430 



JOUfiNAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ NoTember 2S, IBIS. 



if such it had been, and there wbb do attempt to nse the sting, 

 or to seize the legs or wings of the prisoner — a nsnal mode of 

 attack. 



If any of your correspondents, ekilled in apiarian science, 

 can throw light on these mysterious queon encasements, they 

 will confer, I donbt not, a favour on many of your readers who 

 are interested in the natural history of the honey bee. 



In conclusion, allow me to ask if it has ever occurred to 

 modern apiarians that Virgil's beautiful description of the " duo 

 genera " in Georg. iv., vv. ()7-99, the — 



" Alter erit macnlis atiro flqualentibng aniens, 

 Nam dno sunt genera, hie melior, insignis et ore, 

 Et ratihs clarns sqaamis "• 



could have applied to the Apis ligastica, the modern Italian 

 Alp bee T Several parts of his description would seem to favour 

 this hypothesis. For instance, we have again — 



**.... elnccut alia? et fnlgore comscant 

 Ardentes atiro, et paribas lita coqiora guttis. 

 Iliec iiotitir soboles : hinc caili tempore certo 

 Dnleia mella premes ; nee tantnm doleia, qnantam 

 £t hqaida "-(■ 



What more true and beautiful description could we desire 

 of this exquisite variety of the Apis mellifica ? — G. IUtsob, 

 Tollbridge. 



SPURIOUS HONEY. 



I EXTRACT the following passage relating to this subject from 

 a private letter recently received from Ayrshire. — A Devon- 

 shire Bee-keepek. 



Some one has been accusing us of giving cur bees sugar to 

 fill up their honeycomb with. I have made inquiries among 

 gome of the greatest bee-masters in this county, and they tell 

 me that they have found out by actaal trial that instead of im- 

 posing on their customers they would lose bytit, for they say 

 that tbey found it took 60 lbs. of sugar to make 20 lbs. of honey : 

 80 I think Mr. Pettigrew has found a " mare's nest." Honey- 

 comb of the best quality is so cheap here (about Is. a lb.), that 

 it would not pay to make up a honey box with sugar. I had 

 about COO lbs. of surplus honey this last season, and I find 

 the centtifagal machine is a great invention. — H. B. 



• There are two sorts ; the better glows with spots of gold, has a more 

 beaatifol person, nnd shines with bri^rht scales. 



+ The others shine, and glitter with brightness, being spangled with gold 

 and eqnal spots. Thisis the best sort. From this at eertoin seasons you 

 shall sqneeee sweet honey, and not only sweet, but pore. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Hens Eating their Eggs (Af. y.).— The habit is sapposed to arise 

 in the first place from the lack of the necessary material for forming the 

 shell of the egp. It is in this case prevented by supplyinfj their run cr 

 house with plenty of bricklnycrs' rubbish, such us old ceilings, mortar, 

 &c. If they have this and still peck their eg;?s, it is from a bad state of 

 the body. The only cure we know, is to put some very hard composition 

 eggs in the nest. They peck them till their beaks are sore, and become 

 tired of it. But prevention is to be preferred, therefore we recommend to 

 your attention the form of nest described by a correspondent in our 

 Journal to-day. 



CnESTER TouLTRv Show.— Mr. Epgleston, Savile Mills, Halirix. in- 

 forms us that ho took the first prize for Engli^ih Owls; Mr. Grabam, 

 second ; and Mr. CroBland was not mentioned. Mr. Walters has sent us 

 a letter he received iram the railway office relative to the charge of nn 

 extra si.vpence. The charge was mode by Chaplin & Home for conveying 

 the birds from the Show tu the station, and the Committee of the Show 

 bad not undertaken to deliver them free from charge. 



Roup (7". Y. P.).— Extreme cases should be treated with Baily'3 pill?. 

 but incipient c^sea, which are very often only bad colds, may be cured by 

 Riving camphor pills, two the size of a pea for a dose, and feeding for a 

 day or two on bread and ale. 



WoETLEY's Incubator (/ngmVcr).— You should inquire of Mr. Crook. 



Barren Aylesbury Duces (Perplexed One).— 1( yon know the Ayles- 

 bury Ducks are barren, they are not such as should *be shown. We have, 

 nevertheless, no donbt that more than half the very heavy Aylesburys 

 are certainly barren, and manv of them known as such. We do not believe 

 your Ducks are barren ; if you were to tell us you; founded your opinion 

 on the fact that they did not breed tbis year, we would advise you to try 

 them nest year with another drake. The drakes are very often barren 

 from accident. If yon are aure that your birds are barren, do not Bend 

 them. We are decidedly of opinion that they are not, and, therefore, we 

 should not hesitate about exhibitiDg them. 



Dark Buff Cochin Plumage (A Siib^crilcr).—ThQ under tail of a 

 Cochin hen is always dark, almost black. In both cock and hcu a bull 

 tail is preferable. 



HouDAN Cock's Spine Injured (C/icmiViMl.— The co::k with infirm 

 gai*. and now contracted feet is injured in tbe spine ; that causes the con- 

 traction and partial paralysis. It is generally fatal. The tTealment will 

 be put the bird in some place where he can htvc the flooring cavered 



with hay or strmv, to fe«(t well, and, above all, to administer sUninJaDtB 

 —ale, camphor, and somcliincH a tabic -npoonful of port wino. This 

 paralysis mnit not bo conlonnded with tbo weakness to which heavy 

 birds are aabjecl from over-growth. That, if the birds are well treated, is 

 cured Iron the day the bird cookos to grow. The slighteAl blow on tbe 

 back of a fowl will ctcsc par-ilyr^is and often death, t'nmked bieast- 

 boncs are often hereditary, and HOmctimeR caafted by roosUog. Fast- 

 grown chickens are weak and often too heavy for tbolr half-formed leg- 

 bones. Tbis indncas thorn to rest on their knuckles on thu ground by 

 day ; but at night, when perchiDg. their legs are not strong cuouch to bold 

 them steadily on tboir porrlies, and they are obliged to allow their breaMs 

 to rest. If, then, tbe ptirch Inh Bninll. tbo cartilaginous bono of the bx«aat 

 is susceptible of cbang. , and takes tbe form of a narrow perch. Tbe euro 

 is to put one Bomo inchea in width. 



Fowls is CoNJtNED Space (E. .T).— You can keep oilber Cochiita, 

 Brabmas, Spanish, Uoudan^, or CKve-Cnpurs. Oor experience is. they 

 bear confinement better than tbe Hamburgh^. Only the first two of 

 those wo have named aro sitters. The rencillcd Bamburghs arc called 

 everlasting layers. 



Fkkdd.'o Golden* spangled Ha^iburghs for Exhirittng {Far TTfrt). 

 — Ground oats mixed with milk, occasionally a few peas and some bread 

 and ale, a little whole barley once per day. If it is not in their hatmts 

 they require green food, and should bavti dally a large sod of growing 

 grass cut with plenty of mould. 



SouTiiAiiPTON Poultry Snow. — We aro infortncd that the second prif o 

 for Light Brahma chickens was awarded to those of Mrs. Tomer Turner, 

 Avon, near Ringwood. 



HouDAN CocKERF.r, vnTii CnooKED BnsAST fC. J. S.).— Most certainly 

 we should not breed from such a bird. Crooked breasts and wry tails wo 

 know to bo hereditary defect:;. 



WmTE Muscovy Ducks (It. O. P.).— The White variety of the Mask or 

 Muscovy Duck would be profitable to keep if there were any market for 

 the produce, but tbey are bird.s that arc seldom w.onlcd t>r asked for. 

 They are scarce. The habits of tlie drake of all colours of tbis breed are 

 sufficiently objectionable to bani?h bim from all yards and ponds. Tbey* 

 arc not so prolific layers as other Ducks, and 'wo consider them nn* 

 profitable. 



Pigeons Healthy on not (FaTuritfr).— The bird may be of a very wild 

 nattire, hence its quick breathing and death-like fright when caaght. 

 \\'ithont seeing it no one could properly decide whether it is diseased or 

 only very timid. We advise yon to ask some independent fancier or 

 judge in your neighbourhood to decide tbe point, but wc iuoUue to think 

 it healthy. 



Feeding Barbs for Exhibition (N. A. D.).— Good old beans are beett 

 as tbey brighteu the plumage : a little old wheat mixed with them would 

 do no harm. The beans must be small. 



Matching various Piofons '//. T. Kr'Urtf).—The advice we gave yon 

 recently is applicable to the Black heu Karb being crossed with a Red 

 cock. The matching a Yellow Fantail with a White would spoil both. 

 Colours, like breeds, are beat kept distinct. 



Pigeon Shot, &c. (A Young Bcfiinnrr). — Sue, in the County Court, tfao 

 person who shot your Pigeon for the value of bird. A&tw«rp8 would suit 

 you best for homing from a distance, or Dragoons. 



Food fob Grey Parrot [PeUr], — Bread and milk aro the best food. 

 Cut the bread in slices, and pour over it warm water ; let it soak a short 

 time, and squeeze it as dry as possible ; then allow it to Hbsorb as macb 

 fresh boiled milk as it will without being too moi.-^t. Give occasionally 

 broken biscuit, nuts, and fruit; sometimes, thongh not often, boiled 

 Indian com when cool. Kever give a bone nr any meat, for it brings on 

 a disease which impels the bird to pull out its feathers. Hempseed and 

 other seeds are quite unsuitable for all the larger Parrot tribe, and do 

 not give them to the Grey Parrot. The cage smelling sour arises from 

 the pans not being scalded every day. Your bird will talk a little at a 

 jear old, and improve every year. 



Rabbit with Scabbed Head [A Snhncriber, Xantirieh) — "Veiy fre- 

 qnently the mischief arises from fleas at the top or bark of the head, 

 where they roost congregate, and oat into the flesh. Tbey will give the 

 appearance of scurvj*, and the Rabbit's scratching will Jt«-ep this up bome- 

 times long after the fleas from cold or other causes hn\e taken their 

 departure. For the destruction of fleas there is not'niig so perfectly 

 harmless and so thoroughly eflTectivc as KeBtiii,.'s ln'<ct Powder: one 

 good rubbing with it is sntticicnt to des.roy them at] in a day, and if tbe 

 hutch be well cleaned out at the samo time there znay be a long in- 

 ' terval of rest. If, however, the owner is sure that these pca!i.«! have come 

 of their own accord, it i?, nn d^iubt, scurvy, and tbis can only be cured 

 by giving them less dn" food and mora soft. On some R.ihbits too much 

 dry food acts as too much suit meat does with our sailors— tbe wsiH of 

 sufficient vegetable is tbo evil. No barley or peas sbonld be given, and 

 even o:its should be graduilly discontinued, and bmn take its place, at 

 least for a time. A mash of thirds, with nngronud linseetl nnd tea-leavAS 

 in it, made into the consistency of paste, and about as much as could be 

 hold in the hollow of the hand, is an excellent breakf j^t for ilabbits under 

 any circumstances, and is greatly used by the London men. The lest 

 local application is olive oil for two or three days, the part then to be 

 washed with thick so ft* soapsuds. The scabs will then come ofi^ or will do 

 so if Ibis course be repeated. — B. Hudson, IIhU." 



Phelter for Bees (Learner).— We shoukl prefer the aviary to tbo 

 greenhouse, making good-sized semicircular apertures in the wirework 

 opposite the entrance to each hive. 



Mci-BERRT Wine (3/or»*).— We advise tou to leave thowineundistarbcd 

 until it become fine. Tbis can be ascertained by having a peg in the 

 centre of the head, and drawing a little of the wine out into a glajas once 

 a-month. When it has become quite clear, rack it nft attain without distnrb- 

 iug tbe lees. Let it remain for a week or two, and then bottle it. Tbo 

 battles should be placed on their sides. 



Rhubarb Wine (.-iTJiiVii.*)-— We do not think the " slightly pntrid fla- 

 vour " was caused by washing the CHsk with rain w.iter. Put some lumps 

 of charcoal into thu cask, and shake it repeatedly at intervals of a day or 

 two, and when clear again rack off before bottliug. 



Douglas's Mixture (TT. /.).— We know nothing about it. 



