222 



JOUBNAL OF HORIIOULTUBB AND OOTTAGB GARDENER. 



t March 22, 1877. 



this momiag being highly commanded at the late Lowestoft 

 Show ; but the mongrcle are not at all exempt from the disease. 

 So thoroughly disheartening is the present state of things that, 

 if I am only assured that the disease is not infections, I shall 

 Bell my stock not yet attacked. My birds have, as a rale, lull 

 liberty, and are remarkably healthy in all other respects. If 

 the disease is infectious, what means ought I to take to disinfect 

 the house ?— K. B. T. 



["We never heard of so bad a case of wing disease as in your 

 loft. We have never thought it infectious. Perhaps as an old 

 ship sometimes becomes the cause of disease, so year lofc may 

 have become an infecting one. Of coarse you have been very 

 carefal as to the water and water vessels, food, &o. We oar- 

 selves have had fatal cases, and also the reverse. In the early 

 stage the leech seems a sensible application. Turpentine and 

 iodine we have again and again used ; but plucking the flight 

 feathers has answered best, but that has not always been suc- 

 cessful. As gout is believed to be a kindred complaint, turpen- 

 tine and iodine are often used. We fear that there is no certain 

 remedy, and you appear to have tried and succeeded, and failed 

 sometimes. The strongest point as tu tbe contagion theory is 

 that the mongrels have had the disease, as they are usually as 

 healthy as possible. Feeders usually are in glorious health. 

 We are not surprised that you are disheartened. If you sell let 

 the buyer know the circumstances, and then the responsibility is 

 removed from your shoulders. Oar own belief is that it cannot 

 be infectious, but arises from a common raase, whatever that 

 cause may be. It appears to us that, as showing increases and 

 birds are higher-bred, diseases of various kinds are on the in- 

 crease among Pigeons.— Eds.] 



PIGEON LOBE. 



_ I THINK something might be done to trace back the introduc- 

 tion of some of our varieties of Pigeons if elderly (no offence 

 intended) fanciers would exercise their memories on the subject, 

 for several new varieties, oven putting aside German Toys, 

 have been introduced in the memory of, say, the oldest Pigeon 

 fanciers. Thus new names arise in books. No writer before 

 Dixon, who wrote the " Dovecote " in 1851, had mentioned the 

 Archangel. Then the Magpie is a new Pigeon. Can any fancier 

 fix the date of that bird's introduction to the fancy ? At first 

 they were said to be Tumblers, but now they are certainly dove- 

 house not Tumbler shaped. African Owls, we know all about 

 their introduction, so also of Bussian Trumpeters ; but can any- 

 one tell me about White Pouters ? The older hooka are silent 

 as to them, mentioning only the Pied varieties. It may be 

 replied that they are also silent about Mealies and Chequers, 

 and they are very old colours. The latter were years ago fre- 

 quently bred from Blues, and though not allowed to live, yet 

 from many a Blue strain came the objectionable Chequer. 

 Mealies — that is, the Mealy proper, the barred, were bred as a 

 distinct race by many old fanciers who admired, and deservedly 

 so, their colour and the fine shape which so often went with the 

 colour, whereas Chequers were almost always dumpy and bad- 

 shaped. Had White Pouters existed I think they would have 

 been mentioned, because their appearance is so very attractive. 

 I saw the first pair in the year 1842. Can any fancier go further 

 back than that date ? I went on purpose to see them when a 

 Bchool-boy and an ardent fancier. They were tall and slender 

 and not large-cropped, in fact very much as so many are 

 now. 



If we take the Pigeon books in course from Moore to Fulton, 

 we find each new one mentions fresh varieties of birds. The 

 " Treatise " some in addition to Moore, Girton still another or 

 two, and so on, showing ns that new "sports," to use a gardener's 

 phrase, now and then arose, or quite new sorts were imported 

 from other and distant countries. 



In regard to the Pouter, Mr. Ure of Dundee, .i very accurate 

 and thoughtful fancier, remarks, " This bird, Moore says, was 

 originally bred by crossing the old or Dutch Cropper and Horse- 

 man together. He is no doubt a good authority, bat I must 

 confess I never could see how such a cross coald produce a bird 

 like the English Pouter. There does not appear to be a trace 

 of the Horseman left iu the modern bird, though there might 

 have been when Moore wrote his excellent work in 173.5. The 

 Horseman could not add to the length of limb or feather, and in 

 place of adding to the crop would teud to do away with it. The 

 same may be said of slenderness of girth round the shoulders ; 

 but it is possible he might assist iu the marking, as we fre- 

 quently read of Pied Horsemen." This last is a very 'ante 

 retnark, and I have no doubt of its correctness. In confirmation 

 of it my eye fell upon an oil painting at Hampton Court Palace 

 bearing the date 1700, of a Horseman, probably black, with a 

 correct half moon on his crop. Here would be one marking, and 

 a very important and characteristic one, of the Pied Pouter, as 

 we all know. 



Thus we may by the aid of an old jjicture sometimes come 

 at a correct dea. I wou'd ask fanciers to keep their eyes open 



when an old picture of poultry comes in their way. — Wiltshire 

 Bectob. 



FAIRLAWN. 



It was not a good time for a visit, for although the day was- 

 bright and mild as so many have been this winter, yet February 

 is not the month in which one would most willingly go on the 

 errand I had in view ; but having a few hours to spare, I was 

 sure the visit would not be a profitless one. Well, but what is 

 Fairlawn, and what did you go to see ? I am sure it will be 

 heard more of as years roll on, for Fairlawn is the new residence- 

 where Mr. Abbott has migrated to, where he is enabled to carry 

 on his scientific culture of bees in a manner and on a scale he 

 has never before attempted, where he will have his school oi 

 apiculture, and from whom many a lesson will be learned by all 

 who are interested in the " wee creatures " which for intelli- 

 gence have been of late cruelly maligned. 



I had visited Mr. Abbot at HanweU and had learned much from 

 him there, and as he had removed to Southall and had spoken 

 favourably of the change, knowing him to be a man not inclined 

 to exaggerate, I was sure that I should find it as he had reported, 

 but I was not at all prepared to find so complete and excellent 

 a change. Fairlawn stands on a piece of land of about three 

 acres, and is situated within ten minutes' walk of the Southall 

 station of the Great Western line. The house is a handsome 

 commodious one, and opens-out into a garden well stocked with 

 fruit trees, beyond which is a good meadow with fields stretch- 

 ing far away, and giving a good hunting ground for the little 

 denizens of the garden. Round the garden were bee hives of all 

 kinds, but, of course, Mr. Abbott's own prize hive predominat- 

 ing. Many were in straw ekeps ready to be transferred when 

 the weather was favourable, and Ligurians and native bees and 

 cross-breeds were tenanting the homes, which will be a scene of 

 busy toil by-and-by. A cursory examination of the stocks- 

 showed that they were vigorous, but feeding had not com- 

 menced, Mr. Abbott being afraid that the great forwardness of 

 the season would be injurious to the bees if sharp frosts and 

 cutting winds succeeded when the hives were full of brood. 

 Passing from the garden I went to the worKshop, where carpen- 

 ters were busy, and frames, hives, and supers were being manu- 

 factured with great rapidity. The sectional supers are destined 

 to take a prominent place, and will prob.ibly after a time be 

 those only used, and these were being turned out with mar- 

 vellous rapidity, and so cheaply that they will come withiii 

 everybody's reach. The piecee which forms the sides of the 

 sections are cut so accurately that there is hardly a hair's breadth 

 difference in them, and then the dovetails are punched by a 

 machine so that these must be true, and the four sides can be 

 put together iu a minute. Mr. Abbott's own Alexandra super 

 is a very neat and excellent one, and prevents the likelihood of 

 the combs being made crooked. One advantage that these 

 sectional supers have is, that the comb is made in marketable 

 sizes, persons being likely to buy a super of 2 or 4 lbs. weight 

 who would hesitate about encumbering themselves with one oi 

 12 or 14 lbs., and the difiicalty of selling honey stands iu the 

 way of profitable bee-keeping. No one could doubt on seeing 

 the busy scene in the workshop that the wooden bar-frame 

 hives are the hives of the future, and when a very decent hive 

 suitable for all purposes of bee-keeping can be turned out for 

 3s. or 45., we may hope that the almost invincible prejudice in 

 favour of the old system may be overcome, and humane bee- 

 keeping take its place. 



I hope to see Fairlawn at a more basy bee time, but having 

 seen it now, I thought it might interest lovers of bees to know 

 how favourably one of their teachers is now situated for carrying 

 out his pursuit. — D., Veal. 



HIVES AND LIGUBIAN BEES, 



It was my intention to say no more about hives till next 

 winter, but as one or two of your correspondents have asserted 

 that I have thoroughly changed my front and thrown overboard 

 all my teaching about large straw hives, I return rather reloo- 

 tantly to the subject. 



It was stated that straw hives possessed every quality I desired, 

 and compassed all I wanted. Well, let that pass. " Renfbew- 

 siiiBE Bee-keeper" appears to be very anxious to convince 

 bee-keepers of the great superiority of the Stewarton hives over 

 other hives, and :iOO per cent, over straw hives. I shall be grati- 

 fied if he succeeds in proving his point in a satisfactory manner, 

 for no one will profit more than myself in having the best kind oi 

 hives. Our friend is right in sayiog that the test of superiority 

 should be on a common field. Nothing oan be more easy and 

 satisfactory than the placing of hives of various kinds iu one 

 garden or neighbourhood and managing them on the same 

 principle. I shall be happy to place three or five straw stocks 

 beside three or five of his Stewarton hives in any suitable place 

 and comply with all reasonable conditions. I believe he has 

 come to conclasions which are nusonud and misleading, and I 



