Soptumber 19, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



246 



when applied close to the nose, inoJorous. Whether after the 

 lapse of three or more months, by wliich time it is hoped to 

 be rendered a strong fertiliser, it will .still bo nou -offensive, 

 and whether the earth thus treated will be cUsinfecting as well 

 as deodorising, remains to be proved. 



When we visited the establishment the fowls had been little 

 more than three weeks in their pens. They were then ap- 

 parently in perfect health ; but it remains to be proved whether 

 this sanitary state can he preserved. We are inclined to fear 

 that it cannot, and that it would have been a more salutary 

 arrangement to have had grass runs, in which the birds for 

 some hours daily miglit have had the advantages of free exer- 

 cise, air, and snii-light. 



Each pen is 12 feet longj 3 feet wide, and more than 7 feet 

 high ; behind it is another compartment of the same size, 

 with the ground covered with short litter, wetted every day, 

 in which the fowls, six hens and a cock, may scratch whenever 

 so inclined. The dry earth in tlieir front pen supplies them 

 with the dust bath so needful for keejung them free from ver- 

 min. In front of each jieu, as shown in our engraving, are 

 two boxes, each box containing two circular earthenware nests 

 with liay in them, such as is held by the man shown in the 

 engraving. The yield of eggs, when we were there, was very 

 small ; but, then, the fowls were moulting. The feeding-troughs 

 are outside, in front of the pens, which facilitates the supply- 

 ing of food ; but the water-fountains are inside. 



Vines are trained in single rods against the woodwork on 

 each side of the path — a vine between each two pens — but we 

 fear, though the roof of the building is glazed, that there will 

 not be sullicient light to enable the vines to be fruitful. They 

 look well, and may promote healthfulness among the fowls by 

 helping to purify the air ; but ivy would do the same, would have 

 cost less, and have had the advantage of being evergreen, and, 

 CDnsei]ueutly, ornamental and beneficial throughout the year. 

 The ventilation is particularly good, and the contrivance by 

 which it is effected very simple. The 

 ventilators are at the sides of the 

 ridged-roof, as shown in our engrav- 

 ing last week. They close by their 

 own gi-avity, aided by a quadrant 

 lever ; a rope attached to this lever, 

 and pulled down, raises the venti- 

 lator, and another rope from the 

 lever, bnt passed over a pulley and 

 pulled down, closes the ventilator. 

 It will be better understood, perhaps, 

 from the accompanying drawing. 



The food given to the fowls is 

 chiefly groimd corn made into a 

 paste, with some offal meat as a 

 compensation for the insects which 

 they pick up when at liberty. For 

 green food they are to have the 

 refuse vegetables and w-eeds from 

 the garden. 



Tiers of fatting-coops are in course 

 of erection in another building. 

 There will be accommodation for 

 about fifteen hundred fowls, six in 

 each coop. The coops are barred in 

 front, and the building is not to be 

 dark. 



An incubating-room, fitted up with hot-air flue and regu- 

 l.ators, also with hot-water pipes, and gas-heating apparatus, 

 is also in progress. About four thousand eggs can be hatching 

 at the same time. It is proposed that any one may send eggs 

 to have them incubated there. The eggs are to be laid on 

 shelves covered with dry earth. 



A house, fitted up with rabbit-hutches, pig-styes, and six 

 tanks for Ducks, is now forming. 



In the beds about the buildings are growing cabbages, broc- 

 colis, lettuces, and other garden produce, suitable for the 

 London market. One serious drawback is the want of water, 

 but an artesian well and a small steam-engine to raise the 

 water are intended. 



Our readers will perceive that the object the Company have 

 in view is to utilise the manure and other refuse obtained from 

 the poultry by applpng it to the growth of vegetables and 

 fruits. Tliis can be done only by confining the poultry ; 

 whether they can do so and yet maintain the health of the 

 fowls remains to be proved. One fact is established — namely, 

 that the dry earth acts most effectually as a deodoriser. 



o. Ventilator — a wooden fliip. 

 h. Hinffe. There .ire two to 

 each ventilator. 



c. Pulley over which passes 



the closing rope. 



d. Rope for opening, with 



ring at the end to hold 

 by a nail or hook. 



Mr. Geyelin also told us, that of about 1.50 chickens just 

 luitched, brought to the building August 21th, only two had 

 ilied, and that from being crnslied accidentally. We saw many 

 of the chickens on the 11th of September, and they were then 

 looking quite healthy, though they had no other nuraiug than 

 that from artificial mothers of wool. 



Mr. GeyeUn seems to prefer the French breeds — the Hon- 

 dan, LaFleche, and Crfive Coiur, probably because he observed 

 in France that they bear confinement well. Most of the fowls 

 at the National I'cj'ultry Company's establishiuent are of those 

 varieties, but there are also common Barn-door fowls, Brahma 

 Pootras, Cochin-Chinas, Dorkings, and Spanish. 



ARE EAIIWIGS INJURIOUS TO BEES? 



Will you, or any of your experienced bee correspondents, 

 inform me whether earwigs are injurious to bees ? I have 

 only just returned home after an absence of three months, 

 and grieve to find that my bees, in the improved cottage hives, 

 have not done at all well. The supers (6 lbs.), have only in 

 two cases been filled, and that only once. As my garden is a 

 large one, and I am surrounded with beau fields and clover, I 

 expected to have found thriving colonies. I can only account 

 for the failure thus : Ou removing the upper hive or cover, to 

 examine the super, I found thousands of earwigs. The straw 

 plaiting of the hives was full of them, and full, too, of a fine 

 black and white dust, which is, I suppose, in some way con- 

 nected with the presence of the earwigs. Is it likely that these 

 creatures have got into the hives themselves, and either eaten 

 the honey or injured the bees ? 



Can you suggest any plan for cleaning the straw of the hives 

 and covers, and, in fact, extirpating the families of these pirates 

 who seem to be breeding in the decay of the straw which they 

 are causing? What is to be done at this time with the supers 

 and adapting-boards ? are they to be removed, and the hole in 

 the hive stopped up for the winter, or are they to be left for 

 bees to work up into next spring? — Ei>w. C.U)Og.\n. 



[The vast number of earwigs which have appeared this 

 season in the midland counties were, doubtless, the cause of 

 the injury to your bee-hives, as, for want of fruit or other 

 vegetable matter, they would certainly feed on the bee-grubs. 

 A similar instance of their feeding on wasp grubs was reported 

 at the September Meeting of the Entomological Society. The 

 hives should be carefully plastered round the junction with 

 mortar. 



The supers and adapters should be removed, the crown- 

 hoards replaced, the orifices stopped up, and all made snug 

 for the winter.] 



TRANSFERRING AND FORMING STOCKS FROM 



DRIVEN BEES. 



The result of my first experiment, as detailed in yoiur Number 

 of the 25th of .July, notwithstanding the temporary loss, has 

 been as favourable as could be. Twenty-one days after making 

 the artificial swarm I inspected the parent hive, and found 

 seven sealed roval cells. I did not interfere with them, as I 

 had no hives to carry on with. My next experiment, the 

 transferring of an old stock to a bar and fr.ame hive, was per- 

 formed on Julv 4th. I drove the bees (my first attempt) m 

 about twenty minutes, and then cutting the old hive down the 

 middle into 'halves I had easy access to the comb ; six frames I 

 filled fully, two frames partially. I tied the comb into the 

 frames with common quarter-inch tape, passing it roimd the 

 frames and tying it in a knot on the top of the bar— two tapes 

 to each bar. The next day my neighbours could scarcely 

 believe in the change, so qniet and earnestly at work were the 

 bees. On the third day after, I took out each frame and 

 detached the tape. This hive is doing very well, and has 

 plenty of sealed comb. The great drawback to the frame hives 

 is the price— one guinea— and carriage each hive is no trifle, 

 to a poor man an impossibility. The above tr.ansfer was made 

 into a native hive. A simple square frame, with notches fore 

 and aft tor the bars and frames, is sewn on to a square straw- 

 hive, which is made on a frame of wood ; this forms the body 

 of the hive, and when the bars are in their places, their top 

 surface is flush with the top surface of the to]) frame ; thel id is 

 a frame of wood screwing on to the other frame, but, as it is 

 made broader fore and aft than the lower fi-ame, it overlaps the 

 bars when in situ and keeps them steady; no travelling or 



