October 22, 18^8. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



311 



AN'T\\T;nrs.— First and Sccou'l, J. Cox, Wolverhampton. Very Highly 

 C'ommcnileJ, J. W. Wilkinson, Brudford. llicbly Commendcil, — llanter, 

 Wolverhampton ; J. Uawley ; H. Acntt, Wolverhampton : W. Butler, Wal- 

 sall ; T. A. Dean, Hereford ; H. Yurdley ; J. Thompson, Bingley ; J. Cros- 

 hind, jun. ; J. W. Wilkinson ; W. Hughes, Wolverhampton. Commended, 

 H. Yardley ; W. H. Mitchell, Moseley ; II. AUsopp, Birmingham ; B. Ben- 

 ton, Wolverhampton. 



Dragoons. — First, H. AUsopp. Second, E. Butterworth, N'antwich. 

 Highly Commended, E. Butterworth ; D. Bromiley, Over Ilulton ; H. 

 Yardley ; H. Vaughan, Wolverhampton. Commended, H. Y'ardley ; J. 

 Thompson ; A. Booto, Crewe. 



Any other Variety.— First, II. Pr.ivcott (Frillbncks). Second, H. 

 Yardley. Third, J. Fieldinc, jun.. Rochdale (White Owls). Highly Com- 

 mended, H. Yardley ; H. Draycott (Toys) ; T. Bywater, Wolverhampton ; 

 T. H. Frean, Liverpool (lilack Barbs) ;'.J. E. Broward (Black Swallows) ; 

 W. Choyce (Magi>ies ; E. Horner, Leeds. Commended, W. Price, Hands- 

 worth (Blue, and Yellow Owls) ; F. U. Paget ; T. Booth, Church Lawton 

 (Blue Chequered Owls) ; J. Thompson. 



The Judge was E. Hewitt, Esq., of Sparl^brook, BirmiDgham. 



NATIONAL PERISTERONIC SOCIETY. 



Union is strength, if wc may judge by the last Exhibition of this 

 Society at the Freemasons' Tavern, Great (^aeen Street. London. 

 As our readers are, no doubt, aware, tliis Society consists of the Pbilo* 

 peristeron and the National Colnmbarian Societies amalgamated, and 

 we are happy to learn that the Society will hold a show at the Crystal 

 Palace in January next. We would bo j^'lad to see it extended to two days 

 instead of only one day, and such an extension of time we think the 

 promoters would do well to consider. 



Carriers were shown in large numbers, Mr. Hedley having a very 

 good pair of Duns, Mr. Else some good Blacks, Mr. Ord a very good 

 Black hen, and Messrs. Feltham and Maynard some very good speci- 

 mens. Mottles and Beards came from Mr. Esden, and amongst them 

 was a very good Black Beard. Jacobins and Eantails were shown by 

 Mr. Maynard, and Barbs by Messrs. Maynard and Hedley. 



BLACK-LEGGED FOWLS. 



I HOPE you will aid me in an attempt to break tlirongb a pre- 

 judice which tends to keep " poultry meat " at a higher price 

 than necessary. Few persons have any idea of the extent to 

 which we are tyrannised over by our cooks and the poultrjmen. 

 The former say, " Oh, white-legged fowls look so much better 

 on the table than those with dark legs ;" and the latter, of 

 course, meet the views of their patrons — the cooks, by offering 

 for sale only those with white leg=, to the exclusion of the far 

 more numerous class with dark lege. Dark-legged poultry is 

 so tabooed, that it is not to be found in the shop of any English 

 poulterer. Now, I must beg attention to a little common sense 

 in this matter. In France the favourite fowls are of the follow- 

 ing breeds : — La FlOche and CrC-ve-Cumr, the legs of which are 

 as dark as can be, the legs of the Houdan are not quite so dark ; 

 these three classes are now conspicuous in our poultry shows, 

 and might be imported advantageously, but the poultryman 

 knows the prejudiced English cook looks to what she considers 

 appearances, and will not buy them. The Spanish fowl ia one 

 of the most common in all parts, thriving equally in town as 

 in country ; it ia a most excellent table fowl, but it, too, has 

 dark legs. 



New English cookery books, written more for sale than for 

 information, pander to the well-known and absurd prejudice ; 

 but all the old books, under the heading " To Choose Poultry," 

 say, " Dark-legged fowls are the most juicy and best flavoured." 

 Evidently the French are of that opinion. My family, as well 

 as myself, prefer dark-legged poultry, as sweeter and more 

 nourishing ; but my object is not to disparage one description 

 of fowl at the expense of the other, but rather to remove dis- 

 abilities which prejudice has thrown over the appearance in 

 the kitchen of one highly-deserving class — viz., the dark- 

 legged. 



In rearing I have found the dark-legged hardier than the 

 \9hite in the proportion of four to three. Consult a knowing 

 person in the country on what fowls to keep, and the first ques- 

 tion asked will be, "For your own consumption or market ?" 

 And then the secret comes out — " White legs for market, tneir 

 appearance fetches top price; but give me dark legs for a nice 

 fowl at home." 



We live in thraldom under our cooks' ideas of the elegant ; 

 get rid of this, and home and foreign poultry will be more 

 plentiful in our markets, and prices lower. I venture to say, 

 from practical experience, the pair of fowls now purchased in 

 London for 85. has not cost more than 5.<., and that out of the 

 3.5. difference as ranch as Is. fid. is for the appearance of the legs. 



Claiming for dark legs the honours ot la ciii'^ine, so richly 

 ''heir due, I am, the Gallic cock — Kv Flkche {Times). 



A jnCROSCOnCAL IN%'ESTIGATION INTO THE 

 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF FOUL BROOD. 

 I HAVE much pleasure in laying before the apiarian readers 

 of " our Journal " the following translation of a very interest- 

 ing paper which appeared in the last number of the German 

 Bee Journal, and shall be glad if " R. S.," and other observers 

 who are interested in the subject, will favour ua with their 

 opinions upon the theory which ia therein promulgated. Ita 

 author, Dr. Preuss, of Dirschau, is a physician of great erbi- 

 nence, and wide-spread reputation, " Sanitiitsrath," or Sanitary 

 Councillor, being an honorary title conferred by the Prussian 

 government only upon distinguished members of the me- 

 dical profeasion ; and whatever we may think of the fungoid 

 theory which he advancea, it must be conceded that he is to- 

 lerably correct in his treatment of the disease, and that we 

 have to thank him for a painstaking and laborious effort to 

 dispel the mystery which has so long enshrouded ita origin, as 

 well aa the mode in which, under certain circumstances, it be- 

 comes -60 rapidly developed and propagated. — A Devoxshise 

 Bee-eeefeb, 



THE EXISTENCE OF VIRULENT FOUL BROOD DEPENDENT UPON 4 



MICROSCOPIC FUXGP3, CRTPTOCOCCUS ALVEARI3. 



IT CAN BE PREVENTED AND CURED. 



Although I have seen bee-keeping carried on from my earliest 

 childhood, and have myself pursued it during seventeen years, 

 in Dzierzon and straw hives, with German, Italian, and Egyp- 

 tian bees, and have taken occasion to examine numerous 

 apiaries in the valley of the Vistula from Dantzic to Plock, in 

 Poland, it was not until 1360 that I anywhere met with foul 

 brood. 



Bee-keeping in the Viatnla valley is generally carried on in 

 straw hives, and ia very prosperous owing to the rich pas- 

 turage furnished first by the extensive fields of rape seed, then 

 by the white clover, and in the autumn by the wild mustard. 

 In the neighbourhood of Dirschau and Dantzic there are, in- 

 deed, numerous apiaries of Dzierzon hives, and at Giitland, one 

 mile from Dirschau, my friend Wannow keeps bees entirely 

 in hives of this description. 



Two years ago, whilst he still possessed a magnificent apiary 

 of seventy hives, mostly in bee-houses, he called my attention 

 to the fact that foul brood had made ita appearance among 

 them. We did not at that time lay any particular stress upon 

 it, and this is an error against which we can aoarcely warn 

 bee-keepers sufficiently. When I visited him again shortly 

 afterwards, I was astonished at finding this beautiful apiary 

 dwindled to one-half its former number, and still continuing 

 diseased. I immediately purposed to devote myself to the inves- 

 tigation of this horrible malady, especially to the microscopical 

 examination of the foul-broody substance, and I here commu- 

 nicate the result. 



The statement of Von Molitor-Miihlfeld, of Mannheim, that 

 a saw-fly is the cause of this disease, we have not found con- 

 firmed in a single instance, the minute perforations which 

 sometimes exist in the ceU-eovers being made by the bees. 

 Never have we, either with magnifier or microscope, found in 

 the cells the eggs or maggots of saw-flies ; never have we found 

 in the hive even the saw-flies themselves. Neither can we in- 

 dorse the theory of Dr. Assmuss, that the disease is produced 

 by the larva of Phora incrassata. 



Fonl brood, as is well known, has a viscous, gelatinous, and 

 yeast-like appearance, and an unpleasant odour. Foul-broody 

 cells may be recognised by their sunken covers. 



In order to be able to set about the microscopical inves- 

 tigation of this disease, it is necessary to possess a microscope 

 which has a magnifying power of at least 200 to 400 diameters. 

 Mine ia an excellent instrument by Brunner, of Paris, and my 

 observations have been made with a magnifying power of 600 

 diameters. It poaseases also a micrometer which will measure 

 to the ten-thousandth part of a millimetre, or the twenty- 

 thousandth part of a line. 



It is also essential that we operate vei-y neatly and with as 

 little contamination as possible. The investigation is best con- 

 ducted when the blue sky sheds its light on the fiel 1 of the in- 

 strument — not the direct rays of the sun, or a reflected light 

 from a building or such like. A retired room that is unshaken 

 by passing vehicles, and a firmly-fixed table are also required. 

 The instrument itself should be levelled iu a horizontal plane. 



A great many observers aswell'as beginners commit the in:s- 

 take of placing too great a body of matter on the glass slide, 



