May 19, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETIGULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



365 



Peaches, especially at the back and front, with a wait in the middle, and 

 for pot Strawberries if placed near the front glass, or near the top of the 

 back wall. Of coarse if you want to heat the house that is a different 

 affair. With a stove or small flue the house would hold many flowering 

 plants, with a flat shelf in front and a raised stage behind. The Peaches 

 falling after rotting when of the size of Walnuts, is a proof that the house 

 is too moist, too shaded, and the soil rather wet. Liquid manure is good 

 where strength is wanted, but it should be given clear and weak. Then 

 all kinds are good. Gu^no 1 oz. to the gallon, superphosphate of lime, 

 3 oz3. to the gallon, a peck of soot to 86 gallons, a bushel of sheep, deer, 

 or horse droppings to 3G gallons, letting the liquid stand until clear. 



Insects (C. C. E.).~ No. 1 are the egg3 of the common Lackey Moth, of 

 which the caterpillars found under a web, were the youug ; No. 2 is a 

 mass of was, probably the remains of a queen's cell ; No. 8, most probably 

 gnawed by the weevil Otiorhyuclius sulcatus ; No. 4. mistaken for a 

 cocoon, is a bit of dried pitch. — I. O. W. {Shifnal).— The insect eating 

 the leaves of your Peas and Beans is the Striped Pea Weevil, Curculio 

 lineatus. See page 346 of our last number. 



Names of Plants (D. M.). — Adiantum, probably pedatum, but too 

 young to name properly ; 2. A young seedling without fruit. TheTecoma 

 jasminoides is evergreen, and blooms in summer, say about August. (E. 



B.). — Chrysanthemum coronarium. ( ).— Received from a lady, name 



lost. Mes^mbryanthemum noctidorum, or a species very near it. (W. 

 Tay? or J. —Ground Ivy, Nopeta glechoma. It in used by country people to 

 make a tea, and given for coughs and affections of the urinary organs. 

 (S. T.).— 1, Isora alba ; 2, Eranthemum Cooperii. [Amateur i.— 1, Pulmo- 

 naria officinalis alba ; 2, Mnscari racemosum ; 3, Alyssum sasatile. Wait 

 patiently for your seedling Camellias appealing above ground; the seeds 

 are very slow in germinating. (Apt., Dublin).— The specimens were not 

 numbered. We do not remember the others. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



RATIONAL POULTRY-KEEPING.— No. 2. 



THE HEX AND HER BROOD. 

 Ii is with rearing chickens, as with many other things, far 

 more profitable and useful to find a substitute for things lack- 

 ing, than to rest content with bewailing their absence. It is, 

 therefore, profitable to compensate for limited space by fre- 

 quently moving the surface of the run allotted to the chickens, 

 and making the irregularities and mounds of which we have 

 spoken now in one plaoe, now in another. These appear 

 trifling details, bat success is made up of attention to them. 

 If the chickens are to thrive, the hen must be comfortable ; and 

 unless her rip affords room for her to move about, stand up- 

 right, even if she stretch her neck, scratch, &c, she will not 

 be at ease. She Bhould be confined for at least six weeks or 

 two months, save in very fine and warm weather, when she 

 may have her liberty at the end of a month. As a rule, none 

 of the poultry tribe are good mothers in all particulars. They 

 will defend their progeny vigorously, they will fly at a dog or any 

 other interloper, they will seek food for them, they will cover 

 them at night, but at earliest daybreak they will start through 

 the wet and cold grass, followe.l by all the tribe. The chickens 

 are lucky if all return, but some only return to die ; they are 

 draggled and chilled. If, then, the hens are let out while the 

 chickens are yet young, tbey should not have their liberty till 

 the sun is up and the grass thoroughly dry. The hens should 

 be brought back and put under their rips just before sunset. 

 The rips should stand on the earth and be moved daily. It is 

 good economy to let the htn feed with the chickens. Her 

 warmth during the night has much to do with the growth of 

 the chickens, and that will not be at high temperature unless 

 she is well fed. 



This biings us to the food question. Bread and milk, 

 chopped egg, dough made of oat or barleymeal mixed stiff, 

 crushed wheat, curd, and cooked meat chopped fine, are all 

 very good food. The curd should be made with new milk, put 

 in a saucepan on the fire and turned with alum. It is very 

 valuable food, and will keep two days, or in favourable weather 

 more. When the milk is turned it should be emptied into a 

 long cloth, which should be folded round it. Two strong per- 

 sons should take each one end of the cloth and twist in oppo- 

 site directions. The whey will soon be squeezed out, but the 

 twisting must be persevered in till the curd is hard and dry, 

 and has taken the impression of the linen on the outside. 

 That is the test of its fitness for food. In this state pieces 

 may be broken off, and if thrown down it will scatter. Chickens 

 and young game are very fond of it, and it agrees with them. 

 They will often eat it when they refuse other food. We are 

 great advocates for beer as the beverage for young chickens. 

 It is not as essential at this time of year as earlier, when nights 

 are so much longer and the weather more trying, but we find 

 they much prefer it to water, and they do better upon it. 



After all, the principal thing is to give as much variety as 

 possible. Chickens, like children, or even adults, tire of the 



food that is always before them. It i3 not sometimes conve- 

 nient to do it, but for economy and success, chickens should 

 have no spare food. They should have at each meal just as 

 much as they will eat up clean. This necessitates many 

 meals. If the chickens have a good grass run they do not 

 require so many. They find food. One exception may be 

 allowed. Chickens wake hungry, and day breaks before four. 

 Few of the world are then moving, and for that reason some 

 food may be placed there overnight. It must be put liberally, 

 because there is a penalty for not getting up — the small birds 

 will feed with the chickens, and consume no mean portion of 

 the food. Poultry do not at any age require to be>empted 

 with choice food, and it is no cruelty when they seem inolined 

 to be dainty to withhold one, or it may be two meals. Bich 

 people's fowls more often suffer from plethora than hunger. 

 Bich people's pets are more to be pitied than the celebrated 

 costermonger's donkey. The poor siuging bird — Goldfinch, 

 Bullfinch, or Canary — that would have all Nature required if 

 it were supplied with a little groundsel, chickweed, and in the 

 autumn plantain, maw, rape, or turnip seed, is tempted with 

 sponge cake, sugar, and biscuit. An unnatural state of body 

 ensues, the bird is burnt up with fever, and the effort to moult 

 is a fatal disorder. 



The lap-dog, of whatever breed it may be, is pampered till it 

 will not eat chicken without butter, or lamb without gravy. 

 It was sprightly once, but now a fat wheezing object of pity. It 

 lies on itB crimson velvet cushion, and only languidly raises its 

 head when called by name. We will give the history of the 

 cure of such an animal. As our lively friends on the opposite 

 side of the Channel would say, the dog belonged to Madame X. 

 It was pampered till it was a nuisance, and worse than useless. 



At last the mistress took it to the celebrated M. Y , and 



after embracing it tenderly suffered her servant to carry it 

 into the shop, and to leave it. 



" We will not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau 

 If dogs confabulate or no," 



but we know that the aristocratic animal looked around it 

 with contempt, and then with anger. At last it ventured on 

 the ghost of a bark. This effort called another dog from 

 an inner shop. The new corner took stock of the pet, and 

 laughed, if a dog can laugh. It then stood on its hind legs, 

 with its fore paws extended, and its muzzle on the ground be- 

 tween them. Then it took a run round the shop, and came 

 with the force of a catapult against the pet, rolling it as far as 

 the premises permitted. This was too much, and with a 

 piteous howl our "aristo" took refuge among some lumber. 

 He was removed thence to a small loft, where he was tied up 

 with a common chain and collar, provided with a moderate 

 portion of straw to serve for a bed, and a willow pattern soup 

 plate full of water. This misery overcame him quite, and 

 he howled loud and long, but it brought none of his usual at- 

 tendants. A short man armed with a whip asked what that 

 noise was for, and as pet ventured to repeat a little, he made 

 acquaintance with the whip, and was glad to shelter himself in 

 the straw. Two days without food, he was so hungry, and 

 already so altered, that when the man came with something in 

 his hand he really jumped for joy. He was starved for a fort- 

 night, and then properly fed for a week. At the end of that 

 time Madame X. called for him, he was let loose, and at once 

 bounded into the carriage to his mistress's delight. The secret 

 of the cure was given to her, and she was wise enough to 

 follow it. 



"Jones," says the owner of some of the finest fowls ever 

 seen, pointing to a number of them that are squatting about, 

 some under a hayrick, others under a granary, and some in 

 the grass, all drowsy — " Jones, these birds do not feed, here 

 lies best part of the food I gave yesterday. What is it ? They 

 want change. What have they had lately?" "Ground 

 oats, barleymeal, whole corn, and Indian corn." " What else 

 can we give them?" "Well, Sir, I was thinking it is a dry 

 time, and there is very little animal food ; I think a little raw 

 meat." And they have it, and then there are complaints they 

 don't lay, and then some die on the nests, and the birds all 

 do badly. To be sure they do, how can it be otherwise ? They 

 are over-fed and over-fat. It is said the cure for gout is to 

 live on £1 per week, and earn it, and we are quite sure the 

 secret of health for fowls is to be hungry enough to seek food. 



Guildfobd Summer Poultry Show.— The prizes at thia 

 are good, and there are in addition eleven pieces of plate 



