52 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



f July 17, 1866. 



Caladiitms (Miss ff.t. — For exhibition, in addition to Caladium argy- 

 lites, Chantinii, bicolor magnifica, and Wiphtii, Caladiumg Brogxu&rti, 

 Belleymei, Baraquinii, niirabile, and Leopoldi, are desirable. 



Strawberries (JTf. C). — The post-office officials had smashed the 

 paper box into one mass, and we could hardly discern your initials. 

 Fruits must be enclosed in a wooden or tin box, and kept separate from 

 each other by freshly gathered leaves. 



Names of Fruit (J. H.}.— The contents of both boxes were British 

 Queen Strawberry. Its characters are piven in the previous page. It is 

 a. variety which any nurseryman ought to be able to supply true. Yon 

 will find in another column remarks by the Itev. W. F. Hadolyffe on 

 the subject of Strawberries. 



Names of Plants (IT. B., Staffordshire).- 

 Fumitory. 



-Fumaria officinalis, common 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending July 14th. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



MOULTING. 



We have often looked with interest at the moulting of fowls 

 — the process of putting off the spring and summer clothing, 

 and remaking that which will be useful in the winter. Our 

 handsomest favourites are now what our man calls " getting 

 seedy." The Spanish plumage has lost its gloss ; the combs 

 no longer feel like velvet to the touch, and there is an incli- 

 nation in the white face to narrow its size. The accurate pen- 

 cilling of our Brahrnas is lost in a dingy, mossy, rusty colour. 

 Our Dorkings have lost not only the appearance, but the 

 reality of their weight. Our Ducks and drakes are all alike, 

 and the gaudy Golden Pheasant of last month shows only here 

 and there remains of his old beauty, looking like " the George," 

 hanging on the post of the attie bed, among the torn and 

 shabby furniture in the painting of " The Last Days of Bucking- 

 ham." They have all done their duty. They have laid, and 

 reared their broods, and now when the pullets are beginning to 

 supply eggs, the old birds ask for their natural rest. We are 

 too often prone to forget that this rest is necessary for them — 

 indeed, essential. They are preparing for next season. During 

 the remainder of the summer they will be recruiting the strength 

 that will enable them to form new clothing. The shabby, worn- 

 out plumage of the summer, the naked backs, and broken 

 feathers, would be but poor helps during the cold days and long 

 nights of winter. 



We are led to this subject by the numerous letters on moult- 

 ing which we receive at this season. Fowls have hardly yet 

 begun, but where they have left off laying, the approach may 

 he easily seen. Some seem to have much greater difficulty 

 than others. Spanish are a long time naked. All the non- 

 sitters feather more slowly than the others. It may be because 

 they lay a greater number of eggs, and that the production of 

 them causes more exhaustion of the system than the twenty- 

 one days of the sitters. Certain it is, however, that moulting 

 is an effort, and taxes the bird so much, that at such a time 

 any old weakness or partially cured disease is sure to show 

 itself again. Thus, years ago, when roup was so common and 

 fatal, wherever it had been in a yard, it always reappeared at 

 moul ting-time. 



The feathers are at first but small blue stubs in the skin ; 

 the end is very soft, pulpy, and bleeding; it shows itself 

 through the hole in the skin, which is ready to let it pass, and 

 is then a perfectly round blue tube. This grows both in length 

 and rotundity. If one of them be pulled out and examined 

 shortly before it opens or bursts, the feather will be found 

 beautifully rolled up, but the quill is not formed. After the 

 feather has shown itself, the end still retains its pulpy and 

 bleeding appearance ; through it the feather derives the suste- 

 nance from the body of the bird, which is necessary for its de- 

 velopment. As soon as it is fully formed, the end hardens and 

 becomes the quill. There is no growth or reparative process 

 after this. If the feather be broken or cut off, the quill will 

 remain till the moulting season comes round again. The 

 body, however, cannot go on producing fresh feathers. If a 



particular feather be pulled out of a black-plumaged bird S3 

 fast as it is formed, it gives evidence of weakness by coming 

 white. 



No men have ever studied fowls so closely as those who bred 

 and trained Game cocks. They never dub a bird — i.e., remove 

 his comb, deaf-ear, and gills, while he has any soft feathers 

 about him. He is not in a state of strength to bear the 

 operation. Birds that have their full liberty, and are well fed, 

 always moult well, but when they are kept in confinement, care 

 and precaution are sometimes, not always, necessary. The 

 effect of food may be proved by a fact. Quails and bullfinches 

 are exceedingly fond of hempseed. This is of a very heating 

 nature, and if they are allowed to eat too much of it their 

 plumage becomes nearly black. If they are fed entirely on it 

 their bodies are so heated that they moult with great difficulty, 

 and their flight feathers do not form at all. The system of 

 the bird becomes so heated that everything is dried up, and 

 no nourishment is possible. The feathers, like plants, die for 

 lack of moisture. If improper food have this effect, then 

 judicious feeding ought to assist. We have already said that 

 if the birds are at liberty they will find all they require ; but 

 if they are shut up they must have plenty of cooling food. 

 We know none so good as lettuce, and if it has gone to seed and 

 is stalky so much the better. Sods of growing grass, and 

 plenty of fresh mould with them, are also excellent. One 

 thing requires to be watched — they will sometimes in a dissatis- 

 fied habit of body begin to peck and eat each other's feathers. 

 If a fowl do this it should be at once removed, as it will not 

 only spoil the plumage of the others, but it will teach them 

 the same habit. When a bare spot appears on a fowl it should 

 be rubbed with grease which is quite free from salt. 



Sometimes a fowl will be seen while moulting to be con- 

 tinually picking or scratching at one spot of its body. On 

 examination it will be found that one or more feathers have 

 failed in passing through the opening in the skin that is pro- 

 vided for the purpose. They keep on growing, but they grow 

 under the skin, looking like a worm beneath it. This causes 

 much pain. It is common in the top-knots of Polands. The 

 remedy is a very easy one. Take a stout needle and pass it 

 under the quill-end of the covered feather, then chaw tho 

 feather from under the skin. 



WHITE COCHIN-CHINAS. 



" A love of Cochins no cold medium knows." 



Do insert these few lines in answer to " Wiltshire Sector," 

 who cannot know how beautiful White Cochins are. They are 

 the most profitable poultry I ever kept ; laying abundantly 

 winter and summer. They are, too, the best of mothers, and 

 will lay again in a fortnight after bringing off a brood. 



I have upwards of two hundred of their chickens this season. 



I am quite sorry to hear " Wiltshire Bectoh " speak of 

 them in the terms he does. He cannot mean pure-bred White 

 Cochins, for they are most beautiful. I suppose his were very 

 old, and a mongrel breed, to be such horrid frights as he de- 

 scribes them in your Journal of the 10th. 



For table there is none to equal a fine young Cochin roasted ; 

 so " Wiltshire Becioe " must allude to an old tough hen, to 



