216 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t March 25, :869. 



of it ■would go np the chimney, nud your boiler and pipes would be too 

 hot for some hours at night, when, taking n.ature fur our guide, they 

 ought to be tho coolest. We repeat, then, we know no mode by which 

 a mild continuous heat may be Itept up at night, except by slow com- 

 bustion in the case of boilers and pipes, as wbeu the fire is out, even 

 though all the doors are shut, the pipes soon cool. This is one reason 

 why for single i^mall ereenbouses, where only a mild heat is wanted, 

 we would have an old-fa^.hioned flue instead of a boiler and hot water. 

 In such a case of mild heating there is less necessity for slow com- 

 bustion, as the flue absorbs the beat and retains it longer. Thus a 

 sharp fire burned out in a flue and all the furnace doors kept shut, would 

 often answer as well as a more continuous slow-biu-ning fire under a 

 boiler. In answering your inquiry in the Journal, page 183, the word 

 " cannon " boiler is used instead of "crown" boiler. We are glad your 

 inquiries as to the crown boiler lead you to think with us, that of itself it 

 would require a deal of fuel. Such a boiler would be useful chiefly when 

 a flue was used from the tame furnace. What you call a cockey boiler, 

 is a modification of the cannon or retort boiler. Your additiou of 

 side lugs would be an improvement, but you can gain tbe same object 

 by hanging the boiler as it were on the fire, so that the fire plays round 

 all the outside before c-miug through the centre and finding its way to 

 the chimney. The conical bo'lcrs you describe are also very good, are 

 easily fed at the top, and are good for keeping in the fire by slow com- 

 bustion. The conical tubular boilers are also very good, and so are the 

 simple saddle-backs, and better still the terminal saddle-backs, and they 

 are very simple, and the fire can bo brought all round them and over 

 them. After having tried almost all kinds of boiler, or seen them 

 worked, the result of our observation is, that all the kinds you refer to 

 are good if well managed, and that in every one of them there can be 

 no continuous heat and no economy of fuel without slow combustion 

 from regulated draught. 



Insect ON Peach Tree (L. M. C). — It is the red spider, Acarus tellarins. 

 It is usually induced by the air of the house being too dry. The vapour 

 of flowers of sulphur are fatal to this insect. As the tree is in a pot 



cover it with a sheet, put boiling water into a hot-water plate, sprinkle 

 flowers of sulphur on the plato, aad place it under the sheet, and leave it 

 for two or three hours. Repeat tho process if an insect re-appears. 



Ladvbirds {F. a.). — Decidedly ladybirds do not injure, much less kill, 

 any plants ; and tho forester who is destroying them is acting most 

 erroneously, for bo assured that they are feeding on the aphides which 

 injure the Pinuses. The ladybirds we have seen very numerous this 

 spring, even where there were seomingly no insects ; but it is their breed- 

 ing season, and where they are depositing their eggs there we always 

 expect that aphides will occur, the ladybirds seeing their embryos. 



Slugs— Royal Ascot Vine (J. MacLenzie, M.D.).—\ galvanic ring, 

 being a hoop of zinc with a copper wire round its upper margin, was 

 advocated some years since as an enclosure impassable by slugs, but we 

 never tested its efficacy, and a piece of liorse-hair rope in place of the 

 copper wire, we arc told, is more efi'ectual as a cheraus tie /rise, and more 

 enduring. Heaps of fresh brewers' grains allure slugs froiii better things. 

 The Royal Ascot Vine will ripen its (irapes well in the same temperatures 

 that ripen those of the Black tJamburgh. 



Tortoise in Garden {Africaims).~\ye have known a tortoise live in a 

 garden for many years, burying itself when winter arrived, but re- 

 appearing in spring. It does not touch insects, being a vegetarian. 

 Lettuces, Dandelion, and Sowthistlc are its favourite foods. 



Protectikg Peas (A. Rothirham).—The " best " protections from birds 

 for Peas just above ground are little arches of galvanised small-meshed 

 wire netting. 



Brinjal (M. B.).— Tho fruit so called, and known to you by that name 

 in Ceylon and to ourselves at Calcutta, is produced by' one of the varie- 

 ties of Solauum melongena imr. esculentum, and tbe white-fruited variety 

 of which is commonly known in England as the Egg plant. 



Names of Plants (E. F. L.).— One of the varieties of Ageratum mcxi- 

 canum. {Nemo, J. B., Nil (Icsjterandiim). — We cannot name plants from 

 their leaver only. (T. J. H.). — a is Acacia holosericea ; b is A. dependens. 



POUITRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



FEATHER-EATING FOWLS. 



ALTHonoH the subject of poultry may be as old as natural 

 history, and although in the course of tbe last few years many 

 may have taken it up, and, as they thought, exhausted it, and 

 oast it aside, nevertheless there are things not yet cleared up 

 and made plain. Wo know that among our readers and sub- 

 scribers we have men of talent, even some of the elite, who 

 direct, and who appear only when the masses get bewildered. 

 Among our early contributors we could put our finger on one 

 who has dissected with Sir E. Home, and who has been asked 

 by men of eminence in the medical profession to communicate 

 to them anything worthy of note that occurred in poultry expe- 

 rience. They knew the value of comparative anatomy. Keep- 

 ing poultry has been for years one of the recreations of pro- 

 fessional men. The physician, the barrister, the clergyman, 

 leaving behind them tbe sterner duties of their professions, 

 hasten to the place where they can unbend, where they can 

 indulge in a common hobby with wife, sons, and daughters — 

 Fowls, Turkeys, Geese, Ducks, Pigeons, and Babbits, all deni- 

 zens of our farmyards or of our villas. The idea of a villa 

 implies rest and enjoyment, and we like to think of it. Is there 

 any farmer in England so taken up with his hay crop as the 

 barrister who has four acres of meadow ? The anxiety about the 

 weather, the consultations as to when the crop shall be cut, and, 

 more serious still, who shall be invited to tbe haymaking. We 

 knew a kindly, generous-hearted man, who mowed five acres. 

 He estimated his crop at £15, and his expenses (he lived a 

 convenient distance from London), including the entertain- 

 ment of those invited by his wife, sous, and daughters to the 

 haymaking, at .£27. He used to say jocosely he wondered how 

 farmers lived, and often propounded to his younger children 

 (he had a quiverful), an arithmetical question ; If a man having 

 no rent to pay mows five acres and loses £12 by it, how does a 

 man who mows three hundred get a living and pay rent ? 

 When a new contrivance for mowing appears, such a man will 



buy it ; he will try it fairly, and will publish his experience. 

 Many of the greatest inventions and discoveries have been 

 made by men who were not interested in the pursuit to which 

 the invention was applied ; but they were amateurs, or, perhaps, 

 to use a familiar phrase, they dabbled in it for amusement. 

 Their discoveries in many instances made the fortunes of those 

 who were interested in them, and in some originated or gave 

 life to callings and manufactures that have had their influence 

 in augmenting the trade of the country. 



We have many medical men and physiologists among our 

 readers, and we have experienced men of every kind. We 

 want advice. We have complaints from our readers that cer- 

 tain fowls eat each other's feathers. We have proof of it 

 among our own. They are not birds entirely at liberty, but 

 they have hours of liberty over several acres every day. The 

 peccant breeds are Houdans and Spanish. The cocks' tails 

 stand like oaks in a naked land. The lower extremities of the 

 hens are denuded of feathers. We know it is for want of some- 

 thing they do it. The hens only do it. We have exhausted 

 our store of food and medicine. We are at our wits' end. Will 

 some one help us ? 



POULTRY AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



A MEETING of the members of the Framlingham Farmers' Club, 

 was held at the Crown Hotel, on March 1st, the subject for dis- 

 cussion being " Poultry and their Management," introduced by 

 Mr. W. B. .leffries, of Ipswich, a gentleman now well known as 

 a most successful breeder of many kinds of poultry. 



Mr. Jeffries said : — I look upon it as a scion that ought to be 

 engrafted upon agricultural pursuits, and one that if fairly 

 attached will give such a return that it will take longer to sever 

 its connection than it has to bring about its union. I will, in as 

 brief terms as possible, endeavour to obtain a few converts to 

 the poultry fancy. Taking into consideration the disinterested- 

 ness of the firmer upon this subject, it can scarcely be wondered 

 that it has made such slow progress ; but of late considerable 

 attention has been given to it, and vast improvements are now 



