400 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 2. 1870. 



returned to the old hive. On the 16th they came out about 

 ten o'clock. I hived them myself. I watched them for a time, 

 and at one o'clock they all seemed busy at work. I went to 

 put them on the block at night, and they had all flown away. 

 I rose at daybreak on the 17th, and found them on a Cherry 

 tree a few yards from the place where I hived them. Thinking 

 it was some fault of mine I ran for the man who hived them 

 before, and asked him what I should do, and we hived them at 

 once about four o'clock that morning. I engaged a young man 

 to watch them, and about half-past ten o'clock they all came 

 out and flew in the same way as the other two swarms to the 

 old chimney, making two first and second swarms that have 

 gone to that chimney, where they are now, and seem very 

 strong. Can you tell me why they always fly to that old chim- 

 ney? — A Bee Amateur, Kent. 



[We have before heard of places which, like the old chimney 

 mentioned by you, seem to possess such a special attraction 

 for BwarmB that they become a complete terror to all the bee- 

 keepers of the neighbourhood. Application should at once be 

 made to the proprietor, who, we should think, would upon a 

 proper representation cause the bees to be expelled and the 

 chimney effectually closed against any others. The only error 

 which we can detect in your proceedings was il dressing" the 

 hives with beer, sugar and lettuce, which might, indeed, have 

 been the cause of the bees deserting their new domiciles so 

 often. We should advise you in future to hive bees in dry 

 clean hives, shade them carefully from the sun, and put them 

 in the place they are intended permanently to occupy as soon 

 as they are quietly settled, which is generally in about ten 

 minutes or a quarter of an hour after hiving.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Rats and Chickens (7*. A. 8.).— Rats will kill and take chickens that 

 are nine weeks old, and older if they are sharp set. 



Mortality 

 is a manufactured one, and 

 in them to account for such 

 seek in food, locality, or i 

 deaths. Their pale faces ar 

 in confinement ? If they an 

 ground oats, road grit, gras; 



Black Hamburghs (Black Hamburgh). — The breed 

 le of Buch are hardy ; but there is nothing 

 'holesale death. Experience would rather 

 nagement the causes of such wholesale 

 not suggestive of ruddy health. Are they 

 give them liberty if possible. Have they 

 d fre^h water three or four times every 



day ? If they have not, provide what is wanting. It is impossible < 

 to guess the cause of death, unless you supply some details. 



Game Hen Plucking Her Chickens (7*. S. J.).— Gome hens play 

 strange pranks with their broods. We have known one which had been 

 a good mother to fifteen chickens till they were a month old, turn round 

 and kill them all in a night. It will go hard with yours if she makes one 

 bleed. As your chickens are now a month old, we advise you, if the 

 Game hen is still spiteful, to take her away. Let the chickens have the 

 same rip they have always had. Let the bars be down to prevent the hen 

 from getting in. Put it in a sheltered, quiet spot, and watch the first two 

 or three nights to see that they all go to roost together. We should hesi- 

 tate to advise you to do so at any other time of year, but the nights are so 

 short and warm now you run little risk. You may discontinue the ale at 

 this time of year. If the hen is a good mother the chickens should be 

 with her, even in summer, till they are two months old. 



Ground Oats for Chickens (E. M W.).— It is not oatmeal we recom- 

 mend, but ground oats, as they are prepared in Sussex. The whole of the 

 oat is ground, no bran or offal of any kind is taken away, and yet it is 

 fine enough to mix into a close paste. The best London fowls are all fed 

 in Sussex, and these ground oats mixed with milk form their food. 

 Ordinary oatmeal mixes up so coarse, that fowls will not eat it. These 

 ground oats are to be had at Agate's Mills, Crawley, Sussex. 



Diseased Liver (Idem).— You do not give sufficient information about 

 the fowls' livers for us to guess the nature of the disease. Is it fat ? 

 that will arise from overfeeding. The liver becomes very large and 

 white, the skin of the body becomes dry, hard, and black, while the 

 flesh wastes away. If the fowls have not enough food, or if what they have 

 is of poor quality, they die of liver complaint ; but in that case the 

 liver enlarges, and becomes almost black, and has often small white 

 callosities in it. The fat liver will bear cutting in Blices, and can be 

 spread on bread like butter. The liver that is diseased from poverty 

 seems to have lost all properties, and will hardly bear touching without 

 breaking in pieces. In the latter case the fowl is not in a healthy state 

 for table purposes, but a fowl with a fat liver is often in excellent condi- 

 tion for eating. 



Poultry-keeping for Market (F. D. G. B.). — Keep Brahma-Pootra 

 pullets and Dorking cocks, Rouen Ducks, Grey or Mottled Geese, not 

 Toulouse. " The Poultrv -keeper's Manual " will Buit you. You can have 

 it post free from our office if you enclose 7*. 8ii. in postage Btamps with 

 your address. 



Eggs Unhatched (Chiz).— Not knowing any of the circumstances, it is 

 impossible to assign any of the very many causes which might induce the 

 failure. 



Hen or Pullet ? (Hants Henwife). — Being " thirteen or fourteen 

 months old," she is a hen. 



Pigeons Trespassing (F. H.).— Pigeons really do but a nominal mis- 

 chief in a garden, but owners of gardens and gardeners generally think 

 they do more, so the poor birds are condemned though almost innocent. 

 Had a Pigeon the beak of a rook, or the foot of a fowl, he might be indeed 



very 



ubject to 

 names of 

 ■ army of 



a gardener's foe, but he can neither dig nor scratch. A few fallen peas 

 he may pick up, or pluck a quarter of a small lettuce or cabbage leaf ; he 

 does enjoy the Beeds of certain weeds in the autumn. The best plan in 

 your case is to confine the birds in a large space by wire netting, which 

 is now very cheap, making in fact a sort of aviary* The large wire net- 

 ting does well, and if bought wholesale is very inexpensive. You might 

 try first to cure the birds by giving in their loft a few pots or boxes full 

 of what they will eat in the garden. They like to eat them growing. 



Lizard Canaries Panting (E. B.).— Canaries ar 

 diseases of the respiratory organs, which under the 

 asthma, consumption, and vulgo puff, pant, or blow, slay the 

 victims every year. In whatever Hhape the disease may appear, it is 

 more or less Bpeedy in its work, but none the less certain. Very fre- 

 quently it assumes the form of a galloping consumption, carrying off the 

 subject in from twelve to twenty-four hours, and there are few who 

 cannot tell of some favourite hen which after rearing a neBt of strong, 

 lusty birds, the pride of the aviary, suddenly, without the slightest pre- 

 monitory symptoms, discontinued its maternal duties, possibly forsook a 

 second nest of full eggs, and after a few hours of laboured respiration, 

 most distressing to witness, died. For such I know no cure, and for their 

 pain no alleviation. Whether such rapid decline be the direct result of 

 disease of the lungs or of inflammatory action I cannot say. I often 

 regret I am not a better bird doctor. I dare say I may be as good a 

 practitioner as my neighbours, but I diBlike groping about in the dark. 

 Some years ago I made a spectacle of myself as " subject " in a phreno- 

 logical lecture, and was told among other things, I liked to "know the 

 reason why," and I do. I do not like taking things for granted, but I do 

 like to trace some connection between cause and effect. Detesting 

 quackery of all kinds (always excepting recollections of a certain wild 

 Duck, with a slice of lemon and a dust of cayenne), I dn not like to pre- 

 scribe any Canary Godfrey's Cordial, or Daffy's Elixir, but I will say that 

 I have known a case of confirmed and very distressing asthma kept in 

 check for three months by feeding on bread and milk, and a very high 

 authority on Canary pathology assures me that from one to three 

 measured drops of cblorodyne in an ordinary-sized water-tin is a grand 

 specific. The birds in question may live through the Bummer, but will 

 not survive the moulting season. Lizards are not more tender than 

 other varieties.— W. A. Blakston. 



Old Canary not Singing (Clarke).— Old age and its concomitant in- 

 firmities will tell on the strongest of us, and it is not surprising that at 

 eight years of age a Canary shonld, in a great measure, give up singing. 

 Treat him to a sherry shower-bath. Take a mouthful, and holding the 

 bird in the hand blow it in a shower the reverse way of the feathers. It 

 requires some practice, and beginners are apt to swallow a portion of the 

 fluid ; older hands too, sometimes ! — W. A, Blakston. 



A Wild Bee (Y. B. Z.). — It is Andrena Trimmerana, a bee which has 

 its nests mostly in dry warm banks. 



Utilising Old Combs (C. A. J.).— The bit of comb which you enclose 

 is old and dark, and is therefore unfit for supers. It appears, however, 

 perfectly healthy, and may therefore probably be safely used for artificial 

 swarms, although it appears almost too far gone to be of much value for 

 any purpose. 



Driving Bees (I. B. Montnri).— Your mistake was in attempting to 

 drive the bees direct into the Woodbury, instead of into an intermediate 

 hive. 



White Maggots in a Hive (R. M.).— The active little maggots were 

 doubtless the larvae of the wax-moth. We think it would be the best plan 

 to add swarms to your dwindling colonies. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Jink 1. 



Produce of all descriptions is becoming abundant. That from under 

 glass comprises Pines, Grapes, Peaches, Nectarines, Melons, Figs, Straw- 

 berries, and Cherries. Among the imports are large cargoes of Pines 

 from the West Indies, the fruit bringing from Is. to Sis. each, and heavy 

 consignments of out-door Strawberries from the Continent. 



FRUIT. 



Apples Jsieve 3 6 to 6 



Apricots doz. 2 



Cherries lb. 10 3 



Chestnuts bushtl 



Currants i sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 6 10 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries quart 



Melons each 6 



Mulberries quart n to o 



Nectarines doz. 12 24 n 



Oranges WOO 4 10 



Peaches doz. 15 30 



Pears, kitchen doz. 



dessert doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 7 10 



Plums i sieve 



1 ' Quinces doz. 



9 I Raspberries lb. 



12 i Strawberries lb. 4 10 



10 I Walnuts bushel 10 16 



15 1 do SHOO 10 2 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. 



Asparagus W00 



Beans, Kidney do. 



Broad bushel 



Beet, Red doz. 



BroccoU bundle 



Brussels Sprouts. .Jsieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums W00 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts..doz. bunches 

 Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish .... bundle 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce doz. 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress, .punnet 



Onions buBh*-! 



pickling quart 



Parsley sie 



Parsnips d< 



PeaB . .". quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Radishes . . doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows . .doz. 



4 8 



3 



.09 10 



