180 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ September 8, 1868. 



FANTAILS.-First and Second. T. C. & E. Newbitt. , „ „ 



DiUGooNS.— Fjrat, H. Taylor, Ncwland. Second, S. Norwood, Hull. 



Tumblers.— First ami Second, C. N. Lytbe. 



BiHus.— Fiist, H. Vardley. Second, F. Key. 



Nuns.— First, C. N. Lytlie. Second, Pickennf; & Marshall. 



Any other Varietv.— First, H. Yardley. Second, T. C. & E. Newbitt. 



Babbits.- First. P. Asliton. Second,.!. Denton. 



OANAEiES.—Bc!ni(iit— First and Second, G. (irant. ^farfccrf.— First, W. W. 



Bielby. Second.— Hobson, Hull. XesI aJYuung (Clearl.-First, J. Sanderson. 



Second, T. Neill. Nest of Yutmg (Marked*.— First, J. Sykes. Second. G. 



Grant. A/u/c— First, Capt. Horner. Second, Miss Gawan. iJcdcap.— First, 



Master J. Gawan. Second, — Gawan. 

 The Jndf-es were F. Ferpison, Esq., and H. Adams, Esq. for 



Poultry ; Mr. J. Weddall, and Mr. C. Glover for Canaries. 



IRISH ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SHOW. 



This was held at Londonderry from Angnst 2Cth to iSth. The 

 awards for poultry were as follows : — 



•_ Dorkings.— First, J. C. Cooper, Limerick. Second, R. P. 'Williams. 

 " Dorkings (Any colour except Mlver-Greys).— First and Second, B. P. 

 Williams. CfticAcns.— First, J. C. Cooper. Second, E. P. Williams. 



Spanish.— First and Second, J. C. Cooper. t'/n'cAcns.— First, E. P. 

 Williams. Second, J. C. Cooper. 



Brahma Pootka.— First and Second, J. C. Cooper. CfticJrcns.— First 

 and Second, J. C. Cooper. 



Cochins (Buff).— C/iittfJis.— Prize, J. C. Cooper. 



Cochins (Any other colour).— First and Second, J. C. Cooper. Chickens. 

 — Prize, J. C. Cooper. 



Tdhkevs,— First, J. C. Cooper. Second, J. S. Black, Gatesido, Coleraine. 

 Commended. J. C. Cooper. Paul(».— First and Second, J. C. Cooper. 



Geese.— First, J. C. Cooper. Second, E. P. Williams. Tbird, T. 

 Butler. Highly Commended, J. C. Cooper. Commended, G. Craig; T. 

 Butler. 



Docks (Aylesbury).— First, R. P. Williams. Second, J. C. Cooper. 

 Highly Commended, R. P. Williams. Commended, J. C. Cooper. 



Ducks (Eouen).— First and Second, R. P. Williams. 



Judges. — Messrs. C. F. Staunton and Morris. 



BREEDING IN SUPERS— PETTITTS GRATINGS. 



The best method of preventing breeding in supers I believe 

 is to keep them cool, and I have no doubt that the excessive 

 heat of the past summer has had something to do with it ; yet 

 in spite of the heat this season I have taken two glasses and 

 a collateral super from one of Pettitt's collateral hives. The 

 glasses contained respectively 20 lbs. and 20i lbs., without 

 brood or other imperfection ; and the collateral super contained 

 28 lbs. of pure honeycomb, making a total of C8,J lbs., and the 

 stock hive is well supplied with food for the winter. The bees 

 conveyed the 40.! lbs. through the narrow gratings (three-six- 

 teenths of an inch), in the crown board of Pettitt's collateral 

 hive ; but the collateral super was not provided with the 

 gratings, the communication to these being in the floor board, 

 which in some respects answers the purpose, as either compart- 

 ment can be ventilated without interfering with the tempera- 

 ture of the other. 



I believe in Pettitt's gratings for keeping out the drones from 

 the supers, which ought to be kept at a lower temperature than 

 the stock hive, or, as Nutt would term it, the " pavilion of 

 Nature," for it is quite certain that the drones carry nothing 

 into supers ; but their presence in them does increase the 

 temperature, which is undesirable. 



As to the bees not being able to find their way through the 

 gratings, I have never found this to be the case except late 

 in the season, and then very rarely ; but the bee-master should 

 see for himself that the gratings are kept clear. 



Whatever hive is used, the bee-master must see to its proper 

 working, and that all passages to supers are clear for commu- 

 nication. If he neglects this duty he must put up with the 

 consequences, and certainly not denounce a system when he 

 himself is at fault from his not having paid to his bees proper 

 attention in this respect. — J. Prebble. 



Hempseed is, perhaps, the worst thing you can give a bird' 

 Give young birds egg and bread, fresh, twice a-day ; give old 

 birds canary, rape, and linseed mixed, and you will rear all 

 the young ones, and the old ones will live until you are tired of 

 them.— HowiRiH Aehton. 



MUSHROOMS FOR WINTER USE. 



Can any of your readers give a good recipe for preserving 

 mushrooms for winter use ? This year they are so numerous 

 that one could fill carts with them. I am afraid you will think 

 this an exaggeration, but it is a fact. In the cookery books 

 there are various recipes for drying them up with butter and 

 spice, but that is of little good to the poor. What I wish is 

 the Russian plan of keeping them in jars and barrels, dried or 

 salted. In one field I gathered five or six quarts in less than 

 an hour ; and as September is the regular mushroom month, a 

 recipe from you would still be in time. At present, as we have 

 made catsup and f ickles in quantities, the mushroems are left 

 to the cattle. — Mits. C, Galluwaij. 



[We shall be obliged by any of our readers sending us the 

 information required by our correspondent. The only direc- 

 tions we have for drying mushrooms are the following : — Wipe 

 them quite clean, take out the brown, pare off the skin of the 

 large ones, lay them on paper, and put them in a cool oven to 

 dry. Keep them in paper bags in a very dry place. When wanted 

 for use simmer them in gravy, and they will swell to nearly 

 their former size ; or you may simmer them in their own 

 liquor till it dries up in them, shaking the pan ; then dry them 

 on tin plates, with spice or not, as you think proper. Tie down 

 with a bladder, or keep them in a dry place or in paper.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



REARING YOUNG CANARIES. 



I HAVE been a Canary breeder for a long time, and am one of 

 the most successful exhibitors of prize Canaries, and I say 

 emphatically that the use of lettuce leaves, hempseed, ground- 

 sel, chickweed, &e., in feeding young Canaries is all " bosh." 

 I have lost one bird this year out of about twenty-five, and that 

 was through the hen sitting too closely, and I never give them 

 anything but egg and bread crumbs morning and night. I 

 take them away at a month old, and give them hard food after 

 three days. 



More young birds are killed by being pampered than by 

 starving. Why, if you fed high-bred London Fancies on 

 hempseed and egg, they would "go out" altogether. Mr. 

 Walter told me egg alone, even, was too high feeding for them. 



N.B. — From want of space, several communications are un- 

 avoidably postponed till next week. 



Artificiai, Incubation (J. F.).- We know no practical book on the 

 subject. You can obtain the information you require by applying at 

 Baily & Son's, 118, Mount Street, W. 



Dark Brahma Pootras for Exhibition (T. A'.).- No. 1 seems to us 

 from description to iio the best bird in every particular. It is a groat 

 point to be well pencilled on the breast. We mistrust No. y. We heard 

 of a man once who in describing the most awful squint we ever saw, 

 said. " If you stood right in front you would see his eyes were not quite 

 straight," and just so, when you admit a projection of an inch of soft 

 feather, we are disposed to consider No. 2 vulture-hocked As to No. 3, 

 we object very much to the creamy ground, and should certainly advise 

 you not to exhibit her. — B. 



Chickens' Feathers Changing lldem). — Chickens do not moult, their 

 feathers change as they approach maturity, but it is an altogether dif- 

 ferent process from moiilting. The chicken does not drop leathers like 

 tUe adult. In the pullet the change takes place imperceptibly. In the 

 cock it is only noticed by the hackle and tail. The former ahow.s most, 

 for it grows as the bird approaches maturity. To moult is to change, the 

 cock chicken has no hackle till this comes. If the chicken hatched the 

 beginning of January is to be considered a chicken till the advent of 

 another year, than it is true chickens moult. The chicken of January 

 has laid" and hatched in July, and then in the course of nature s).ie 

 moults. A constant change takes place in the pluuiage of chickens from 

 the time when they are hatched downy, till they have perfect plumage, 

 but wo linow nothing of the process. The wing and tail feathers come 

 first, and then a slow but certain change goes on till a perfect plumage is 

 obtained by gradual growth and improvement, not by its exchange for 

 another, till having passed into the state of cocks and hens, they become 

 Eubject to the laws that rule adults. Moulting is one of those to which 

 all birds are subject. 

 I Cheap Ligdrian Queens fjr.).~I shall make my last importation of 

 these queens for the season in October, and shall then bo able to sypply 

 them in any quantity at 10;t. 6(L each, provided the orders reach me during 

 the first fortnight in September.— T. W. Woodbuhv, Mount Radford, 



Depriving Bees of their Honey (If. B.).— Do not attempt to a»prive 

 your bees of any honey this year. It is a fundamental principle of the 

 depriving system to leave the stock hive intact, and take only sur^dus 

 honey stored in some other receptacle. You had better let your b'Jes 

 swarm, putting the new colonies into hives which can be supered ; and if 

 you see fit to unite the bees from the old stock to one of the swarms, do 

 it bv driving, and do not subject them to fumigation. 



LIGURIANISING AN AplARV t.Aini.—"l belicve that Mr. Koehlcr's modo 

 of propagating Ligurians may be safely practised, and that there is in 

 point of fact little or no ri-k of a quarrel. Some persons have even re- 

 commended the habitual transposition of strong and weak stocks as a 

 ready mode of equalioing Iheir forces, and although it is a plan which I 

 have never practised or approved of, and one which I believe has often 

 been attended with fatal results, it is undeniable that it may sometimes 

 be adopted with success. In the case of a stock which has just thrown 

 off a swarm the conditions are so far altered by the absence of the old 

 queen and nearly all the adult population, th<it in my opinion there is 

 practically no risk whatever.— A Devonshire Bee-keeper." 



Greek Wines (Homenet neetor).—Vle do not know the names of the 

 varieties of Grapes from which these wines are nisde. They are pure, 

 unbrandied wines. The White Kepbesia is refreshing and invigorating, 

 well fitted for the sportman's luncheon ; and St. E ie, another white wine, 

 tor his dinner ; it is what sherry would be if pure. 



