April 23, 186P. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



319 



Turkey!.— First, Mrs. A. Fawkes, Farnley, near Otloy. Second, T. 

 Pearson, Swinsty Park. 



PIGEONS. 



TcstBLERS.— First and Second, H. Bullion. 



FANTAJL.S. — Prize, D. Townsley, Bradford, 



Pouters.— Prize, W. C. Dawson, Otley. 



BiRBS.— Prize, T. L. Kicliic, Otluy. 



Owi.3.— Prize, W. C. Dawson, Otlcy. 



Cauhiers. — Prize, W. Sliaw, Boronglibridge. 



TuHiiiTa.- Prize, W. Lund, Shipley. 



.Tacubins.— Prize, W. C Dawson, Otley. 



Anv other Variety. — Prize, W. C. Dawson. 



Mr. W. Smith, Halifax, and Mr. T. Dodds, WakefioIJ, officiated as 

 •Tndges. 



give up in despair. I entirely scout the idea of our different 

 breeds of Canaries arising from crosses with the Goldfinch, 

 Greenfinch, Citril Finch, Serin Finch, &c. Look at our 

 Pigeons — are not they even more different in form and colour '.' 

 and they must all have come from one kind of Dove.' "] 



LIZARD CANARIES. 



I RETURN thanks to Mr. Howarth Ashton for'answering my 

 questions respecting Lizard Canaries, and from the experience 

 he has had with all varieties of Canaries his opinion ought to 

 be respected. There is one point, however, that I do not 

 exactly understand. Mr. Ashton states that the cap is the 

 principal point of a Lizard, and that a bird with an imperfect 

 cap ought at once to be disqualified, no matter how good it 

 may be in other respects. I cannot see the justice of the last 

 sentence, as, if I interpret the meaning correctly, a bird with 

 a slightly imperfect cap, though rich in quaUty, would stand 

 very little chance of success against a perfect-capped bird of 

 inferior quality in other respects. This would seem to place 

 the spangles in no place whatever. Most judges appreciate 

 quality as well as plumage and condition. I have frequently 

 seen quality sacrificed to size — a faihng no judge should give 

 way to. — K. Hawman. 



[We forwarded the above letter to Mr. Howarth Ashton, and 

 he has obliged us with the following reply : — 



" I consider a Lizard is no Lizard unless he has a cap differ- 

 ing in colour from the rest of his body. A bird with spangles 

 and a little different colour on his head might be any cross- 

 bred thing. As in Houdan fowls, which are disqualified if 

 shown without a crest, so Lizards ought, in my opinion, to 

 be disqualified if they have no cap ; and I say a bird with a bit 

 of a.cap has in show rules no cap at all."] 



ARE HYBRID CANARIES FRUITFUL? 



Can you inform me whether mules bred from a hen Canary 

 and Goldfinch are fruitful — either a cock Canary and hen 

 mule, or a cock mule and hen Canary ? The author of the 

 article on the Canary in Knight's " Penny Cyclopa;dia " makes 

 Bechstein say that the grey of its primitive colour has under- 

 gone many changes from domestication, climate, and from 

 union with birds analogous to it. In Italy with the Citril 

 Finch, the Serin ; in Germany with the Linnet, the Greenfinch, 

 the Siskin, and the Goldfinch ; so that now we have Canaries 

 of all colours. Speaking of mules he says, " Before we con- 

 clude our notice of the hybrids we must again refer to the 

 alleged frnitfulness of some of the mules, such as those of 

 Serins. Citril Finches, and Goldfinches. The first eggs of 

 these hybrids are said to be very small, and the young hatched 

 from them very weak. The eggs of the next year are said to 

 be larger, and the nestlings stouter and stronger." 



A friend to whom I showed the above has put up a cock 

 mule and hen Canary, and she is now sitting on four eggs. 

 Some breeders that I have asked declare they have had young 

 from such unions, others that the eggs are always unhatched 

 — G. Sutton. 



[We enclosed the preceding to Mr. Elackston, and this is his 

 commentary : — " If your corre.spondent will wait a few days he 

 will have an opportunity of judging for himself in the matter 

 on which he seeks for information, as his friend's hen Canary 

 is sitting on four eggs to a cock mule. An instance of fertility 

 in such eggs has never come under my observation ; and as I 

 apprehend that an actual case is what is inquired for, mere 

 hearsay will be of no value. Bechstein himself only affirms 

 that the eggs of these hybrids are said to be small, &c. 



" A friend, an article from whose able pen sometimes en- 

 riches your columns, writes me this morning, ' I have seen a 

 mule bred from a Greenfinch mule — i.e., from a bird which 

 was the offspring of a Canary cock and Greenfinch hen, and 

 think that Goldfinch mules will breed with the parent stock, 

 but not between themselves ; and I fancy the reason why birds 

 bred this way are so seldom seen, is because after the first 

 year's attempt, when the eggs are generally unfruitful, breeders 



PAINTING STRAW BEE HI"STES. 



In the books which I have read, I find very contradictory 

 statements concerning this practice, some people affirming that 

 it is a very good thing to do, others asserting quite the contrary; 

 I wish, therefore, to know the opinion of yourselves about it. 

 In my own opinion, I think there can be no harm done if the 

 hive is painted some time before being used, and there is no 

 doubt that it lasts much longer when painted.— Carolus. 



fWe believe painting the exterior of bee hives to be prejudicial 

 to the well-being of their inhabitants, by confining the moisture 

 which so frequently condenses in the hive's interior. We once 

 shifted a stock of bees in the spring from a painted wooden 

 box 1,} inch thick, which when weighed showed an increase of 

 about 2 lbs. from the moisture which it had imbibed, and when 

 the paint was planed o2, the wood immediately underneath 

 was found to be as completely saturated as if it had remained 

 twelve months under water.] 



UTILISING AND UNITING CONDEMNED 

 BEES. 



(Concbided fromfarjc 122.) 



OuT-DOon operations being thus satisfactorily completed, 

 attention must be given to the deserted hives which have been 

 conveyed in-doors, and from which the combs should now be 

 removed. I find that nearly all bee-keepers are obliged to the 

 skilled operator who will spare them the trouble of cutting out 

 the combs, and who, by the aid of his honey knives and the 

 exercise of a little tact, will extract them in an unmutilated 

 condition. Getting the previously empty bucket halt-filled with 

 water, and placing it by my side for the convenience of occasion- 

 ally clearing my hands and knives from the honey with which 

 they from time to time become clogged, I set to work, and if 

 there are no cross sticks, have little difficulty in cutting out 

 the combs, and piling them handsomely on dishes. If there 

 are no cross sticks ! Ay, there's the rub ! It's all very well 

 when they project through the sides of the hive, so that they 

 can be laid hold of, twisted round, and pulled out by means of 

 a pair of pincers ; but our Devonshire cottagers have, or rather 

 hid — for I have objurgated and reasoned with them until I 

 have cured most bee-keepers in my own immediate locality of 

 the horrid practice — a plan of fixing two cross sticks in the 

 interior of each hive, and as they were made of hard wood, 

 pointed at the ends, and stout in the middle, and were inserted 

 from the inside, it was impossible either to sever or to extract 

 them. People may talk, but little things do try the temper, 

 and I am free to confess that I have often growled most 

 savagely, and become as cross as the two sticks themselves, 

 when i have met with these almost insurmountable ob- 

 structions. 



Supposing, however, all difficulties to be overcome and the 

 combs fairly extracted, I next endeavour to make a bargain for 

 what the country people hereabouts call the " deaf " comb — 

 i.e., those portions of the combs which are either nearly empty 

 or contain only brood or pollen with but little honey. These 

 are generally freely presented to the operator by well-to-do 

 farmers and others of the more respectable classes, who are 

 but too glad of the opportunity of offering some little com- 

 pensation to any one who has taken the trouble of performing 

 what to them would have been an unpalatable task, whilst 

 cottagers are willing enough to part with them for a moderate 

 compensation. Unfolding, then, one of my newspapers and 

 laying on it the piece of half-inch wood as a foundation, I pro- 

 ceed to detach every bit of " deaf " worker-comb, and worker- 

 comb only, taking care to cut out each piece in as nearly a 

 rectangular form as possible, and pile it up on the newspaper, 

 by means of which I ultimately make it into a parcel and tie 

 it up with one of the pieces of string. A little ingenuity 

 suffices to pack and secure bees, combs, bag, and baggage on 

 the platform of the little trap, and a pleasant walk homewards 

 in the cool of the evening concludes the Itbiurs of the day. 

 Arrived home, the hives are placed on the fl or with a block 

 under one side of each, to insure ventilation, whilst the parcel 



