March C, 1868. 1 



JOURNAti OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



193 



ground hoinR in Rood working order. Three bushels are the usuftl allow- 

 ance per acre ; but the grouud being occttpied with trees, half the quan- 

 tity will be sufficient seed per acre. 



Temperature for Pelargonium Cdttinos f/Jcm).— The temperature 

 may bo from 60'' to 65- at night, and from 7u ' to 7r>M)y day, the atmo- 

 sphere being kept close, moist, and shaded from sun. The cuttings will 

 succeed in a lower temperature, but their rooting i.s not so speedy. 



Pkotecting PvRAMin Fruit Trees {Cnlcarin).— The best plan that 

 we know is to put in some stiikes around the trees, and so far distant 

 from them and so high as to keep the material put over them from rub- 

 bing against the blossoms. The ^tnkes may bo driven into the ground, 

 and securely tied together at the top. Over those may bo put a covering 

 of tiffany, so. as to protect the trees. It should fit closely at top and all 

 round ; but it will not matter if the material do not reach lower down 

 than a font from the ground. The covering should be secured to the 

 ^akes at bottom with string to prevent its being blown off or brushing 

 against the blossoms when strong winds occur. The covering should 

 only be used on frosty nights, or during the day when there is frost ; at 



other times the trees should be exposed. It will not matter about tho 

 trees being covered, so long as the bloom is not expanded, then the cover- 

 ing may remain on by day, which will tend to retard the blooming, and 

 lessen tho danger of injury from frost. 



Tea-scented Roses (TV. lionth).~Thc best are Adam. Devoniensia, 

 Madame Villermoz, Souvenir d'un Ami, Souvenir d'Elise. liouton d'Or, 

 JIadame Margottin, Elise Sauvage, Vieomtesse do Cazes, and Rubens. 



Late Vines for Greenhouse (Idem).^'B\ack Prince, Black Ham' 

 burgli, and IJlack Sluscat of Alexandria. 



Pansies (Ilomunculiis). — Of thu growers you name, Mr. Brngg Uvea at 

 Slough, Bucks, and Mr. Dean, at Shipley, Yorkshire. We do not know 

 tho " Red Russian Potato." 



Names of Pl.^nts {T. Ti ).~1, Loraaria spicant; 2, A Myrtle of some 

 kind, no flowers ; a, Chimonantbus fragrans; 4, Aspidium f alcatum ; 

 5, We will give tlie name next week; U, Selaginella ca-sia. (Tertia). — 

 1, Adiantum cuneatum ; 2, Adiantum icthiopicnm ; 'd, Nephrolepis cordi- 

 folia : 4. Pteris longifoUa ; 5, Selaginella Braunii ; G, Too young. (C. G.). 

 "1, Deutzia gracilis flore-pleno ; U, Myrsipbyllum asparagoidee. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



THE HEWITT TESTIMONIAL. 



The subscription list for the above object has now been open 

 lor five months. I am anxious to give every one an opportuuity 

 of sending his subscription, and therefore wish to give notice 

 to any of my brother fanciers or committees of shows who have 

 not yet sent in their names, that the hst will be positively 

 closed at the end of the present month (March), and I hope 

 before that time they will make up their miuds, and let us have 

 the list completed by the addition of their names. 



I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without tendering to 

 those ladies and gentlemen who have so promptly and liberally 

 responded to the proposal I made six months ago, my sincere 

 and hearty thanks for their kindness and generosity ; and I am 

 sure they wiU join with me in hoping that Mr. Hewitt may 

 long be spared to officiate as a judge at our poultry shows. — J. K. 

 Jessop, Beicrleij Road, Hull. 



CLASSES OF BRAHMA POOTRAS. 



Ukcle S.isi and Cora, whose portraits figured in the " Poul- 

 try-yard," had much more grey in their plumage than there 

 is in many Light Brahmas at our shows, and they, to my 

 mind, were quite beautiful, the bmu ideal of Brahmas. iSome 

 Brahma-fanciers will disagree with me when I state my con- 

 viction, as regards breeding Brahmas, that we make a great 

 mistake in dividing them into Dark and Light, and that the 

 light shade should be a clear grey speckle on a white ground, 

 removed alike from heavy dark and white. This was the 

 shade which the United States fanciers advocated when they 

 first sent these excellent fowls to England, and the advice sent 

 over with the importations commencing in 18-53 or so (which 

 disseminated over England the hardiest, and perhaps the best 

 fowl we have), was to guard against a tendency to too dark or 

 too Ught a shade, and to preserve the sharp grey marking on 

 a clear white ground by mating light with dark and dark with 

 light. The division of Light and Dark has been easily obtained 

 by mating dark with dark, and light with light. It is a mis- 

 take to think that all Dark Brahmas have been obtained by 

 means of a cross with Dorkings, although some Brahma families 

 I know are so derived. Light Brahmas, also, sometimes show 

 unmistakeable signs of crossing with white Cochins ; but I 

 know for a certainty that pure Brahmas may be bred of all 

 shades from quite dark to quite light. 



I have bred my Brahmas divided into Dark and Light, be- 

 cause I like to make the sale of my surplus chickens pay the 



cost of my amusement, and purchasers most f requen tly ask 

 for Dark or Light, otherwise I should have aimed exclusively 

 at a sharp grey marking on a clear white grouud, producing a 

 bright grey fowl. For many years I have divided the Dark and 

 Light, and kept them distinct. 



My Dark are of so dark a grey as to be almost black in the 

 marking ; the marking is in different specimens tine and mossy, 

 or of a bolder character ; the grouud colour, little seen, is clear 

 white ; and the bottom colour deep grey. 



The Light are white on the surface only, with well-defined 

 black in the hackle, tail, wing-feathers, and a clear, full grey as 

 the bottom colour. Tiie grey is so full that a feather cannot 

 be ruffled, or a breath of wind blow over the fowl without 

 showing it. Like Mr. Pares, I think white under fluff a great 

 fault. 



I have said that I consider it a mistake to divide Brahmas 

 into Light and Dark ; if there must be division of colours, 

 there should be three classes instead of two. The grand cha- 

 racteristics of the Brahma are, however, of much greater im- 

 portance than colour — their hardiness and strength of consti- 

 tution, their tame domestic habits, their care of their own 

 health, scarcely surpassed in sense by the dog, and their excel- 

 lence as layers and as table fowls. The full wide shape, com- 

 pact make, shortness of leg, peculiar expression of eye, promi- 

 nent brow, and the unique form of the pea-comb, unite to make 

 them distinct from all other fowls. — E. Watts. 



I A3I a breeder of both Light and Dark Brahmas, and quite 

 agree with Mr. Pares' and Mr. Worthington's remarks that 

 separate prizes should be given to Light and Darit Brahmas, 

 as I am sure the Light stand no chance when shown in the 

 same class as the Dark. At the late Cambridge Show I thought 

 it useless sending Light Brahmas, although I have the fowl 

 that won the cup at Birmingham, and the highly commended 

 hens, so I sent a much inferior pen of Dark. 



I would suggest that committees of shows, if they cannot give 

 a cup to the Light as well as the Dark, should not give one to 

 either, but give money, equally divided between the two. 



As the Light Brahmas are greatly on the increase, I think it 

 quite time they should be placed equally with the Dark at shows. 

 — HeeeektDowsett, Park Farm, Plcshoj, near Chelmsford. 



I .ill very pleased to see others have taken up the Light and 

 Dark Brahma question ; but I must say I think " Y. B. A. Z.," 

 although he has " no unkind feeling towards his old love," is 

 rather hard on her, and runs the Light Brahmas down too 

 much. He says the Dark beat them in every point. Now, are 

 not Light Brahmas quite equal to Dark in all points but size, 

 and many in that ? 



Last season I bred several Light Brahma pullets, which at 



