250 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 25, 1866. 



Geese. — First and Second. J. K. Fowler. Highly Commended, H. Savile. 

 Commended, The Ladies Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Harrowden House, 

 Wellingborough. 



Ducks (Aylesbnry).— First and Second, J. K. Fowler. Highly Com- 

 mended, J. K. Fowler ; Rev. C. H. Crosse, Cambridge. 



Ducks (Ronen).— First, T. Burnaby, Upper Lodge, Pipcwell. Second, 

 and Highly Commended, J. K. Fowler. 



Ducks (Any other variety). — First, H. Savile (Carolina). Second, J. 

 Beasley (East Indianl. Highly Commended, J. K. Fowler (East Indian) ; 

 J. W. Smith (Black East Indian^. 



Turkeys.— Prize, Sir C. E. Isham, Bart. 



Pigeons Sweepstakes. — Carriers, Owls and Powters. — Prize, H. Ynrdley, 

 Birmingham. Ma^piex, Archanfiete and Turbits. — Commended, J. Noble. 

 Carriers, Yellow Baldheads, Jacobins.— Commended, J. Adams, North- 

 ampton. Any variety.— Highly Commended, J. Adams. 



A pen of three Spanish fowls, a pen of dark Brahma Pullets, and three 

 Turkey Poults were Commended as Extra Stock. 



The officiating Arbitrator was Edward Hewitt, Esq., of Eden Cot- 

 tage, Sparkbrook, Birmingham. 



THE MANCHESTER POULTRY PRIZE 

 SCHEDULE. 



We have teen favoured with the perusal of a proof sheet of 

 the Manchester prize list, and we can truly say we have never 

 yet met with one on so liberal a scale. It is evidently calcu- 

 lated not only to insure most extensive entries from all our 

 principal exhibitors for the Show on December the 21st, but 

 it will also tend to place the breeding of first-class fancy 

 poultry amongst the foremost ranks of popular and at the 

 same time remunerative amusements. In poultry 228 prizes 

 varyiDg in value from £10 to a sovereign, are offered ; forty- 

 eight prizes are to be allotted to Pigeons, ranging in value 

 from £3 down to £1 ; and the Babbits enjoy equally liberal 

 premiums. 



With such a schedule, no doubt Manchester will enjoy this 

 year an amount of support hitherto unprecedented. 



KEEPING EGGS FRESH. 



In recent Numbers various modes of keeping eggs have been 

 recommended, all of them, no doubt, more or less good. I am, 

 however, again induced to lay before your readers a plan which 

 I described some years ago, for by it eggs have been preserved 

 good for sixteen months, and I have myself partaken of some 

 kept more than half that time which could not be distinguished 

 from fresh eggs, and such, I am told, answer all the purposes 

 of confectionary where eggs are used, as they can be whipped 

 into the required condition. I do not pretend to say what this 

 is, but I am told that it is a certain test of the freshness of 

 the egg. 



The plan being exceedingly simple, cannot fail to recommend 

 itself to all who may be desirous of keeping eggs. It is this : 

 Put the eggs into an ordinary colandar, dip them a few seconds 

 in boiling water, and let them dry ; then pack them in a box or 

 jar with a lid to it, using dry wood ashes for the packing material, 

 and let the box or jar be quite full, so that it can be turned 

 bottom upwards occasionally — in fact, I presume that it ought 

 to lie as much in that position as in any other. The object of 

 this appears to be to prevent the yolk settling to one side ; and 

 I suppose the dipping in hot water hardens the filmy lining of 

 the shell, so as to render it more capable of excluding air. 

 In this view of the matter I may, however, be wrong. Certain 

 it is, nevertheless, that the eggs so treated keep well and as 

 long as they are generally wanted, and the simplicity of the 

 plan is a point in its favour not to be disputed. Probably 

 other materials as well as wood ashes might be used, but of 

 such I have no experience. I am inclined to think that there 

 may be some preservative properties peculiar to the wood ashes ; 

 and as these are easily obtained, I would strongly recommend 

 those interested in the keeping of eggs to try the plan and 

 report the result. — J. Robson, Linton. 



IPSWICH POULTRY SHOW. 

 Is answer to Mr. Hewitt's letter in your Journal of the 11th 

 inst., speaking of the folly of poultry societies holding their 

 shows in the open air, will you allow me to inform him that 

 our Committee have secured the spacious Ipswich Corn Ex- 

 change for their Show ? The building is light, well-ventilated, 

 and, in fact, a better place I do not think it possible to 

 have. All specimens committed to our charge will thus be 



protected from exposure to the vicissitudes of our changeable 

 climate. 



As I have been asked what will be the real value of the five- 

 guinea silver cups we offer, permit me to say they are to be 

 the very best we can obtain, our Committee having the promise 

 of them at wholesale prices, and I assure exhibitors that they 

 cost our Society £5 5s. each. Our Committee trust that exhibi- 

 tors will send as many entries as possible, making our first 

 Exhibition a success, so that we may offer even a better prize 

 list next year. 



In answer to " Y. B. A. Z.," when he speaks of the exorbi- 

 tant charges made to exhibitors for the carriage of fowls, allow 

 me to remind him, as also any intending exhibitor at the 

 Ipswich Poultry Show, which is to take place November 8th 

 and 9th, that the Great Eastern Railway Company are certainly 

 an exception as regards the carriage of fowls ; and to show that 

 their charge is very moderate, I may mention having myself a 

 pen of Polands from Louth, Lincolnshire, brought direct to my 

 house, which is nearly two miles from the station, for Is. 5d. 

 As a further inducement for exhibitors to send their birds, we 

 have obtained through the liberality of the Great Eastern Com- 

 pany their promise to convey all specimens on the return 

 journey to any station on their lines free of charge, provided 

 they remain the property of the sender. — W. B. Jeffries, 

 Hon. Sec, Ipswich Poultry Society. 



HONEY HARVEST— WOODEN-TOPPED STRAW 

 HIVES. 



Hivixr, tried this year for the first time what could be done 

 by a strong stock of bees in a hive built in accordance with 

 directions so kindly and fully given me by Mr. S. Bevan Fox, 

 in answer to my inquiries in No. 186, Vol. VII., New Series, 

 of The Journal of Horticulture, I am anxious to lay before 

 its readers the great success (greater, indeed, thau I could 

 possibly have expected), which has attended the busy occupants 

 of my new box hive. 



On the 18th of last May, shortly before noon, two strong 

 swarms issued forth within ten minutes of one another from 

 two stocks in my apiary : the one was hived in the box hive 

 already alluded to, the other in a strong and well-built straw 

 hive. The latter, however, did not seem at all inclined to 

 settle, and at length, in spite of all attempts to induce the 

 restless colony to remain at home, quitted its habitation for the 

 more costly abode of the more favoured swarm. But little 

 quarrelling took place in the now double stock, for by the morn- 

 ing the busy workers of the two colonies might be seen taking 

 their flight across the fields. Truly may they be said to have 

 improved " each shining hour," for in ten days from the time 

 they began together to collect the materials wherewith to 

 build, without rule or compass, each fragile cell, they gave 

 signs of a want of additional accommodation. This I at once 

 supplied, admitting them on the 28th of May to the large and 

 outer super-covering so admirably adapted for carrying on in 

 regular order the building of their comb and disposal of their 

 stores. Another ten days, and a further space for their work 

 must be given. Gradually the outer box is raised, and with 

 rapidity is each of the eight combs, so well supported on the 

 Woodbury-bar, filled with the nectar drained from many a 

 flower. Again, and again, they needed additional room, and 

 no sooner was it from time to time given, than with greater 

 perseverance they carried on their wonderful work. 



At length on the 19th of July, finding that the super-box 

 was becoming well filled, and wishing to compete with other 

 bee-keepers, and to show the extraordinary workings of the 

 busy bee at the horticultural show held at Stowmarket, on the 

 following day, the 20th, I, duly prepared, undertook with the 

 assistance of an energetic apiarian, to remove from the super 

 the many thousands of bees still clustering on the combs, and 

 yet busy at their work. This, as it proved, was not altogether 

 an easy task, for her majesty the queen bee was there in the 

 midst of her devoted subjects, and as she would not be per- 

 suaded to quit with them, I was compelled to resort to force 

 (by fumigation). Her majesty was at length captured and 

 returned to her disconsolate subjects in the stock hive, whilst 

 the rest of them, as best they could after recovery from the 

 intoxicating fumes, found their way back to their misused 

 sovereign. 



Having thus quietly, though with some little difficulty, 

 expelled the refractory multitudes, nothing remained but to 

 ascertain what in reality the bees had done for inc from the 



