December 19, 1S65. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDBNEB. 



SIS 



PIGEONS. 



The CTub's Silver Cap, for the boat Pea o( Pigeons in the Show ground, 

 H. Uamsdtn. Rose Cdltngo, Arnilcy. 



Cabbikiis. First, A. P. Lcite, Ryland Hoase, Manchester. Second, T. 

 Colkiy, Shifllold. 



PowTKKy.— First nnd Soconil, A. P. Leite. 



Almond Tl'mblehs.- -First and Second, A. P. Loite. 



Tumblers (Any other variety). -First and Second, A. P. Leito. 



Owls.— First. H. Ramsdon, Rose Cottage. Amilcy. Second, A. P Loito. 



Fantails.- First, F. Else, Bnyswater, London. Second, J. Thadu-ay, 

 PoterKate, Yvrk, 



Barbs.— First, A. P. Leito. Second, H. Ramsden. 



TunniTS.- First, H. Yordley, Market Hall, Birmingham. Second, R. 

 WU.son, ThirsU. 



.Iaodbins.— First, K. Homer, Harewood. Second, R. Dodge. Sheffield. 



Trumpeters.— First, F. Else. Second, F. Key, Beverley. 



Nuns.— First, F. Else. Second, F. Key. 



Runts.— First. A. P. Leite. Second, S. RolHon, Brotherton. 



Draoons.— First, W. Massoy, Fulford, York. Second, H. Yardlcy. 



ANTWERrs.— First and Second, H. Yardley. 



Magpies.— First, J. Thackray. Second, J. R. Jcssop, Hull. 



Swallows.- First, E. E. M. Royds, Grccnhill, Rochdale. Second, H. 

 Yardley. 



Anv other Variety.— First. A. P. Leite. Second, R. Doge, Shetfield. 



Rahbits.- iDn(;f«(.>'arfrf. — First and Silver Medal, T. H. Ridpcth. 

 Boshohne, Manchester. Second, E. E. M. Rovds, Groenhill, Rochdale. 

 Yrtlowand IFTii/f.- First.T. H. Ridpeth. Second, M. MilUngton, Heworth 

 Moor, York. Black and irAifc— First, T. H. Kidpeth. Second, A. Firth, 

 Cheshire. SfV-coiouicd.- First, T. H. Ridpeth. Second, G. F. Jones, 

 Y^ork. 



Judges :— For Poultry, R. Teebay, Esq., Falwood; A. SntherlauJ. 

 Esq., Burnley ; and E. Bond. Esq., Leeds. For f'iyeoiis and Rnbhili:. 

 M. Headley, Esq., Claremont Green, Kedlill, Sarrej. 



DUBLIN POULTRY SHOW. 



This was held on Wednesday and Thursday, the 13th and 14th iiist., 

 when nearly 1-20 pens were shown. The following is the prize list: — 



Dorkings (Silver-Grev).— First. Mrs. Warburton, Kill, Kildare. Second, 

 R. Williams. Glaslinn, Clontarf. OiicAens.— First, F. W. Zurhorst, Belle- 

 ville, Donnybrook, Dublin. Second, S. Mowbray, Killeany, Moiintrath. 



DoEKiNu's (Coloured).— Piize, R. P. WilUams, Glasslin. Chickens.— 

 Prize, F. W. Zurhorst. 



Spanish.— First and Second, Miss Do Courcy Drevar, Rose Hill, Blaclt- 

 rock, Co. Dublin. OiicJttns.— First, Miss De Courcy Drevar. Second, 

 D. C. Heron, Dublin. 



Cochin-China.— Krst and Second, F. W. Zurhorst. Chir.kem.—¥\isi 

 and Second, F. W. Zurhorst. 



Game.— First and Second, C. H. Peacock, Carri'^-na-Greine, Dalkey. 

 Chickens. — First and Second, C. H. Peacuck, Carrig-na-Greine. 



Hamburgh (Pencilled).- Prize. R. W. Boyle. Galtrim House. Bray. 



Hamburgh i Spangled).— First, R. P. Williams. Second, S. Mowbray. 



PoLANDS. — Prize, Miss De Coxucy Drevar. 



Creve CtEUR. — Prize, F. W. Zurhorst. 



SINGLE COCKS. 



Dorking.— First, F. W. Zurhorst. Second, W. Magrath. Blessingtou. 



Spanish. — First, Miss De Courcy Drevar. Secoml, R. P. Wilhams. 



Cochin-China. — First, Miss A. Alexander, Acton House, Poyntzpass. 

 Second, F. W. Zurhorst. 



Brahma Pootra.— First, R. W. Boyle. Second, Mrs. Warburton. 



Turkey.^.- First, F. W. Zurhorst. Small medal, W. C. Hamilton, 

 Ballitore House, Kildare. Poults. — First and Second. A. Strahan, 

 Timolin. Ballitore. Third, F. W. Zurhorst. Single Cocfc.— First and 

 Second, F. W. Zurhorst. 



Geesk. — First, R. W. Boyle. Second, T. Butler, Priestown House, 

 Co. Meath. Third, Mrs. Walsh. Kingswood, Saggard. 



Ducks (Houen). — First, R. P. WilUams. Second, R. W. Boyle. Bronze 

 medal, R. P. Wilbama. 



Duces (Aylesbury).— First, F, W. Zurhorst. Second, Mrs. Warburton. 

 Third, R. P. Williams. 



The Jadges were Messrs. Staunton, Lanfrton, and Haffield. 



WALSALL POULTRY SHOW. 



Wb have jnst received a prize schedule of an Exhibition of 

 Poultry and Pigeons to be held in the Guildhall Assembly 

 Booms at Walsall, on Monday and Tuesday the 15th and 16th 

 of January ne}(t. Its institution is hailed by exhibitors as 

 supplying a want long felt in the district, and as the competi- 

 tion is open to all comers, a very heavy entry for a first show 

 appears certain, particularly as the Committee are men of well 

 known probity, themselves poultry fanciers, and enter on their 

 duties determined to carry it to a successful issue by the com- 

 bination of individual exertions. For an entrance fee of 5.s'. 

 all the principal dasses have prizes of £2, £1. and lO.',-. respec- 

 tively, besides additional silver cups, nine in number, one of 

 which will be gained by the lucky owner of the first prize in 

 these divisions. The cups are presented to the Society by 

 various lovers of poultry shows, and they will be of the value 

 of three guineas each. The entrance for Ducks and Bantams 

 is 3s. a-pen, in Bantams the prizes will be £1 and lOj;., but to 

 Ducks there will be three prizes — viz., SO.f., 13.?., and 7s. f}d, 

 A " seUing class " restricted to 30«. a-pen, for a 3s. fee, 

 receives 30i., 1.5»., and 7j. 6d. also, which will produce a heavy 



entry. The Pigeon classes hiiva prizes of £1, and 10„. to oach 

 variety for which premiums are offered, the entrance fee being 

 '2.S. 6(/. This Show will be continued annually ; the Committee 

 with open-handed fairness publish their names, and conse- 

 quent responsibility, and we find it also stated on their prize 

 list, that Mr. Edward Hewitt, of Birmingham, will bo en- 

 trusted with the whole of the arbitrations. The entries cl08e 

 on December the 30th. 



UPWARD WINTER VENTLLATION, 



.V REMKDV FOR MOULDY COMBS AND DISKASF.D HKI'.S. 



NoTiciNO freijuent complaints in the Journal about damp 

 and mouldy combs and diseased bees in wooden hives, your 

 readers may be interested to learn, how, after an experience 

 with such hives, on a large scale, for nearly fourteen years, I 

 am able to keep them dry and sweet, and the bees in good 

 health during the frequent and severe changes of our winter 

 climate. 



To obviate the objections which might otherwise be urged 

 against my plan, I will show briefly, before describing it, the 

 fallacy of certain opinions which are still in vogue, even with 

 the majority of scientific apiarians. 



The honey-bee is, probably, the only warm-blooded insect 

 known to man, living in a culouy state during the winter. Its 

 animal heat is, of course, supplied by the consumption of 

 honey, the heat-producing qualities of which are known to be 

 very great. A single bee, or even a small number, cannot, how- 

 ever generously fed, retain sufficient heat to preserve life in a 

 low temperature ; but a large number, by densely clustering 

 among their combs, are able to bid defiance to a temperature 

 lower than the freezing point of mercury. Now, bees do not, 

 as many suppose, thrive in such low temperatures by warming 

 the interior air of their domiciles, on the same principle that 

 we in cold weather keep comfortable by heating the air of our 

 abodes ; but they retain in their dense clusters sufficient 

 animal heat, very much as we preserve a proper temperature 

 in cold apartments, in our comfortable beds. It is well known 

 that bees, in a state of nature, live in hoUow trees, in caves 

 and clefts in the rocks, and in other dwellings where they 

 cannot materially change the temperature of the air which 

 surrounds their combs, any more than they can warm the 

 large garrets where I have known them to thrive admirably in 

 combs constructed uuder the rafters, when exposed some- 

 times to a temperature below zero. Even in the coldest weather, 

 a strong stock of bees well provisioned will, in such a situation, 

 maintain sufficient heat to be healthy and comfortable, breed- 

 ing in midwinter in their central combs. Let bee-keepers 

 ponder well these undoubted facts, and they will be prepared 

 for the assertion, that if we could by any artificial arrange- 

 ment enable the bees to warm to any considerable extent the 

 air of their hives, the consequences instead of being beneficial 

 would be highly disastrous, for as soon as the external atmo- 

 sphere becomes warm enough to affect materially the interior 

 air of their hives, the bees begin to uncluster and seek to fly 

 abroad. The same effect is produced when a colony is carried 

 into a greenhouse, or any place artificially heated ; the bees im- 

 mediately become uneasy and seek in every way to leave their 

 hive, and if the entrance is closed they are forced to discharge 

 their fteces, and often perish. It is very evident then, that if 

 the bees in cold weather could be assisted to increase the tem- 

 peratm-e of their hives, so as to make it comfortable for them 

 to uncluster and move freely about, there would be a great loss 

 of bees tempted to sally out in ungenial weather, and, in ad- 

 dition, a largely increased consumption of honey, as it is a 

 well-settled law of animal life, that every muscular effect pre- 

 supposes the consumption of sufficient food to produce it. 



The pertinency of those remarks will be seen, when I recom- 

 mend, as the only reliable remedy for damp and mouldy combs 

 and diseased bees in wooden bee-hives, a free cscnpe from, 

 above in cold weather for the moisture generated in a strong 

 stock, instead of allowing it, by condensing upon the interior 

 surfaces of the hive and frames, to drip upon the combs and 

 bees. Now, this remedy will never be adopted .so long as it is 

 considered a fundamental law of safe bee-keeping, that the 

 animal heat of the bees must, if possible, be aU retained in the 

 hive ; whereas the true principle is, that the animal heat over 

 and above what they need for their health and comfort, ought 

 not to, oven if it could, be retained, any more than that human 

 beings should try to retain the surplus heat of their bodies. 

 It may relieve the apprehensions of some of your readers 



