284 



JOURNAL OP HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



f April 9, 1868. 



should be potted in a compost of equal parts turfy sandy peat and fibrous 

 sandy loam, good drainage being provided, for if the soil in the pot ever 

 becomoFi waterlogged the plant HcUlom thrives. If the peat be deficient 

 in sand, sUver sand should be added liberally. The soil ought never to be 

 allowed to become so dry as to afi"ect the fohage. A temperature of from 

 50^' to 55' is sufficient, giving plenty of air and water when growing, with 

 a position near the glass. Keep the plant underpotted rather than over- 

 potted, for it thrives best when the roots reach the side3 of the pot. 



ViNEfl BLEEDtNG {RectoT, A"pn(l.— The best remedv that wo know of 

 for the bleeding of Vines is Thomson's styptic. Applied to the cut por- 

 tions of the wood it will stop the bleeding. If you prefer it, the ends may 

 be seared with a red-hot iron until dry, and then be dipped in boiling tar 

 and pitch ; or rub into the pores of the wood (without the charring), a paste 

 formed of one-third calcined oyster shells beaten to a fine powder in a 

 mortar, and tvvo-thirds cheese, working together until apaste is produced. 



Arums— Camellias {C. U. Jkra? or) .—There is no special work on the 

 Belgian mode of growing either Arums or Camellias for specimen plants. 

 The modes well known to nil gardeners are t^ufficient. The pyramidal 

 form of the Camellias exhibited at Ghent depended upon their training. 

 The cause of the Camellia flowers not expanding no one can tell without 

 knowing how the plants were treated. The roots may have been kept too 

 cold, too dry, or too wet. 



Ants {J. Beausirt'). — No mode of banishing them is more effectual and 

 obnoxious than sprinkling guano over their haunts. 



Hottest Period of the Day (J. T.).— The sun's rays are most heat- 

 ing between one and two in the afternoon ; but the highest temperature 

 in the shade is not generally attained until between three and four. 



Names of Fruit (C. G.).— Your Apples are— 1, Beauty of Kent ; 2, Du- 

 melow's SeedUng ; 3, Scarlet Nonpareil. 



IMETEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the week enfiing April 7th. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



POULTRY EXHIBITIONS IN GENER.y[.. 



CLASSIFICATION OF GAME FOWLS. 

 (Contiiiuecl from page 264.) 



Pens for single hens and pairs of hena without a cock have 

 always appeared to me both absurd and useless, as a waste of 

 room, and as using too many pens ; and few purchasers buy 

 hens for crossing with, or hens alone, but always purchase 

 good cocks for crossing. I think a cock and three hens in each 

 pen, as at first at Birmingham, are too many, and a cock and 

 one hen to each pen too few, though this prevents the Game 

 hens from fighting. A cock and two hens iu each pen are, I 

 think, the right number, the most correct and proper match 

 for polygamous birds, better for sale, and for the size of both 

 the pens and hampers in general use. 



Full-grown cocks only should be shown as single cocks, as 

 stags and cock chickens, not being spurred, can scarcely be 

 termed cocks iu the strictest sense of the word. 



All the birds in each pen should, of course, perfectly 

 match as to the relative size of the hens to the cock, as well as 

 both hens being of the same size, and matching exactly in shape 

 and feather, and in the colours of the eyes and legs, and if not 

 matching should be at once disqualified from competing for 

 cups, prizes, or commendations. 



Fowls should never be too highly fed at exhibitions, but 

 should have one good meal at least per day, but not so much 

 as to distend their crops in the least, as this always looks bad. 

 Water iu small quantities should be often supplied and, of 

 course, quite clean. The floors of the pens should be sanded 

 or sprinkled with dry sawdust, the sand dry as well. 



Pens are, perhaps, best fitted with perches to put up and 

 take down. These should be taken down at daylight and put 

 up in the evening, or when the exhibition is closed for the 

 night, and then the birds will never lay in their own excrements. 

 Fowls are seldom overfed at exhibitions, and over-feeding is 

 very bad for them ; so is starving them, of course. 



The counties which have been most celebrated for the breed- 

 ing of poultry are these :— Surrey, Sussex, and Berkshire, for 

 Dorkings and the supply of Loudon ; Hertfordshire, which 

 also has excellent fowls and supplies London ; Devonshire and 

 Somersetshire, which supply it largely ; Yorkshire and Lanca- 

 shire for Hamburghs and Game fowls ; Buckinghamshire for 

 Ducks ; Lincolnshire for Geese ; Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 

 for Turkeys. 



Hertfordshire chiefly supplies the north of London with 

 poultry, and Surrey and Sussex the south and west of London 

 in the same way, being the nearest of the best poultry counties 

 to London. 



The Birmingham Exhibition being in North Warwickshire, 



which is the central district of England, will always, in all 

 probability, be our chief poultry show. The Crystal Palace 

 and the Bath and West of England Exhibitions used to rank 

 next, but of late years the Manchester Exhibition certainly 

 stands next to Birmingham, the Crystal Palace having given 

 up. Manchester ought to be first-class for Game fowls from 

 its situation. — Newmabket. 



P.S. — In my last communication in page 264, in the seventh 

 line from the top of the first column, read " November or the 

 first week in November," and not December. 



BUCKWHEAT FOR FOWLS. 

 You consider it not good as poultry food, but I always use it 

 from Christmas till May ; and the consequence is, I have eggs 

 before any one else. I have this year sent nests to all my 

 friends, even from hens, long ere they had any, and I attribute 

 it to the buckwheat ; whilst I can testify that when mixed they 

 always.pick it out first from all other grain. — Nemo. 



ACCRINGTON POULTRY SHOW. 



Few amateurs auticipated so excellent a Show at this season as 

 that held on the 2ud inst. The competition was of a first-rate charac- 

 ter throughout, and the entries amounted to five hundred pens. As 

 an agricultural show was combined with it, the attendance was ex- 

 cellent, and the weather could not have proved more favourable. 

 There is one point iu the general amingements open to great im- 

 provement, that of the public having unrestricted admission long 

 prior to the commencement of the judging. From this cause alone, 

 the poultry being all placed in cue continuous tier, the two gentlemen 

 who oiEciated as Judges were compelled to "elbow th^ir way" back- 

 wards and forwards during the determination of the premiums, among 

 a dense mass of general visitors, and still more personally interested ■ 

 eshibitors. This error was all the greater, inasmuch as the Judges 

 were not permitted to commence until after eleven o'clock, at which 

 time the Committee and Judges were marched to the Show gi-ound 

 headed by a local brass band. With a very little extra exertion in 

 promptly penning the birds, and commencing early in the morning, 

 every prize-card might easily liave been atfixed by the time just 

 named, in lieu of that at which the awards began, besides which the 

 finances of the Society would rather have been benefited than other- 

 ■wise. With an energetic staff of *" feeders.' to place the birds quickly 

 iu position, the Judges .it this time of year might easily have been at 

 their duties by 7 a.m., and a trial of this suggestion will, no doubt, 

 prove beneficial in future years. We allude to this oversight because 

 the Committee of Management is evidently most anxious to improve 

 the annual Show by the greatest personal exertions. 



All of the Gmnc classes were most excellent, and the competition 

 lay among many of the best specimens of the day. Nor were the Game 

 Bantums less worthy of especial mention. It is but rarely that Ham- 

 hintfh.s muster so numerously, or cf so good quality, even at our 

 largest shows, as they did on this occasion. Some especially good 

 *S2)an?sh fowls were shown, but, as might be expected, not a few lacked 

 the condition always essential to success. Bruhmas and Cochins were 

 good, and the Polmids, though few, were capital. In the Variety class 



