April 3, 1836. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



265 



mine on his -n-ay home from a vralk. I thus -was able to swear 

 ielore the magistrate to thfi fowl, owing to my mark, when hut 

 for that I might not have been able to have asserted my claim to 

 my own property. It is also useful to mark birds previously to 

 their being sent tor exhibition, as sometimes birds have been 

 accidentally substituted for others ; and though you may be 

 quite sure in your own mind that the bird returned in the 

 stead of yoirr own is not yours, I do not think any one could 

 swear to a bird without a mark. I have been told that Game 

 fowls are nicked in the eyelids, or when dubbed ; but not 

 having been a breedjer of Game poultry, I cannot speak from 

 experience. Another advantage of nicking the nail is that you 

 can feel your mark in the dark if necessary. Of course my 

 man knows my mark, which never varies ; and I can thus 

 substantiate my own assertion. — E. 0. K. 



SOUTHERN rOULTRY SHOM'S. 

 I HAVE been waiting anxiously every week to see if any of 

 your many readers and writers would propose as a fit place for 

 a southern poultry show my native town, Bristol, and I am glad 

 to see the right man to do so has mentioned it in your Numbei' 

 of Marci 20th. It has been my idea for sometime, but I did not 

 mention it. I will most willingly work with all my heart in 

 getting it up if some, only, of the breeders will give me hopes 

 of their snpport, and propose a time which woTild not dash 

 with many otier BhowB B. Lasg, Jus., Redlatid, Bristol. 



UTHTTE-RUMPED DRAGOX PIGEONS. 



I MUST apologise for again troubling you with a reply to a 

 letter in your Journal of the '20th of JIarch, signed " A Dra- 

 goon- Breeder." As I before stated in your paper of the 27th 

 of Februaiy. the si^ature " John Percivall " to my letter of 

 the lilth of December was an en'or of the printer. It is not 

 ibecause your correspondent calculates that three-fourths of the 

 Blue Pigeons in existence are white-rumped that, therefore, 

 the white rump is correct ; it only goes to show the difficulty 

 in breeding to perfection, and the scarcity of the pm-er and 

 more valuable strain — I mean those with the blue rump. 



If your correspondent is not thankful for my having enlight- 

 ened him as to what is correct, I can only say he ought to be. 

 He very wisely withholds his name and the names of the com- 

 petent judges, as he terms them, whose opinions, he says, he 

 has sought ; the publication of which would only result in then- 

 opinions being matter for ridicule by all really competent judges 

 in tbe fancy. A Dragon breeder your correspondent may be, 

 but certainly not a Dragon fancier ; hence his entire ignorance 

 af the properties the bird should possess. 



I still maintain that the white rump is a glaring defect, and 

 that birds so foully marked may be bought in any quantity at 

 prices varying from l.<. lid. to ii. each, and no bargain, being 

 far too dear for the table, which is certainly all they are fit for. 

 In my opinion I am not singular. 



I have for many years been a member of a society established 

 for the cultivation and improvement of every kind of Pigeon — a 

 society second to none, numbering amongst its members gen- 

 tlemen known to be really competent judges, and I can faiily 

 Bay I never heard one of them express an opinion on the pro- 

 perties of the Dragon but that condemned the white rump. 

 Your correspondent states that blue-rumped birds are generally 

 ticked with small black spots. I beg to inform him such birds 

 are not Blues at all, but are known to the fancier as " Chequers,"' 

 and that blue-rumped birds, both Dragon and Fantail, may be 

 had quite as good in colour as those foully majked with the 

 white rump. I again say that the defect is quite as glaring in 

 the Blue Owl as in the Dragon. I have some beautiful powder- 

 blue Owls blue-nunped: were they the reverse I would not 

 give them loft-room. 



I am quite willing to refer the matter to Mr. EsquHant, as 

 suggested in your paper, and, indeed, to a dozen other gentle- 

 men, if need be, in snpport of my views, and I feel satisfied 

 their opinion will at once convict your correspondent of the 

 attempt to decide on that of which he is not competent to 

 judge. 



I find, also, in your impression of the 20th ult. a letter signed 

 " Wiltshire P.ncTOR." That gentleman's view of the mattei- 

 is, that as white-rumped bii-ds recently took a first prize at Bir- 

 loingham the feathering cannot amount to a disqualification. 

 This, however, is no criterion, as the award in the Dragon class 



was ridiculed by many Dragon fanciers, and that it was not 

 the only blunder committed at the late Birmingham Show. 

 Whether from want of knowledge on the part of the Judges, or 

 the hurried manner in which they had to perform their duties, 

 I will not say, but certain it is that many of the awards gave 

 very great dissatisfaction. — Joxes Pekcitali.. 



IMPROVED FRAME HITE. 



So much has been wi-itten of late years on the subject of 

 bee-hives and hoses, and so many opinions have been put 

 forward as to their right form of construction and requisite 

 dimensions, that it may savour somewhat of presumption to 

 suggest anything by way of improvement in this department 

 of apiarian science, especially when the public have been 

 made acquainted with the almost perfect frame hives of Messrs. 

 Langstroth and Woodbury. These two, whether for the pur- 

 pose of experiment, or for obtaining the largest quantity of 

 honey, are far in advance of any others which have come 

 under my notice — the former, as described in his interesting 

 and exhaustive work on the honey-bee ; the other as well known 

 in the perfect specimens which are sent out in such numbers 

 from the manufactory of the Messrs. Neighbour, in London — 

 and what I now venture to submit as an improvement upon 

 these, is a slight modification of the bar- at the top of thfl 

 fi-ame, which, I think, will be found greatly to facUitate the 

 removal from the hive. 



Both in the Langstroth and Woodbury hires it is necessaiy 

 to thrust the finger and thumb into the hive (when the top 

 has been taken off), in order to lift any single frame requiring 

 to be either examined or removed ; but this is not always so 

 easy a matter when the two ends of the top bar have been well 

 glued down by the bees, and the fact of these ends resting upon 

 a ledge or rabbet, prevents a backward or forward movement 

 for breaking the seal before hfting the frame. It therefore 

 occurred to me, that it would be attended with advantage to 

 elongate the top bar of the frame, and carry it right through 

 the front and back of the hive, allowing it to extend beyond 

 the outside about half an inch, so as enable the operator to 

 lay hold of it firmly with thumb and finger outside, instead of 

 inside the hive. Accordingly I constructed all my hives on 

 this plan ; and, having now tried it with considerable success 

 for about four years, I have been persuaded to submit it to my 

 apiarian friends through the medium of these columns, and 

 thus afford them an opportunity of testing it when they are 

 making or ordei-ing any new frame hives. 



The dimensions of my frames vai-y considerably both from 

 those of Langstioth and Woodbury, but this is a matter of 

 little importance, as iny plan of elongating the top bar may be 

 applied to any size of frame. 



Bar. 



Ten-frame. 



Dimensions or Hive. — Depth, always 10 inches ; length, 

 from front to back, always 1.5J inches; width, varies accord- 

 in'' to number of bars, eight-bar hive, 13} inches ; size of 

 frame may be reckoned from the length and depth of the hive, 

 allowing a" clear space of three-eighths of an inch at top, bottom, 

 and sides ; top bar IJ inch wide. 



The size of my boxes is also different fiom any other that I 

 know of, being always of the same depth — viz., 10 inches, but, 

 of com'se, varying in width, as constructed to contain fi'om 

 four to ten frames, as the locality in which I reside is by no 

 means favourable for bee-keeping; the wolds of east Kent 

 being about the same in character as the wolds in other parts 

 of the kingdom — viz., high, windy, and open. My boxes are 

 usually made with eight frames, but I must, in justice, add, 

 that the greatest yield of honey I have ever obtained was from 



