AprU2,1868. 1 



JOURKAIx OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



207 



hen squatting in tlie bottom of the cape, Renerally with her 

 head in a comer, with outspread win^s, closed eyes, breathing 

 rapidly, and looking the picture of misery, and as it at the point 

 of death. At such ii time it is best to leave Nature entirely to 

 herself. Should the cock show any signs of molesting her ho 

 may be removed till the next day, but such is seldom the 

 case, and the anxious novice who will, perhaps, be expecting to 

 find his pet dead next morning, will lind egg number one duly 

 deposited, and the hen as well and as sprightly as ever. This 

 complete prostration does not often happen. Should it, how- 

 ever, extend into the second day — that is, if she should not lay 

 her egg in the morning, but be still evidently in a state of dis- 

 comfort and pain, it will arise from her not being able to pass 

 her egg, or being "egg-bound." In this case hold her for a 

 minute or two over the neck of a jug 'containing boiling water, 

 exposing the vent to the action of the steam. Then replace 

 her in the cage, and if the egg be not passed very shortly, 

 repeat the operation, and if necessary, drop a single drop of 

 olive oil on the vent, when, in nine cases out of ten, the egg 

 will be passed without further trouble. Almost invariably one 

 vapour bath is sufficient, and the egj is not unfrequently laid 

 in the hand. Save it by all means, if possible ; but these 

 measures must be adopted with a view to save the bird, which 

 muBt inevitably die if not relieved. 



The Canary lays from three to six, and sometimes, but 

 rarely, seven eggs, and has four or five nests in the season. 

 Four is an average nest, five or si.x a good one. Take out the 

 egg every morning till the third is laid. The object of this is 

 to insure the eggs all being "chipped" together. In their 

 natural state birds do not commence to incubate till they have 

 laid their full complement ; but the Canary will often sit on 

 the first egg, which is not desirable, as the birds first chipped 

 will necessarily be stronger than their brethren a day younger, 

 and will seome most food, to the marked detriment of their 

 less fortunate nestlings. 



On the evening of the third day remove the felt in which the 

 hen has been scuffling about for the last week, and substitute a 

 clean one, nicely fitted to the tin, and securely fastened. Next 

 morning the hen will have laid a fourth egg, and will at once 

 begin to sit, seldom leaving her nest except to feed, and that 

 not very often, as the cock, if he be a dutiful husband, will 

 supply all her wants. The chopped egg, and all stimulating 

 food, must now be discontinued. 



The breeder can satisfy himself in a few days as to whether 

 there be any vitality in the eggs by holding them n\> to the 

 light, when the network of blood vessels can be distinctly seen, 

 and in a day or two longer the egg becomes quite opaque. 

 Such eggs are said to be " full," others are worthless, and if at 

 the expiration of a week they are perfectly transparent, they 

 may at once be removed, as it is useless to distress the hen by 

 allowing her to sit them out. — W. A. Blakston. 



GOLDFINCH AND CANAliY MULES. 



Can you give me any information about breeding light- 

 coloured mules between a Goldfinch and a hen Canary ? I 

 have been a breeder of mules a few years, and never have bred 

 a buff or a yellow bird. I have bred from buff and yellow hens 

 bred from yellower birds for twenty years. — L. S. D. 



[Your correspondent wishes to discover a secret which many 

 others would like to fathom. In my opinion mule-breeding is 

 very much like a lottery — more blanks than prizes. There 

 are, perhaps, more mules bred in this district than anywhere 

 in England. I mean variegated Goldfinch and Canary mules. 

 They are for the most part bred from a strain of birds known 

 among breeders as belonging to the " marked mule tribe;" but 

 what this "marked mule tribe" is, or whence its origin, I 

 know not. I take it to be after this fashion : — 



A breeder discovers that among a number of hens put up 

 with Goldfinches one only shows a disposition to throw her 

 young ones nearer the Canary than the Finch, and accordingly 

 he experiments with her progeny — that is, with the young ones 

 he may obtain from her by a Canary cock. These he breeds from 

 again and again regardless of their feather ; all he desires is to 

 perpetuate a strain of birds which has a disposition to throw 

 mules more nearly approaching the Canary than the Finch. 

 By-and-by he becomes somewhat celebrated, and is reported to 

 have a fine strain of mule-breeding hens. That there are such 

 is beyond doubt the case, but to obtain them from their owners 

 is almost impossible. The value attached to them and the 

 interest centered in them is something beyond belief. There 

 is some truth in the story of the pitman, who when dying said. 



" Mary, hinny ! I wad like to live the season oot, to see whether 

 the ould dun hen wadn't breed a clean mule !" 



I have a cock and hen from a noted strain, which has not 

 been contaminated with any cross for twenty-nine years. They 

 are from the nest immediately preceding one which contained 

 some first-class mules. I have also a cock and two hens from 

 another noted strain, the property of the late T. Reid, Esq., 

 Belgian Vice- Consul at Newcastle, a noted ornithologist, whose 

 melancholy death a short time ago threw a gloom over this 

 entire district. His stock was eagerly sought for, and I was 

 fortunate enough to secure what I have mentioned. If your 

 correspondent is very anxious to try for mules I will sell him 

 one hen, but I cannot spare more. As may be expected from 

 continued in-and-in breeding, they are very insignificant in 

 appearance, their merit being in the certainty of their pro- 

 ducing mules more or less marked. — W. A. Blakston, Sun- 

 derland.J 



CONSEQUENCES OF MISMANAGEMENT. 



Yon have not yet made it clear to me what has been the 

 cause of the comparative weakness of my Ligurians. I may, 

 however, remark that a friend who has been looking at them 

 thinks they are doing very fairly. Perhaps my alarm was 

 partly owing to my expectation of something quite out of the 

 common, and to my comparing them with a remarkably strong 

 and active hive of good old .John Bulls (which, however, I must 

 say owe me something, as I got no honey from them last year, 

 nor any swarm that I know of). This beautiful niild morning 

 the Ligurians are out iu numbers sufficient to satisfy any one, 

 but on colder days they are decidedly less active than the Eng- 

 lish bees. 



Pray tell me what was wrong in my driving last year. It 

 was not by any means a large swarm which I drove. Was it 

 too early, May 31st? I should like to know what course you 

 would have recommended when the bees refused to^ go into a 

 glass super, and were hanging out idle, and would inevitably 

 have swarmed in a few days, which swarm I should probably 

 have lost, as there wore then no bushes in my garden. I have 

 had some planted since. 



The driven swarm, though not large, would, doubtless, have 

 done very well had I been at home to feed it a little during the 

 wet weather in July ; but unless Italian bees are very senti- 

 mental, I do not see how its miserable end could have affected 

 the parent stock. 



My friend says that the whole of my mismanagement con- 

 sisted in not stopping up the hives with tow during the snow 

 in December, but I was apain from home. Of course bee- 

 keepers should never go from home, but such things will 

 happen. 



May I ask if Lapwings in the garden would be injurious to 

 the bees ? Also, will you say whether dahlias are poisonous 

 tobees?— S. S. 



[If we have not already been sufficiently explicit we will now 

 endeavour to be so. What was wrong in your driving was 

 permitting the expelled bees to starve ; what was wrong after- 

 wards was allowing the stock which you had denuded of its surplus 

 population to exhaust itself by over-swarming without apply- 

 ing a remedy ; and what was quite as wrong as either was with- 

 holding an important fact, and endeavouring to throw discredit 

 on the innocent victims of your own mismanagement. It is 

 sheer nonsense to compare a stock which has been so treated 

 with one that h.as remained intact, and then talk about " lazy" 

 and "sentimental Ligurians" and "good old John Bulls." 

 Stopping up hives with tow during snow in December might 

 very possibly result in a catastrophe by suffocation. Lapwings 

 are insectivorous, but whether they would eat bees we are 

 doubtful. We do not believe that dahlias are poisonous to bees.] 



SHIFTING BEES INTO A NEW HIVE. 

 I HAVE a hive of bees, which is very strong; they did not 

 swarm last .year, and have wintered very well. The hive is 

 a very old one (three or four years), and the briers that hold 

 it together have given way in places. I wish, therefore, to 

 know how I had better act, so as to remove the bees from the 

 hive, and still preserve the brood, which is coming forward at 

 this time of the year. I wish if possible to prevent from 

 swarming, and yet still have a new hive for next winter. Do 

 you think it would be most profitable to make an artificial 

 swarm, as described in a February number, or to leave the 

 hive alone till autumn, then drive the bees out of it, and eata- 



