416 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



fatal impediment. If you want farther information Bend ns a directed, 

 and, above all, stamped envelope. We know yon are wrong. 



Preparing Fowls for Exhibition (J. K. 0.).— It would far exceed 

 the limitB of " Our Letter Box," to give you all the information you 

 require. The only fowls that improve by being confined before exhibition 

 are the Spanish, they do well in a small dark place. All birds require to 

 be well fed and kept very clean, and those to be shown together muBt be 

 accustomed to run together. 



Points of Silkies (Idem).— Silkies should be top-knotted and rose- 

 combed, have very dark faces, and a brilliant blue metallic lustre on 

 them. The difference between a cock and both hens would not be so 

 important as between two hens ; but we need hardly say that uniformity 

 is an element of bucccss in exhibiting a pen. 



Commencing Poultry-keeping near London {T.).— We answer to 

 your firBt question — Ought you to keep poultry'.' — Entirely a matter of 

 taste. If you like poultry, Yes. If you only like eggs, No. Our belief is 

 that half the world does not know what it likes. Such a one says he could 

 not do without poultry because he cannot break'ast without a new-laid 

 egg ; another loves a broiled chicken, and can fancy only those he breeds 

 and feeds himself. Moonshine all, " my merry masters." Neither cares for 

 poultry. One eats an unquestionable egg, the other a faultless chicken ; 

 provided both are good no questions are asked. To be fond of poultry is 

 to keep cocks and hens, to multiply surface, to overcome desiderata, to 

 supply that which is wanting, to concentrate on a cock and five hens tho 

 interest enjoyed by those who have thousands of acres and hundreds of 

 fowls. Great discoveries in all thiugs have belonged to those who had 

 small opportunities, and that which is patent to him or her who has only 

 a cock and five hens passes unnoticed among the hundreds of a larger 

 undertaking. We dare say it is only an omission— you said nothing about 

 grass. Insects, snails, woodlice, ants, ct hoc genus omne, are only the 

 second course of the Sybarite. Grass is the soup, fish, and removes, the 

 piece de resistance. Have they grass? Hamburghs and Game are the 

 worst, or best flyers. If it be desired they should live on their neighbours, 

 they are the best. Like the proverbial North Briton, they are never at 

 home but when abroad. If your neighbour complains that "the hens 

 creep under his fence and the pigs fly over," and angry correspondence 

 ensues, then you must give them up. If they are a good sort of people, 

 you may keep fowls by adding jocularly as you walk from the station, that 

 your neighbour is welcome to all the eggs laid on his premises. If the 

 neighbours are cantankerous you must fall backon Cochins or Brahmas. 

 Feeding Ducks (-E. R. S.). — You may give your Ducks oats, meal, and 

 barley. Eschew Indian corn ; it makes fat beautiful to the eye, it makes 

 weight wonderful in the scale ; but when it is roasted the fat " has been 

 gone ever so long," and the lean is hard, black, and dry. The cannibals 

 of the South Se^s know "a thing or two." They condemn as tough the 

 legs of a Frenchman because he is always dancing, the arms of an Eng- 

 lishman because he is always at work ; but if they could taste one of each 

 fed on Indian corn we are sure a great good would be accomplished, for 

 the gourmets would decline to purchase either, and would content 

 themselves with a well-to-do German or a steady-goiog Dutchman. So 

 much the worse for them. That which is young is generally growing 

 (except that miserable little pig at Lyrnington Fair, which is held up by 

 the hind leg, and described as a " gurt growthy hog.") Food cannot 

 make growth and fat, but we will undertake to say your Ducks make 

 growth. Shut the fattening birds up. Feed them with bran, oats, and 

 oatmeal pnt in a shallow vessel, with gravel, water, and a sod of grass. 

 They must have no exercise — that makes health, not fat. 



Ill-flavoured Eggs {W. B.).~ When eggs taste disagreeably the food 

 of the hens is responsible for it. If you confine your feeding to oats, 

 oatmeal, barleymeal, and an occasional change of Indian corn, there will 

 be no bad taste. Beyond what we have mentioned, if the birds have a 

 grass run, they need nothing. Most of the poultry foods advertised contain 

 ingredients of a stimulating character, and they are, consequently, in- 

 jurious to fowls. Give your birds some good heavy sods of growing grass, 

 daily if you can. 



Chickens Drooping and Dying (C. A. C.).— We doubt very much if 

 your chickens are not too highly fed. Table scraps should be confined to 

 the crumbs, and at this time of year the beer is not wanted. Give 

 chopped egg, bread and milk, your table sciaps chopped fine, and let 

 them have plenty of fresh mould and road grit. When chickens die of 

 lice, they die very much as you describe. Put some wormwood in their 

 water. 



Incubators.— Owl wishes to know how our poultry breeders are getting 

 on with the incubators, and will feel obliged if some subscriber would 

 state his success, how many chicks were hatched per dozen eggs on 

 the average, and the incubator he employs. Will the incubator answer 

 practical purposes, or only as an experiment? 



Brahmas— Bees (W. M.).— L. Wright, Esq., Kingsdown, Bristol. Payne's 

 *' Bee-keeping for the Many." You can have it post free from our office 

 if you enclose five postage stamps with your address. We see the egg- 

 testers in many shops in London, but cannot specify anyone. 



Birmingham Rollers {Fido}.— Birmingham Rollers have as good a 

 claim to being a pure breed as aay other variety of Pigeons we have. 

 They are as often (or in our opinion oftener) clean-legged as muffed — 

 that is, Grouse-muffed or shinned, but we never saw a good Roller that 

 was heavily feathered on the legs, similar to the Trumpeter. The assertion 

 of your friend that they are a cross between the Tumbler and Trumpeter 

 is all nonsense ; and as to hiB fancy for not keeping them, or, as he says, 

 "killing all such birds," we have only to say, there are many flying 

 fanciers who think his fancy birds just as worthless as he considers the 

 Rollers. So much for taste. " Rollers are as often blue as any other colour 

 —that is, blue and white, as saddles, badges, &c, but entirely blue 

 Tumblers are now very Bcarce, and the black bar generally shows itself 

 in blue Pigeons of any variety. Rollers are nothing more nor less than 

 Tumblers. They are merely called Rollers in consequence of their 

 wonderful gyratory performances whilst on the wing, and in contra- 

 distinction to the Tumblers, which can merely tumble. They are merely 

 the common flying Tumbler brought by many years of careful selection 

 in breeding and training to the perfection which many of them have 

 now attained, and they have been mainly brought to this state in and 

 around Birmingham, where they are at present flown in great numbers, 

 and are in great favour; hence their name "Birmingham Rollers." In 

 Birmingham they are merely looked upon as the best of flying Tumblers, 

 and it is only out of that district that they arc generally known by the 

 name "Birmingham Rollers." It has, indeed, become the custom of 



late, since Rollers have become more generally known— although they 

 have been in favour in Birmingham fer the past century— to call every- 

 thing (and especially if it comes from Birmingham) in the shape of a 

 Tumbler with long muffed or feathered legs, a "Birmingham Roller," al- 

 though not one in fifty has any pretensions to the title. In fact, very 

 few persona out of the neighbourhood really know what a downright good 

 flight of Rollers and mad Tumblers are, and what pleasure they are 

 capable of affording to the initiated. Are you sure your birds are Rollers, 

 or are they merely the ordinary long-muffed Tumblers, which we should 

 imagine from your questions? We must refer you for further infor- 

 mation on the subject to the articles of " H. T., Birminoham," which 

 appeared in our Journal of March 17th, April 28th, Mav 5th, and Mav 12th. 



Obtaining Honey from Old Stocks (A Reader). — Permit all the 

 stocks that will do so to swarm twice, and then, twenty-one days after the 

 issue of the first swarm, expel the remaining bees by driving, and add 

 them to the second swarm. If any stocks swarm but once, their remain- 

 ing inhabitants should at the expiration of the same period be driven into 

 empty hives and established as artificial swarms on their old stands, or if 

 it be not desirable so to increase the number of colonies, they may be 

 united to their first swarms. 



Bees Migrating— Queenless Stock (An Ianorant Bee-keeper).— Dti 

 Bevan recites several cases in point, and one in particular where the 

 swarm came from an apiary two miles distant. There is no cbance of the 

 bees now being able to hatch a new queen ; the best plan would be to add 

 a second swarm to the qneenleSB colony. 



t Ligurian Bees {E. Wlieeler).— Your stock will not now swarm a third 

 time. The first swarm may fill a BUper this season, but neither the caBt 

 nor the old stock are likely to do so. 



Bees Queenless (G. Cummings).—We see nothing for it but to add a 

 swarm, which, however, need not be a very large ono. A second swarm, 

 or cast, will answer the purpose sufficiently. 



Bees on Fruit Trees (A Victim).— You are totally wrong. Bees do 

 no injury to fruit trees, but in some instances are beneficial by conveying 

 pollen from flower to flower and thus promoting fertilisation. 



Expelling Bees— Yellow Excrement [W. J.).— The obnoxious black 

 glossy bees which you describe as being expelled by the Ligurians, were 

 first noticed by Huber, and their occasional appearance has never been 

 satisfactorily accounted for. Voiding yellow excrement on the alighting- 

 board is not a symptom of foul brood, but rather of dysentery, induced 

 probably by the unfavourable situation of the hive, and which is likely to 

 disappear as the season advances. 



Cooking the Aubergine, or Fruit of the Egg-plant. — A Lady has 

 sent us the following. "The Aubergine is cut in slices when ripe, and 

 fried in butter or oil a nice brown, first dipped in fine bread crumbs. No 

 sauce is served with it in French cookery, but doubtless an enter- 

 prising artiste could invent a suitable sauce if it were required." 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— June 8. 



A fair amount of business is being done, and the general trade is 

 better; but, owing to the heavy sapplies, both home-grown and conti- 

 nental, no better prices can be obtained. The recent heavy consignments 

 of West Indian Pines, which are of unusually good qualitv, have had a 

 marked effect upon the sale of those raised under glass. Potatoes of ex- 

 cellent quality are now coming from Jersey and the WeBt of England, 

 and sell at from 12s. to 20s. per cwt. 



FRUIT. 



Cherries lb. 1 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants i sieve 



Black do. 



Fiffs doz. 6 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 9 



Gooseberries quart 6 



Grapes, Hothouse.. . 



Mulberries quart to 



Nectarines doz. 10 20 



Oranges f* 100 



. doz. 



, ¥«100 6 10 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 2 



Walnuts bushel 10 



do #-100 1 



, doz. 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. g 



Asparagus 3*100 2 



Beans, Kidney do. 1 



Broad bushel 



Beet. Red doz. 2 



Broccoli bundle 1 



Brussels Sprouts.. i sieve 



Cabbau'e doz. 1 



Capsicums ^100 



Carrots bunch 



r.iiiliilower doz. 4 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts..doz. bunches 

 Cucumbers each 



pickling d> 



Endive doz. z 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



ll'.irser;nli3h ....bundle 3 



.20 40 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce doz. 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress, .punnet 



OnionB bnshftl 



pickling quart 



Peas quart 1 



Potatoes bushel 3 



Kidney do. 8 



Radishi'S .. doz. bunches 1 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 3 



Vegetable Marrows . . doz. 



POULTRY MARKET.— June B. 



Although the cottager said the turning of the world was nonsense, for 

 he had lived in his house thirty venrs, and the same oak tree had been 

 right in front all the time, yet the seasons follow each other, and their 

 consequences remain the same. The supply of poultry increases in June. 



p. d. 



Large Fowls 6 to 5 



Smaller ditto 4 4 



Chickens 2 2 



Ducklings 3 6 



Goslings 6 7 



Turkeys 



Guinea Fowls to 



Pigeons 



Rabbits 1 



Wild ditto 



Hares 



Partridges 



A 10 



