394 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 7, 1865. 



a splendid prize pen, and I do not think any new blood has 

 been introduced for the last five years ; but I have now secured 

 a cockerel and pullet from Mr. H. Leworthy, who purchased 

 Miss Northcote'B celebrated stud, aud in another year I hope to 

 hear my White Spanish erowiuR victory in the " any other 

 variety" class at some of our best shows. — Chas. Drake. 



RETOINDER FROM THE TURKEYS AT C.VLNE. 



Mk. Heath's virtual acknowledgment of the justice of our 

 complaint of the discomfort we experienced at Calue inspires 

 ns with the hope of redress in future ; but we cannot accept 

 his plea for leniency on behalf of small shows when their 

 entrance-fees are the same as at large ones ; and surely we 

 should do more credit to any show that invites us to exhibit if 

 every advantage were afforded us for that purpose. We also 

 feel aggrieved at Mr. Heath's doubt of our veracity. We re- 

 member with gratitude the kindly act of a risitor at Calne, 

 who ch'ew some empty baskets over our pens to shade us from 

 the fierce rays of the sun ; whilst we fear the equally kind act 

 of another visitor, who, being able to reach the tcp row of 

 Pigeons affixed the commendatory cards to them, has been 

 forgotten by at least " one of the Committee." — The Tdkkey 

 Pmsoneks at Calne. 



BRAHMA POOTRAS. 



■youR correspondent " D. P. P." has raised the question as 

 to the original colour of the Brahma Pootra fowl, and asks 

 which variety is the genuine one. In reply, I beg to call his 

 attention to the following quotations which have reference to 

 the earliest-known specimens of the breed : — " The colour of 

 the body is white, with the slightest possible tinge of gold, the 

 hackle being dark grey, and the primary wing feathers aud 

 tail glossy black, with resplendent tints of green. The lien 

 matches in colour, the hackle, wings, and tail being dark grey." 

 — (Quotation from "Profitable Poultry" given in Martin Doyle's 

 " Domestic Poultry," page 44,) 



" I have a pair of Brahma Pootra fowls of the same breed as 

 those sold by Dr. J. C. Bennett, and I consider them decidedly 

 the most splendid and beautiful fowls ever imported. Their 

 colour is wiiite, inclining on the back to a rich cream colour; 

 the hflcldes on the neck slightly streaked with black ; the legs 

 are yellow, heavily feathered with white," &c. — (Quotation from 

 a letter of the Rev. R. W. Fuller, given in Miss E. Watts's 

 " Poultry-Yard," page (i2.) 



My third extract, from the same work, shall be Dr. Bennett's 

 own description of the Brahma Pootra fowl: — "The cock is 

 mostly white, with neck-hackles pencilled with black, and 

 rump-hackles of the palest possible shade of straw colour ; the 

 tail is black, with glossy green plume feathers ; the wings 

 pencilled with black. The pullets are irliite, with black tails ; 

 the wings and neck slightly pencilled with black," A;c. 



I will leave it for the advocates of the Dark Brahma to account 

 to " D. P. P." for the suspicious resemblance between the 

 cock of that variety and one crossed between the Grey Dorking 

 and a Light Brahma hen ; and, without condemning the Dark 

 birds, I can only assure " D. P. P." that if he possesses Light 

 Brahmas, such as those described above, he will find them to 

 have all the characteristics of a pure and genuine breed, and 

 if he keei)S them for years 



"The warm blood in blushiiiil streams will run. 

 Ceaseless and stainless down from sire to sou." 



^Beahma Pootiu. 



LIGHT BRAHMA POOTRAS AT CALNE. 



Am I to understand by " Wiltshire Rectok's " article on 

 the Calne Poultrj- Show, that Mr. Pares took first and second 

 prizes in the chicken class for light Brahmas.^ I quote the 

 Elector's own words. " The Brahmas mustered strongly, in- 

 cluding chickens. A promising pen of the latter, belonging to 

 Mr. Hinton, took a prize ; and !Mr. Pares was first and second 

 with light Brahmas, heavy into the bargain." 



On reference to the prize list, in the light Brahma class for 

 chickens, Mr. Lacy took first, and Mr. (Sheernian second. Mr. 

 Pares also exhibited two pens, neither of which was noticed. — 

 An ExHirnxoE. 



[" An Exhieitor " is not to understand that Mr. Pares took , 



first and second prizes in the chicken class for light Brahmas at 

 the Calne Show. By the term " latter," I referred to Brahmas 

 as distinguished from Spanish, for neither Mr. Ilinton's chickens 

 nor those of Mr. Pares took a prize, while in adult birds ihose 

 gentlemen, as I have itated, took first, and first and second, in 

 the order I have written. I did not think any of the Brahma 

 chickens of sufficient merit to demand a special notice in a 

 second paper on the same Show. I had the official catalogue 

 before me when I wrote. I have been away from home the last 

 fortnight, and although "An Exhiiutou's" letter was forwarded 

 to mo, yet as I had not the copy either of " The Joiu'nal," of 

 my country paper, or the catalogue of the Show with me, 1 

 could not reply until my return. I may add, that I never send 

 catalogues, they go to " The Journal " from other sources. My 

 papers on shows are meant to supplement the usual reports, and 

 to keep u]) and spread the love of poultry among ladies and 

 gentlemen, and I am gratified to learn that soiuetiines they do 

 this. My rule is only to name those birds that I deem extra 

 meritorious. 



I was very glad to see that Mr. A. Heath made clearer an ex- 

 pression of mine about the tents. The exhibition tents were 

 excellent, both were ^reared all in good time, and both Pigeons 

 and poultry were well housed, even had the weather become cold 

 or wet. I hope Calne will have an annual Show. The dUatori- 

 ness, which I know the Committee lamented as much as myself, 

 need never occur again. What is done every year is sure by 

 practice to be done well. We must not lose a single show from 

 this neighbourhood. May prosperity rest upon that of Cal.TC ! — 

 Wiltshire liECTOit.] 



BEE-KEEPING IN DEVON.— No. XX^^. 



ABNORMAL DEONE-PRODUCTION — LATE-BRED QUEENS — MAE.AUDERS 

 ATTACK QUEENS — VALUE OF SMALL DRONES. 



Some singular phenomena in connection with drone-breed- 

 ing have recently occurred in my apiary, a description of which 

 may prove acceptable to the readers of " our Journal." 



Before entering into jjarticulars, it may not be amiss to state 

 what has already been discovered with regard to the pheno- 

 menon of drone-breeding queens. 



Huber appears to have been the original observer of this 

 extraordinary fact, and having first remarked in the case of 

 queens confined to their hives (in which state there seems no 

 reason to doubt they are perfectly incapable of obtaining in- 

 tercourse with the males, however numerous these maj- happen 

 to he within the hive at the time), he instituted a series of 

 careful experiments, the results of which warranted him in. 

 ascribing to retarded impregnation the remarkable circum- 

 stance of the occasional existence of queens, which, during the 

 whole of their lives, remained incapable of laying any eggs 

 other than those which would produce male bees or drones ; 

 and he ultimately laid it down as an axiom, that queen bees 

 whose fecundation has been delayed until after the twentieth 

 da.y of their existence must perforce turn out drone-breeders. 



This conclusion was very generally accepted until Dzierzon, 

 the great German apiarian, promulgated the theory that all 

 drone-breeding queens were in reality virgins, and that even 

 in the case of impregnated queens all eggs that would produce 

 drones are in point of fact unfecundated eggs, whilst those 

 only that w-ould produce workers or queens are fecundated by 

 the voluntary action of the queen herself prior to their lieing 

 deposited in the cells. This theory was investigated and con- 

 firmed by Von Siebold, the distinguished German naturalist, 

 who demonstrated beyond the possibility of a doubt the fact of 

 parthenogenesis in the honey-bee. Having myself repeated 

 and verified most of the experiments and investigations of Von 

 Siebold, I can bear witness to the soundness of his conclusions ; 

 but as the subject has already been more than sufRciently dis- 

 cussed in these pa.ges, I would refer those who are interested 

 in it to Von Siebold's "True ParthenogeneBis in Moths anti 

 Bees," a translation of which by Mr. Dallas has been pitblished 

 by Van Voorst, and to Nos. 25 and 30 of The Journal op 

 Horticulture. 



With regard to the fecundity of one of his drone-breeding 

 queens, Huber remarks that it was "astonishing." My own 

 experience in this respect is, however, directly at variance with 

 that of my illustrious predecessor, no drone-breeder that I 

 have ever met with having displayed anything approaching the 

 breeding powers possessed bv an ordinary impregnated queen. 



Mr. Langstroth, the eminent American apiarian, relates 

 an instance in which a young queen inhabiting a hive with a. 



