January 7, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



11 



Aviaries can be thoroughly ventilated by the aid of perforated 

 zinc fixed at the topmost part of the structure, without any 

 fear of draughts of cold air. The windows should all be pro- 

 tected with wirework. 



A very essential matter in an aviary is a good supply of water 

 daily and the free use of the bath. Where some of the birds 

 are partitioned-off from the others they cannot equally eujoy 

 the free use of the bath, therefore they must now and then be 

 supplied with a bath on a smaller scale than the one I refer to 

 below. I will give an instance how the water supply was 

 managed in an extensive aviary. 



A detached aviary bouse (which was well sheltered from the 



north by a copse of trees), not so spacious or elegant in design 

 as the illustration given, had an entrance-door in the centre, 

 with the aviaries situated light and left. Inside, about a yard 

 from the outer door, were also a pair of folding doors, through 

 which I had to pass before fully enjojirg a good view of the 

 aviaries. One side was appropriated Iti the larger kinds of birds, 

 and the other to the smaller Finch tribes, Cauaries and Mules. 

 Upon the floor, in the centre of each, a tmall grotto or rocky 

 pile was constructed, and through the centre of each ran a very 

 thin tube as a fountain. Surrounding this tube, about 4 inches 

 from the top, ran a piece of zinc spouted around, off of which 

 the water ran on to the rock or grotto below, the water being 



Fig. 3. 



received in a bath surrounding the grotto. The baths (the sides 

 of which were about inches high) contained about 3 inches of 

 water, never more, the bed being formed of loose shingle, and 

 small sea shells and rock. The fountains were each supplied 

 through pipes inserted into the bottom of a deep cistern fixed 

 at the back part of the building, into which the rain water from 

 the roof was conveyed. At other times the cistern was supplied 

 by hand. Not having the advantage of waterworks in the 

 vicinity, the fountains in very dry weather did not play so well, 

 lu the pipes leading from the cistern taps were fixed to turn on 

 the water, which when more than 3 inches deep in the baths 

 was conveyed through other pipes into a well or covered cistern 

 outside, and afterwards made available for the flower borders 

 surrounding the aviary. There was another provision made, 

 that when the outer cistern filled beyond a certain mark the 

 water ran off into a drain. 



Inside the building, skirting each side of the aviary, were 

 fixed rustic-looking chairs or seats, and numerous pots of choice 

 greenhouse and other plants were arranged. The whole had a 

 pleasing effect, and was interesting. Similar plans could be 



carried out in the aviary of which we furnish an iUustration 

 taken from the American " Fanciers' .Tournal." 



DOINGS OP THE LA.ST AND PRESENT WEEKS. 



The lowest temperature at Loxford was 16' Fahr. ; on the same 

 night the mercury at Bury St. Edmunds dropped to 4°, or 28° of 

 frost. Bedding Calceolarias require a thick covering of straw 

 over the usual protection afforded by mats. When the frost was 

 severe, even in the daytime the covering wag not removed at all, 

 but on Saturday morning about half an inch of rain fell, and the 

 temperature got higher until daybreak, when it again fell to the 

 freezing point, leaving the roads and paths sheets of ice. At mid- 

 day the glass rose to 41°, and all coverings were removed and 

 the plants overhauled, everything being in as good condition as 

 they were before the frost. In the Auricula frame were a 

 number of decaying leaves on all the plants, but more so on the 

 Alpines. These were picked off, and not a plant injured in the 

 least. The Carnation frame did not'require any attention, ex- 



