We cannot answer your questions as 

 raadily as we could if we knew the breed of the fowls. The best food is 

 that which keeps the fowls in the highest condition. They will then 

 grow well, but you ask for an impossibility when you want to secure the 

 greatest growth and the earliest laying. The first stops when the second 

 begins. We consider ground oats the beet food there is for poultry. 

 Autumn-hatched chickens never attain any size. The weather is against 

 them, and the nights are too long. Houdans are easier to rear than 

 Spanish. 



Mice in Pigeon-cote (W. A.). — We can add nothing to what we pub- 

 lished on this subject in our last number. 



Pigeons too Old to Breed (Inquirer).— Ton bought a pair of birds 

 too old to breed. All fanciers have at some time or other done the same. 

 Frequently excellent birds are offered cheap, but then they are parted 

 with because barren. One of the old treatises on Pigeons says, " The life 

 of this bird is said to extend to about eight years, but it is useless for 

 the purpose of breeding after it has attained half that age." This we do 

 not believe to be entirely correct, but never buy when a bird is seven 



Sears old. Old age shows itself in the wrinkling of the nostril covers, 

 le sunken eye, and thickened appearance of the eyelids, and the rough 

 feet. 



Antwerps (Chester). — These birds were unknown or little known until 

 recent years, so that the best accounts are found in the most modern 

 books. Eaton, whose work bears the date of 1858, confesses he knows 

 little or nothing of them. Brent wrote a little later, and says a little 

 moie. In " Pigeons," there is a long chapter on Antwerps and oiber 

 homing birds, but the best account of the show Antwerps of the present 

 day Whs in the number of this Journal for February 17th of this year. 

 Colour cf eye wattle immaterial. 



Breeding Goldfinch-Canary Mules (W. Hay. — Your query in- 

 volves two questions — 1st, Whether it is Bafe to take away the male bird 

 as soon as tLe Canary hen has laid her first egg ; and 2nd, Whether it iB 

 better to take away the eggs daily till she has laid her complement, or to 



allow them to remain. To the first question, whether applied to the 

 Goldfinch or not, but considered iu the abstract as a physiological matter, 

 I should say, Yes. When running one cock to two or three hens, I always 

 make it a practice to remove him from any one of them as soon as she 

 has 1 ii'l her first egg. I will not go so far as to warrant that all of them 

 will be fertilised, for it seldom happens that every egg in a nest of, say 

 five, is impregnated even nnder the most favourable circumstances. 

 When I say seldom, 1 mean that it is more frequently the other way, as 

 the basinful of bad eggs in many a breeder's room at the end of the season 

 can testify. But if the question applies to the Goldfinch specially as 

 a well-known mischievous character, who goes about like an exciseman 

 tappiug and gauging every egg with that long sharp beak of his, I should 

 advise you to remove either him or the eggs, or do as I can assure yon 1 

 have known done— get op about three o'clock in the morning and sit in 

 your night-shirt till the hen lays her egg. Keep your eye on the Gold- 

 finch, for he will keep his on you ; one of them at any rate. With the 

 other he will wink at the hen, as much as to say. " Look sharp with that 

 egg 1" When she lays, by which time you will be cold, make a rush for 

 the cage, and it is almost any odds that you will run a bad second in the 

 race The ganger will have sampled the egg, and may politely present 

 you with it on the end of his beak. You retire disgusted and with very 

 cold feet, while the ganger chants his morning song:— " Sipit, widdle, 

 widdle, slam, slam, widdle, chay," which means, " This might all have 

 been avoided if you had removed me the night before you expected the 

 hen to lay," which ought always tfl be done till you know from experience 

 that the Goldfinch is one which will not meddle with the eggs. As 

 regards taking away the eggs till the hen has laid her complement, I 

 always do, and return them on the morning when she lays her fourth egg. 

 They will then chip simultaneously on the morning of the thirteenth day, 

 and begin life on equal terms. l"am well aware that many breeders do 

 not follow this plan, but I have yet to learn if a hen lay four, or five, 

 or six eggs, and sit from the first, that it is possible for them to chip 

 together. If she Bhould not show any inclination to sit well, the eggs are 

 as safe in my keeping as in hers, and are out of the way of temptation, 

 bearing in mind that from long-continued domestication and the force of 

 surrounding circumstances, the argument of the habits of wild birds will 

 not apply.— W. A. Elakston. 



Food for Blackcaps (Randolph).— The best food for Blackcaps is raw 

 beef and hard-boiled egg ; scrapo the beef off with the edge of a knife, and 

 mix yolk of egg and a little water. It ought to be fresh every morning. 

 The objection'to it is that it makes a nasty smell iu the cuge. I find the 

 following receipt of Capt. Hanley, First Life Guards, answer well. " Ger- 

 man paste :— 7 lbs pea meal, 2 lbs. Scotch oatmeal, 1 lb. moiet sugar, ljlb. 

 beef dripping, 1 lb. honey, 2 quarts hemp seed, 1 pint maw seed. Melt the 

 dripping and honey in a saucepan and pour it over the meal and sugar, 

 rubbing it well between the hands so that there may be no lumps. When 

 mixed, place in a flat tin dish in a.slow oven. If the c 

 will be spoiled. When done, spread it on a board, and i 

 (already well crushed and cleaned from husk as far 

 the maw seed with the paste. When cool place in a ja 

 good for months. In feeding, one egg, white and yoLk, will do for a tea- 

 cupful of paste." The above paste, with a mealworm now and then, anda 

 few elder berries, if they can be had, will keep Blackcaps in good health 

 and song. It is a good plan to dry elder berries, and in the winter soakin 

 warm water and give the bird a few daily. — Howarth Ashton. 



Linnets and other Finches (E. S. P.). —To answer your qnery 

 would fill columns. If you enclose twenty postage stamps with your 

 address, and order Brent's " British Finches, Ac.," you will have it from 

 our office post free. It contains the information you need. 



__ _ too hot all 

 ix the hemp seed 

 as possible), and 

 , and it will keep 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET .—May 11. 



The markets remnin very inactive, and no advance can be obtained on 

 last quotations. Pine Apples, Grapes, and Strawberries are more than 

 sufficient for present consumption ; the last-named have been more 

 abundantly supplied than for several previous years. Old Potatoes of 

 good quality are in fair request, and new ones, both round and kidney, 

 can be had at prices ranging from 20s. to 30s. per cwt. 



FRUIT. 



. lb. 6 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. U 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, Hothouse.,., lb. 8 



Lemons %*100 C 



Melons each 6 



Mulberries quart 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges V 100 4 



Peaches doz. 



Pears, kitchen doz. 4 



dessert doz. 4 



Pine Apples lb. 7 



Plums | sieve 



Quinoes doz. 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



Walnuts bushel 10 



do WOO 10 2 



VEGETABLES. 



.Kidney do. 1 2 



Cabbage doz. 1 



Capsicums 3+100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower IflB. 3 



Celery bundle 1 



O le wi n-ts . . doz. bunches 3 



Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish .... bundle S 



e. d. e. d 



Leeks bunch 4 to o 



Lettuce doz. 10 16 



Mushrooms pottle 10 2 



Mustard & Cress., punnet 2 



Onions bushel 4 7 



pickling quart 4 8 



Parsley sieve 3 6 6 



Parsnips doz. 9 10 



Peas quart 3 5 



Potatoes bushel 3 5 



Kidney do. 3 5 



Radishes .. doz. bunches 10 



Rhubarb bundle 4 8 



Sea-kale basket 1 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 3 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows ..doz. 



