October 31, 18C5. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



373 



take a pouplo of tlirec-inch pipes from it. iiiul till with wtUor in tbe usuol 

 way. You will find much to suit you as ruapuctriprupugutiuKiu "WiuUow 

 tluriloiiiuf,' for tho Many." 



Atuviuum FiMXFd-.MiNA pTEnoPHOUuM.— By ft slIp of tho pen In ray 

 paper on ftloHKrs. Ivury's NurHcry at Dorkiuff. tliis iri lofcrrotl to I'olysti- 

 c'hum. It iH a tiiio 1111(1 very diKtmct vurioty <>f tho Latly Fern, fciuiiii in 

 Scotland by tho Rev. H. A. Walker, of KntU'hl. luid is a Rroat lulditioii 

 to the alroatly lino ami uumorous vuriotios of this luvourito Foru.— D., 

 Deal. 



Names of Fui-it (P. }1.).~1, Autumn Ccdmnr; 2, Bonrrt- Diol ; 8, Winter 

 Noli3: 4, Ueurr.! Bosc. {J. 7Jri/aH).— 1, Hotiry M4prning; 2, Bcdfordfihirfi 

 Foundling ; :t, lliuiwell Souring'. (H. L.).~\, Kuster Bcnrr-- ; a, Bourr*' de 

 Cnpiaumont ; :j. Brown Bcurre. (A .Su^^cnWr). — 1, Golden Noblo; 

 4, Autumn Pearmain; 6. Bell's Scarlet; 7. Golden Russet; 8 ami I'J, 

 Northern Greeuiug; 11, White Nonpareil, [J. iiu^oH)-— Apples: 1, Pear- 



«on':i Plate ; 2, Ord's ; U. Autumn Pearmain : 4, Court-Pendu-Phit ; 5, Rib- 

 Htou Pippin; 6, llt^anty of Kent; 7, Loudon Pippin; 8, l^utoh Mig- 

 uonne; 15, Nonpareil; IG, Scarlet Nonpareil. Pearn : i), Fondante 

 d'Automno ; C, Brown Bourti- ; 7, UrbaniHto ; 20, GIou Morceau. {A Sub- 

 ncriher). — 1, Duchesj^o d'AnRnuli'ime; 2, Rod Doyen m'- ; JI, (ilou Morceau ; 

 'J, Pasae Colmar. (Mr. IVataon). — 2, Delieenl d'Hardenpont ; 4, Boiirro 

 d'Arcmherg; 5, Knight's Monarch; 6, Beachamwoll ; 7, (Jourt of Wick; 

 H. New Rock Pippin; 9, Golden Winter Poarman ; 10, Sykc Houao Russet; 

 11, Northern Grconinu. 



Names of Plants (Af. E. M.).—l, too yonnu to name ; 2, Scolopondrium 

 vul[^aro raar^finatum; H, CjTtomium falcatuni ; 4. Ncphrolepis tubcrosa; 

 5, Didymocurinis RexU. ((/. N.), — 1, M>pnlcpi>4 tennifoHa; 2, Adiantum 

 assiniile ; H, Scolopeudriura, uncertain, pnththly diKitatuni; 4, Athyrium 

 Filix-fti'mina crispuni ; 5, Doodia caudata; li, I.nstroa decurrons. {John 

 Mutton). — 4, At^itpanthus umbellatui) minor variogatus; 5, CandoUea 

 cuneata ; 7| Rochea fulcata. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Subuibs of London for tlie Weelt ending October a8th. 



POITLTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



POULTRY PLAGUE. 



The gravity of the case must plead our apology for returning 

 to the subject of the disease among poultrj-. We plead none 

 for quoting from the Times. " The di.sease among poultry, whieh 

 caused so much destruction some time since, and which it was 

 hoped had disappeared, has again broken out with great violence 

 in the department of the Eure and the adjoining districts. One 

 farmer in the commune of Jamerieourt has lost 850 hens. No 

 explanation can be given of this new malady. While writing, 

 until a remedy can be discovered for it, precautionary measures 

 are adopted. The first precaution is great cleanliness, and the 

 frequent washing of the hen-houses with lime water to destroy 

 the insects which torment the fowl. It is very beneficial to 

 fumigate the hen-roosts from time to time by burning near 

 them a handful of brushwood. The Journal da la Fi'rmi', notic- 

 ing the disease, observes that in a well-kept poultry-yard fowls 

 are not only less subject to disease, but they become fatter, 

 better flavoured when brought to table, and less tormented 

 with insects. The poultry-yards of France, however, are in 

 process of improvement. They are not only better cleansed, 

 but the breed is being improved by being crossed, accorchng to 

 the system of the celebrated English physiologist. Dr. Darwin." 



If our memory serves us aright, one of the best writers on 

 poultry, Mr. Jacque, advocates, on the testimony of those who 

 do nothing for a livelihood but fatten poultry in France, that 

 the birds undergoing the process shall never be cleaned out, 

 affirming that the filth in which they live contributes to their 

 well-doing. No fallacy can be greater. 



Without in any way detracting from the merits of French 

 table poultry, it may be safely said that in this country we suc- 

 ceed in fattening fowls at a much earlier age than they do in 

 France, and that we attain as great weight as they do with 

 birds twice as old. Our system, then, is worth something, and 

 in it the greatest cleanliness is practised. To ensure it to the 

 fullest possible extent, and to prevent the possibility of any 

 dirt, the bottoms of the fattening-coops are made of bars only. 

 The birds sit thereon in a roosting position, while everything 

 objectionable in its nature falls through to the ground. The 

 size, fatness, and quality can only be attained by taking ad- 

 vantage of every favourable circumstance, and cleanliness is 

 one of them. That which is good for table poultry is good for 

 stock birds. They cannot be liept too clean. 



The article we have quoted speaks of insects, and we know 

 these pests are productive of much disease ; but there is a 

 remedy for them. They appear mostly in wet weather, and as 

 we are likely to have much of that now, it will be weU to be 

 prepared for it. Fowls in confinement require the same help 



against them that Partridges and Pheasants do in a state of 

 nature. Those who study the habits of these bii-ds know what 

 it is to find them, what is technically termed, dusting them- 

 selves, and the traces of the operation are found in all dry 

 spots where these birds abound. It is not the luxury that is 

 imagined ; it is a positive necessity. It is the means they em- 

 ploy to rid themselves of vermin. For this reason, in a wet 

 time, it is common to see under a beetling bank, among the 

 roots of a tree where the rain has not reached, that Partridges 

 have been dusting. We must provide our fowls with the same 

 opportunity. Let the floors of their roosting-houses and their 

 haunts be covered some inches deep with dust, or, if that is 

 not convenient, let them have in one comer of some other dry 

 place a good heap of dust or wood ashes. Mix therewith some 

 black sulphur, and you will see how the fowls appreciate it. 

 You will always have them constantly in health. If it can be 

 done, divide them ; do not let too many roost in one house, 

 and choose the places as lofty and airy as you can. Lime-white 

 the houses frequently, and put camphor in their water-vessels. 

 We do not wish to be alarmists. We do not think the dis- 

 ease will visit us, but we think it wise to adopt all precaution- 

 ary measures. Poultry is not kept in England on so large a 

 scale as in France and some parts of Germany. Few farmers 

 in England can lose 850 hens. It may be that in some in- 

 stances the number kept has produced the disease. It is very 

 diflicult to keep a large number on a limited space. But it 

 would be very annoying, just when public attention is more 

 than ever called to poultry, and when owing to the disease in 

 cattle there is greater demand for poultry and eggs, to have 

 our stocks decimated or destroyed, when a little painstaking 

 might have saved them. 



THE APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES AT THE 



BIRMINGHAM POULTRY SHOW^ 



Ox perusal I feel assured that the two exhibitors of Game 

 fowls, signing themselves " Justitia " and " Exhibitor," have 

 quite overshot their original subject, in giving vent to state- 

 ments so very closely approaching to personalities, instead of 

 exclusively adhering to the mode of appointment, as a body, 

 of the Birmingham .Judges. The great ground of complaint 

 by exhibitors at Birmingham is this, that tho appointment of 

 arbitrators rests exclusively with a siii;/le individual instead of 

 being the selection of the whole of the Committee. The Com- 

 mittee very curtly shelve every remonstrance, as was the case 

 a few years back with the memorial which then obtained the 

 signatures of so many poultry amateurs, and was at the time 

 fruitlessly presented. This will as certainly be tho fate of any 

 future application. Exhibitors undoubtedly have a ric/ht to a 

 voice and a proper consideration of their appeals for even-handed 



