434 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 16, 1870. 



The point of the punching-bar is branched into four short 



sharp prongs, so that it cannot slip to one side of the pit ; and 

 a plate k prevents the fruit from rising with the punching-bar. 

 Thus the pits may be removed almost as fast as a child can 

 turn the crank, and the operation is so rapid that the juice 

 does not escape, and the fruit retains its natural shape and 

 appearance* This invention is manufactured by Geer, Stewart, 

 and Brother, Galesburg, Illinois, U.S. — (English Mechanic.) 



An Early Super. — It may interest some of your bee-beeping 

 readers to know that I have this day (June 4th) taken a glass 

 super from one of my hives. The comb and honey weigh 

 10 lbs., including the glass, or about 8 lbs. without it. It is 

 stated in *' Bee-keeping " that August is the usual time for re- 

 moving glass supers. The super was put on the hive about May 

 15th. — Mary Allen, St. BriaveVs Vicarage, near Coleford. 



A Swarm of Bees in a Church. — A swarm of bees on Thurs- 

 day, the 2nd inst., took possession of the communion table in 

 the church at Williton, near Taunton, Somerset, where they 

 remained until the following Saturday evening, when they were 

 taken by Mr. M. Langdon. Many of them died in the interim. 

 — (Exeter Gazette.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Employment (C. Drake). — We cannot answer such a question, nor can 

 we tell wnere you can obtain the Bantams you need. 



Birmingham and Manchester Shows (Woodville).— As soon as we 

 know the dates fixed for these shows we shall publish them. 



Hens for Egg-producing (7*. G.).— Your informant's statement was 

 quite correct. Hens lay eggs and become broody though no cock accom- 

 panies them, 



Hen with Young Brood (B. H.).—lf the hen is on the earth, she 

 should have no hay nor nnytbing else to sit upon with her chickens. 

 Choose for her a dry spot. If she is uot on the earth, the sooner you move 

 her the better. Chickens, even if they grow up at all, cannot grow up 

 healthily if they are on bricks, stone, wood, or asphaltum. Feed on 

 chopped egg, groats, bread crumbs, bread and milk curd, and chopped 

 cooked meat. If there is no grass where the hen is ripped, cut large sods 

 with plenty of earth, and put them in front of the rip within easy reach 

 of the hen. She will tear them to pieces, to the great pleasure and well- 

 doing of herself and brood. 



Game Chickens Dying (Game Cock).— Your feeding is very varied, 

 troublesome, and bad. It is as though yon fed your family on beef, 

 mutton, dough, Bawdust, and linen rags. Fowls do not like oats ; wheat is 

 not bo good as barley ; boiled rice is very bad, thirds and potatoes are 

 little better. Give them barleymeal or ground oats slacked with milk or 

 water every morning, midday, and evening. For intermediate feeding 

 you may give bread and scraps or Indian corn. The spoiling at the eye 

 of the pullet may arise from accident, or from some local cause. If, as you 

 say, it has nothing to do with roup, it will probably disappear as it came. 

 If it is very hard let it alone ; if comparatively soft, squeeze it. We expect 

 the henB picked the comb that bled. Thev are prone to do it, and will 

 eat a hole through it. If let alone they will eat it away. When the 

 comb turns black the best remedy is camphor pills, two given im- 

 mediately, each the Bize of an ordinary garden pea. As a rule the dark 

 comb is the reBult of disorder caused by improper or excessive feeding. 

 Castor oil or Baiiy's pills are proper remedies. These should be followed 

 where convenient by feeding on Lettuce, if going to seed and full of stalk 

 so much the better. If the dark combs continue let them have no water 

 to drink which is not strongly impregnated with camphor. 



Scurfy Legs (Omega).— Rub the legs of the Hamburgh cock with mild 

 mercurial ointment once daily, give him a five-grain Plunder's pill every 

 second day, and abundance of green food, especially of lettuce leaves. 

 The man who said the legs are " rotten," talked without knowledge. 



Promoting Moulting (La Panic).— Nothing can be done to expedite 

 moulting. High feeding will do it, but while it gets rid of the old feathers 

 it is inimical to the production of new ones, and is a very dangerous 

 process, laying the foundation of many diseases. If you are not better 

 than the rest of us, you may derive consolation from the fact you have 

 "only neighbour's fare.' 1 A pullet with a twisted flight will not do to 

 exhibit. She should not be kept to breed from, as the defect is generally 

 hereditary. 



The Sitting Hen (Beginner).— You have infringed one of the first 

 rules of proper poultry-keeping. Sitting hens should be so placed that 

 none can get to the nest to lay in it. Hens are very fond of doing so if 

 they can. You will not be able to distinguish between the original eggs 

 and those laid since. All you can therefore do, is to be satisfied with 

 your thirteen when they come off, and if yon have no hen to take the 

 interlopers, throw them away. Sitting hens need no particular food. 



Tumours under Chickens' Tongues (S. E. V. 23.).— Discontinue the 

 rice. Let their water be strongly impregnated with camphor. Give them 

 night and morning some bread steeped in strong ale, and open the 

 small swelling wherever it is seen forming. 



Prize Turkeys at Taunton Show (M. L.).— None of the pens of 

 poultry at the Show at Taunton were weighed, but were handled by the 

 Judge in any case of apparent necessity for so doing. 



Pigeon's Wing Damaged (W. E.).— Draw the feathers out, and perfect 

 ones will soon grow in their places. 



Pigeons' Eggs Unproductive (Stephen).— As your birds had three or 

 four eggs in each nest tbey are not pairs at all, but only hens that have 

 mated. When there are but two eggs and unproductive, the cock is too 

 old. Almond Tumblers seldom tumble, they are aviary birds ; the coarse 

 long-faced are the Tumblers properly so called. 



Colour of African Owls {A Young Fancier).— To our notion the best 

 colour is pure white, next a good black. Owls should bo whole-coloured, 

 and not marked like Turbits. We never recommend dealers. An adver- 

 tisement in our columns will bring what you wish ; or notice the names 

 of those who take prizes. 



Crows and Rooks (T. W. A.).— They are quite distinct Bpecies. The 

 Crow is Corvus corone, and the Rook, Corvus frugilegns. 



Stock Five Years Old (S— la).— We can see no reason for meddling 

 with the Block hive in which the bees seem to be doing so well. Combs 

 have been known to last, and the bees to prosper in them, during a much 

 longer period than five years. You should remove the supers when filled, 

 and allow the bees to return to their hive. 



Bees not Working in a Super (Isca). — If you can furnish the super 

 with some pieces of guide comb it may, perhaps, induce the bees to 

 reoccupy it ; but as a rule a stock that has Bwarmed will not fill a super 

 the same season, and we should therefore prefer placing it on the swarm. 

 We should not now expect a cast. We do not fancy that your bees really 

 fought in the super; we have known such cases before, and have always 

 found that the communication was too restricted, and that numbers of 

 bees had died from not being able to find their way out. What you mis- 

 took for fighting was probably nothing more than the efforts of the sur- 

 vivors to get rid of the dead and dying. 



Bees not Swarming (E. M.).— The queen of your weak stock is, 

 doubtless, dead, and the bees have dwindled away in consequence. 

 Your proposed plan of adding a swarm is the true remedy, but we cannot 

 tell why you took away all save the end combs. They would, if left, have 

 been invaluable to the new tenants, whilst they are probably of little or 

 no use to you. When a hive is not fastened down by the bees during the 

 first season, it would naturally remain loose until the colony became 

 Btrong and propolis plentiful. 



Dropsy in Bees (8. B. Knoirfe).—Two of the five bees which accom- 

 panied your letter were identical with those denominated by Huber 

 "black" bees, and which, although they may occur in stocks otherwise 

 perfectly healthy, seem invariably present in hives affected by " dropsy." 

 The others appeared to be dropsical. It is unfortunate that your bees 

 were not in a moveable-comb hive, for during the operation of driving, 

 to which you wore compelled to have recourse, they would inevitably 

 gorge themselves with honey, thereby, most probably, intensifying the 

 disease and defeating the attempt to cure it. In our own caBe the opera- 

 tion which we have before described was at once effectual ; and if the 

 disease continues, and the bees are now, as we hope, in a hive with move- 

 able combs, we should advise your carrying it out in its integrity without 

 delay. As faras ^ur experience goes " dropsy " is certainly not infections, 

 nor will even the transfer of brood-combs communicate it to other 

 colonies. 



Hiving a Swarm in an Old Hive (B. B. A.).— It is a very great 

 advantage to hive a swarm in a combed hive, and there is no risk what- 

 ever of the bees not taking to it. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— June 15. 



Quotations remain the same 



Continental supplies continue heavy, 

 as in our last week's report. 



FRUIT. 



Apples isieve 3 6t 



Apricots doz. 2 



Cherries lb. 1 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants j sieve 



Black do. 



FiRB doz. 6 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 9 



Gooseberries quart C 



Grapes, Hothouse.... lb. 4 



Lemons ^100 6 



Melons each 6 



Mulberries quart to 



Peache; 



Pears, kitchen doz. 



dessert doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



in Strawberries lb. 



10 I Walnuts buBhel 10 



15 I do 3H0Q 1 



. lb. 



VEGETABLES. 



Beans, Kidney do. 1 



Broad bushel 



Beet,Red doz. 2 



Broccoli bundle 1 



Brussels Sprouts.. isieve 



Cabbage doz. 1 



Capsicums 1*100 



Carrots bunch 4 



Cauliflower doz. 4 



Celery bundle 1 6 



ColewortB..doz. bunches 3 



Cucumbers each 6 



pickling doz. 2 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 3 



Garlic lb. 8 



Herbs bunch 3 



Horseradish .... bundle 3 



Leeks bunch 



| Lettuce doz. 



| Mushrooms pottle 1 



' Mustard&CresB.. punnet 



i Onions bushel 4 



pickling quart 



Parsley Bieve 3 



Parsnips doz. 



s quart 1 



Potatoes bushel 3 



Kidney do. 3 



Radishes .. doz.bnnches 1 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys. doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 3 



__ 6 10 

 Vegetable Marrows., doz. 



POULTRY MARKET.— June 15. 



Our supply is very small for the time of year, and the birds that come 

 are many of them stunted. A very cold spring and then long drought are 

 not favourable to the growth of poultry, if we may judge by the samples 

 we see daily. Prices are maintained, 

 s. d. s. d. 



LargeFowls 4 6 to 5 



Smaller ditto 4 4 6 



Chickens 2 6 3 



Ducklings 4 4 6 



Goslings 5 5 6 



I Turkeys 



Pigeons 



Rabbits 1 



Wild ditto 



Hares , 



Partridges 



