May 8, 1877. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



339 



for which is to enooarage Btarlinga, whioh devour immense qaantities of the 

 grabs, feeding their young with them when the pests are moat active — in 

 April and May onwards. We have found nothing so effectual applied by 

 hand aa gas lime, spreading it very evenly over the sarfaoe at the rate of 

 twenty bushels per acre, but it has the defect of making the grass look brown 

 for a tlma. Ammoniacal liquor is good against the grub, a pint of the liquor 

 to three galloBS of water, watering the lawn therewith through a rose water- 

 ing-pot ; also nitrate of soda is good against it either in solutions of 1 lb. to 

 twelve gallons of water to 1 sqoaxe rod of ground, or 1 lb. of the nitrate 

 sprinkled evenly over a square rod of lawn during the early part of May. 

 All these remedioi more or less dis&gore the grass, but not materially. If 

 people would allow starUnga to have their nests in the roofs of their dwellings, 

 or in the Ivy against the walls of buildings, or in holes of trees— in fact 

 enoonrage them ereryvhere, there would be less injury done by this pest than 

 at present. 



Nambs or Plants {Qeorge Lovncell). — Amelanohier Botryapinm, the 

 Snowy Mesptius. ( W. P.).— The shrub is Berberis Darwinii, the border flower 

 Arabis alpina. (Rev. B. 8. D.).— Leucojum lesLivum, the Summer Snow- 

 flake. If you write to Mr. Webber, Central Avenue, Coveut Oarden Market, 

 he would, perhaps, be able to answer the qaestion you submit. (Brigid). — 

 A double form of some Anemone, probably A. coronaria ; Viburnum Tinus. 

 (8. H. ^.).— The Begonia is probably a florists' variety. The Selaginellas we 

 cannot determine {8. O.).— 1, Lotus JaoobEea ; 2, Convolvulus Cueorum; 

 4, Hovea sp. ; 5, Hermannia sp ; 6, Tecoma sp. (Subscriber, Belfast).— 

 Apparently a species of Anoda. (IT'. Wynne). — Phragmites communis. 

 (H. K. S.J— 6, Corydalis solida ; ?, Salvia coccinea. The others are florists' 

 varieties. (Old Subscriber}.^-'R\heB aureum. 



POULTET, BEE, AM) PIGEON OHEOOTOLE. 



EEMAEKABLE RECOVERY OF A POLAND 

 COCK. 



We do not profesB to be Poland breeders, still we have bred a 

 few, and with the chickens which we have bronght np some of 

 the chief prizes of the year have been won. The accompanying 

 account has, however, been a source of wonder to so many, that 

 we think it may be interesting to others. All who have eal- 

 tivated the breed to any extent will probably have experienced 

 at some time or other the misfortone of a bird going wrong in 

 the bead. This nsaally happens to the best birds, for it is those 

 which have the largest crests which generally meet with this 

 tronble. A slight knock against the top of a basket or the top 

 of a pen will often bring on this giddiness in the head, and then 

 the bird generally loses by degrees all power of holding the 

 head op. Some birds we have known of, from the very weight 

 of their crests, seem to have been overpowered and unable to 

 keep erect or to walk properly. When this happens, if the 

 bird is wanted for breeding, it is sometimes of use to cat the 

 crest oft, bat this mast be done in a very early stase, or the bird 

 will generally be soon past any remedy ; or if the bird is re- 

 quired for the show pen we have heard that a skull cap with an 

 elastic band ran in the hem to keep the cap close to the head 

 has been found of nse, bat this remedy again must be tried, we 

 are told, as soon as the bird ia first aSected. The symptoms 

 appear to be generally the following : — The bird first does not 

 seem to be so clear in sight, and runs np against the sides of 

 the pen, and makes futile attempts to pick up its food. It then 

 gradually appears to get worse, and often giddiness follows and 

 the bird will ran round. Next it seems to lose the power over 

 its head altogether, aud falh right over. In this stage any 

 remedy is generally hopeless, and the bird comparatively be- 

 comes useless. 



We will return now to the bird we have before mentioned, 

 which after many months' illness su'idenly recovered. It is a 

 White-crested Black Poland cockerel, and was hatched in early 

 April. He was most promising aud the pet of his breeder. He 

 throve marvelioasly, and last season figured saccessfally in the 

 chicken classes of Newbury, Bath, Weymouth, Warminster, &c. 

 The bird improved rapidly, and in due time was entered for the 

 Ipswich show. All of a sadden five or six days before the show 

 he appeared to be giddy ; he became worse daily, and a skull 

 cap such as we have described was placed upon his head. The 

 owner only had two cockerels sufficiently matared in plumage 

 for the show, and one of those was this ailing bird. As we, 

 however, proposed to remain at the show all the three days we 

 took the bird with us at the owner's wish, on the chance of his 

 being able to stand in bis pen. When we reached the show the 

 bird could not stand, and held down its head as if its neck was 

 broken. We now would ask all who saw the bird at Ipswich 

 to remember how bad it was then. It should have gone into 

 pen '252, if oar memory serves us right, but as he could not 

 stand his mate alone was penned, and he had to be put in his 

 basket. Messrs. Raynor, Fearuley, and many others will remem- 

 ber the case well, and how the bird had to be fed by baud, and 

 that several finciers said it would be a kindueas to kill the bird 

 and end its misery. On Sep'ember 24th we Ii^ft Ipswich with 

 the bird and took him back to his owner. From that day for 

 about three months he had to be fed by hand, and never tried 

 to pick up a grain from the ground without filling over on his 

 back. It was such a pet, ho ffevtr, with the owner that he took 

 it away with him when he left home for a nnnth, and fed it 



entirely by hand. About the middle of December it partly re- 

 gained the use of its legs, and though it moved about better, 

 still its head was bent down as if its neck was quite broken, and 

 for thirteen or fourteen weeks more the bird seemed in a most 

 pitiable state. Wa urged on the owner to kill it, but he still 

 refused to slay the chicken which had done such good work at 

 the early chicken shows, and he was most certainly remarkably 

 good in all the required exhibition points, and would, had all 

 gone well with him, probably have made bis mark at the great 

 exhibitions. 



On April 19th last we again went t) see our friend's Polands. 

 In one pen we saw a bird we did not remember to have noticed 

 ever before. "What bird is that there?" we inquired. The 

 owner smilingly replied, "Why, that is the lunatic." We could 

 not believe it. There the bird was strutting about as grandly aa 

 possible, crowing lustily, his head erect, and his crest, which 

 had been washed, looking capital. A few days before, while the 

 birds were being fed, he most unaccountably lifted up his head, 

 which had been hanging down for six and a half months, and 

 began to pay attention to the hens and to crow lustily. This is 

 the most marvellous recovery which has ever come under our 

 notice. 



To account for the recovery we can only think that the brain 

 was in some way affected, and that by " Time's wonderful work- 

 ing " the affection cleared away and the bird became restored 

 to health. We do not doubt but that any further particulars of 

 this Poland's recovery which we may have omitted to mention 

 will be given on application to the owner, Mr. Thomas Norwood, 

 Church Field, Salisbury. We have, however, mentioned the 

 subject thus fully here as being one of peculiar interest to aU 

 Poland breeders. — W. 



CANARY BREEDING. 



In farther quoting Mr. Hervieux's remarks respecting Canaries 

 and their eggs, the writer says : — 



" When your hens have laid their first egg it must be taken 

 away immediately, and an ivory one put in the place of it to 

 amuse them. Ton must not put in old addled eggs, as most 

 men do, which often break in the nest and infect it, and the iU 

 scent may make the old birds sick. Take away also the second 

 egg, and add a second of ivory, and do the same at the third 

 and fourth. When you perceive the hen is like to lay no more 

 return her own eggs very early in the morning, taking away the 

 false eggs of ivory. Do this at every sitting, for should you 

 leave the hens their eggs and not take them away they would 

 hatch at several times, and the first young birds hatched being 

 stronger than those which would come two days later, would 

 take all the food from the hen, and would stifle the last comers, 

 or scratch and disturb them with their claws. 



" A hen must have laid her egg by seven o'clock in the 

 morning, or eight at the latest. If she stays longer it is because 

 she is sick, aud if you perceive it she must then be helped, as 

 has been said before. Some aro apt to notice that of four or 

 five eggs found to be good, by looking through them on the 

 seventh day the hen had been sitting on them, very often only 

 two of them will hatch. That accident may proceed from 

 several causes. The first is sometimes the often handling of 

 the eggs whilst the hen is sitting, which cools them so much 

 that the young in them take no nourishment, and that binders 

 their thriving ; or else it is because those eggs being so often 

 handled get some little crack which is imperceptible, and if 

 ever so little air gets into the egg the little one in it dies 

 immediately. This frequently happens to those who are but 

 newly used to Canary birds, for they being novices think every- 

 thing BO flue and wonderful that their bands are as busy as 

 their eyes. To avoid this misfortune the eggs must be touched 

 but once, that is the day when the addled ones are to be taken 

 away, leaving the hen and her eggs to themselves after that. 



" An accident may also be occasioned by the hen, which, having 

 too many eggs to sit on, by changing their places very often, 

 sometimes thrusts one from under her, which grows so cold 

 and remains there so long unobserved, being hid under the end 

 of her wing, that the young one in it takes no more sustenance, 

 and consequently comes to no good. This is the only occasion 

 you must take to touch the eggs, putting that you flnd cold in 

 the middle of the others." 



The foregoing valuable hints are not only worth studying 

 by learners, but even those more experienced in the fancy will 

 be none the less wise in their knowledge of Canary treatment 

 if they let their br.jeding birds remain as much undisturbed as 

 possible during the nesting period. I advise this as a rule. As 

 a substitute for ivory eggs recommended by Mr. Hervieux, I 

 would prefer them made of wood, for the reason that they are 

 not BO weighty as ivory or bone, and not so likely to sink in the 

 nests. For many years I have used wooden eggs (cleverly 

 made by a wood-turner), but only in cases where I find a hen 

 begins to sit close after laying her first or second egg. I will 

 here draw attention to a remark of Mr. Hervieux, who says, 

 during sitting "the eggs must be touched but once," but farther 



