Febrn«ry 8, 1877. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



109 



is missing, so when an apricot is gone here and there, or filberts 

 by the handful are missinf;, it is always "those sqairrels." Is 

 it not sometimes " that gardening boy," who, although he is 

 perhaps high up in hia teens, has his school-boy love of fruit 

 and nuts still in him ? I seldom believe charges against animals, 

 for it is so easy to blame them; poor dumb beasts, they cannot 

 defend themselves. For " that cat " and " those squirrels " 

 read *' servants." One mischief squirrels certainly do, and that 

 is they bite off the early spring shoots from some trees, notably 

 fir trees, and in a young plantation of these they must be 

 destroyed, but in other situations they may be encouraged, for 

 they will only be numerons when the beech mast is plentiful. 

 I envy not the heart of that man who can enjoy shooting a 

 squirrel. If the deed must be done it must, but many a man 

 I believe commissioned to kill squirrels regrets that he has to 

 do it — almost wishes his gun may not point true for once, and 

 if the little graceful creature falls, says pitifully, " Poor pretty 

 little thing !" I know of no animal that resembles the squirrel ; 

 it stands alone as what I have called it, " Nature's better 

 Blondin." — Wiltshire Rector. 



PKEPARING POULTRY FOB MARKET. 



PoDLTBT should not only be fat when killed, but should be 

 properly dressed and put up for the market. Poor goods may 

 not sell because they are presented in an attractive form, but the 

 best will not bring good prices unless they attract by their ap- 

 pearance. After the fowls are killed comes the most exacting 

 part of the work of preparation. The skia must not be broken, 

 it most not be parboiled, pin feathers must not be left in, nor 

 the down stand out like the first viril furze on a boy's face. To 

 prevent these unsightly and repulsive appearances follow a few 

 simple and natural directions. Pluck the fowl while the animal 

 heat still remains. Do not kill at a time more than you have 

 facilities for immediately dressing. The use of hot water is 

 certainly essential, but do not have it hotter than is absolutely 

 necessary in order to start the feathers. Pick out all the pin 

 feathers, using tweezers if necessary, but do not tear the skin. 

 Singe the plucked fowl over a gas jet or the flame of a kerosene 

 lamp ; in the latter case it is sufficient to hold the fowl over the 

 glass chimney of an ordinary kerosene lamp, turning the fowl 

 rapidly. The work may be done in a few seconds. Some prefer 

 a handful of feathers or a few scraps of paper kindled to a quick 

 blaze in the fireplace or stove. 



In some markets poultry is sent with crop and intestines un- 

 disturbed, probably as much because it is thought the fowls look 

 fairer and plumper as for any hope of gain from extra weight. 

 It is preferable on some accounts to draw the fowls. The 

 French market women draw their poultry, carefully wipe out 

 the cavities, and stuff with a bunch of clean unsized paper — 

 ordinary straw or Manilla paper, and their poultry is delight- 

 fully sweet and attractive. 



Poultry should not be packed for transportion until entirely 

 cold. Then it should be laid in clean straw, breast down, keep- 

 ing the wings and legs close to the body. See that there is no dis- 

 coloration of blood on the skin. If the heads are removed pull 

 np the skin of the neck, and tie it over the severed portion with 

 a bit of strong thread or twine. Never cut off the spurs of old 

 hens or cocks with the idea of passing them off for young 

 chickens. Purchasers are generally older than the moat ancient 

 specimens of your poultry-yard ; or if perchance the customer is 

 green, that is no excuse for dishonesty. — [Canadian Poultry 

 Journal.) 



Crystal Palace Bird Show. — The fourteenth annual Exhi- 

 bition of Cage Birds is fixed for the 17th to the 22Qd of February 

 inclusive, and promises to be more attractive than ever. For 

 foreign birds especially the amount of prize money has been 

 doubled io most of the classes, and the prizes offered throughout 

 the schedule no doubt will bring forth large entries. There are 

 no less than eighty-six classes for birds, a class for cages, another 

 for the best specimens of food for cage birds, besides a class for 

 the best collection of nest boxes for cage and wild birds. Class 

 90 provides apacf for authors, publishers, and booksellers who 

 may think well to send books relating to cage birds. This we 

 look npon as a novelty in connection with bird shows. The 

 entries are to close February 2nd, and post entries February 10th. 



THE BEES IN .JANUARY. 



Aa we all know the winter has been with us exceedingly mild 

 it is natural to suppose that the bees may have declined to an 

 abnormal condition, and it will be well when an unusually warm 

 day occurs to investigate the state of the hives and their inha- 

 bitanta. On January :ird the sun shone bright ; the bees were 

 full of life and activity, so I made an examination of my colonies. 

 The first frightened me — to my surprise not an ounce of honey 

 was in the hive. In fear and trembling I opened tbe remainder 

 one after another, gaining spirits as I proceeded, for the first 

 was the worst. Several others were poverty-stricken, but none 



so bad as that. I saw the queens of all the hives, some of which 

 had babies in their cradles ; so into a stewpau went 8 lbs. of 

 loaf sugar, which, being boiled into barleysngar and broken up, 

 was soon distributed among the paupers, as well as some full 

 combs of honey gleaned from richer colonies which could spare it. 



Now it is not easy to persuade bees to take food into their 

 hives in winter, and my barleyaugar in No. 1 colony was merely 

 sniffed at ; but a half-full honeycomb put right into the brood 

 neat soon brought the bees' pluck up, and a week afterwards I 

 found the barleysngar gradually disappearing, and still a we;k 

 later found breeding in progress, one fed hive having a patch of 

 sealed brood as big as the palm of my hand. So far so good ; 

 and every week of mild weather following gives a better chance 

 of surviving until the spring, for in another month, unless very 

 cold, breeding will actively commence and food will readily be 

 taken from the bottle, when all danger will be over. If January 

 had been as wo might have expected it, very cold, one at least 

 of my colonies would have perished, which of course should 

 have fairly been set down to bad management; but my investi- 

 gation seemed to tell me that the bees had consumed more food 

 than is usual in winter, by reason doubtless of their greater 

 activity, the semi-dormant state in very cold weather not having 

 occurred. 



I cannot help rejoicing that I do not patronise straw skeps, for 

 in that case no such examination and relief as I made would 

 have been possible. But 



*' 'Tia with our opinions as oar watches — none 

 Go just alilie, but each belieTOa his own."' 

 I have no hives to sell, and should prefer every bee-keeper 

 would please himself and let others do the same. — John Hdnteb, 

 Baton JRise, Ealing. 



HIVES AND LOCALITIES. 



ToL'R correspondent Mr. Pettigrew, in a communication under 

 the above heading, gives in his adhesion to the theoretic views 

 enunciated by Mr. Lowe in an article entitled "The Battle of 

 the Hives." Mr. Pettigrew'g change of front is indeed thorough. 

 Since he came amongst us we have heard much of the great 

 harvests of honey reaped in and through his large straw hives. 

 To prop up Mr. Lowe's position all this teaching is thrown over- 

 board; fordoes not Mr. Pettigrew now unhesitatingly proclaim 

 it matters not of what material and how constructed hives are 

 to expect any increase of the honied store? Even his large pet 

 straw (the Crystal Palace bar-frame prize) and the Stewarton all 

 are reduced to the common level of " the boxes from a grocer's 

 shop." Mr. Lowe thought rather cautiously " that the kind of 

 hive cannot have much or any influence on the amount of store 

 collected by the bees ; " but Mr. Pettigrew, anxious to outvie his 

 leader, loudly disclaims thrice over — " No, nothing" of gain. 



How evanescent are the teachings of theory when brought to 

 the test of experience. I have already shown ilr. Lowe from my 

 own apiary the honey results from one hive during all the years 

 of its establishment to be simply jiil, the untoward state of 

 matters being solely attributable to its " form, material, and 

 construction ; " and in like manner I can assure Mr. Pettigrew 

 that the superior results obtained from one hive and aystem of 

 bee management over another is by no means an " isolated,', 

 but a most common experience. This I can illustrate over and 

 over again. Take the case of the ten supers obtained from one 

 colony in 1868. When I spread them out for the inspection of 

 the most extensive and experienced straw-hiveist in our neigh- 

 bourhood, ho had the candour as well as the frankness to tell 

 me that from that one colony I had reaped that season more 

 honey than he from his entire apiary. To be sure I had one 

 advantage over him in possessing the Italian bee, in addition to 

 the improved hive ; still this same stock yielded a greater crop 

 than did all the straw skeps in my own apiary put together, 

 although similarly peopled. To go no further back than last 

 year: while "the best hive," my strongest Stewarton (No. ■?), 

 yielded nine supers in all ; No. 12, an eked straw skep, gave 

 neither swarm nor honey, refusing to ascend into the glass. 

 No. 0, another eked straw, gave one artificial swarm and stored 

 IJ lb., sufficient to seal-out and make presentable to send to a 

 friend the Abingdon glass, wrought on No. 11 the competitive 

 straw of 1875. No. 7 gave two swarms and refased all supers, 

 so that against the nine supers from one Stewarton I had last 

 season IJ lb. of honey and three swarms from my three straw 

 stocks ; but fortunately they were equally with the Stewarton, 

 a rather ususual circumstance, independent of all feeding. 



Mr. Pettigrew states that Mr. Phillips of Hitchin has told UB 

 he reaped last season the harvest of 1.31 J lbs. from a straw skep, 

 and adds — " In Lanarkshire and other parts of Scotland swarms 

 in straw hives, and the stocks that yielded them in 187.5, rose to 

 70 lbs. or thereabouts, whereas the straw hive of your Renfrew- 

 shire correspondent, which never swarmed at all, was at starva- 

 tion point after the super of 20 lbs. was removed." And may I 

 ask. What does this go to prove ? Simply what a land of Canaan 

 the counties of Hertford and Lanark must be to the comparative 

 desert wilderness in which our camp is pitched. The strict 



