Fobruory i, 1375. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



109 



to his old fancy, sticks to the Bines, whilst many forsake them 

 for the more popular colours; and we rejoiced to find he had 

 Bent fine excellent Blues and Silvers to put in an appearance. 

 Carriers are further represented by a pen of twelve fine birds 

 shown by Mr. Hedley ; by seven birds of an energetic fancier, 

 Mr. Sargent ; by two pens of Mr. Pratt ; by twelve birds of Mr. 

 Keylor, showing great substance ; by twelve birds of Mr. Crisp, 

 stylish and promising, also by two Whites — we see he is in 

 earnest to follow up his Bristol success (cup tor Whites), in 

 which as a fancier of the right sort he has our hearty good wishes 

 — by fifteen excellent birds of Mr. Faith's, one of our oldest 

 Carrier fanciers ; by thirty birds from a fancier well settled in 

 the right groove for Blues, Blacks, and Duns — Mr. Hodgson ; by 

 twenty Blues and Blacks from Mr. Ord (perhaps not such a dis- 

 play as in some former years, but then how many of his strain 

 are there not in the lofts of our most noted judges ?) ; by some 

 escellent birds of Mr. Gill's, and by the Plymouth contingent 

 Bent by Mr. Square, always a powerful auxiliary in these grand 

 shows ; by twenty IBIacks and Duns shown by an old member of 

 the Society, Mr. Feltham — good birds, though we understand 

 his best were in the country. We must now dismiss the Carriers, 

 yet not without expressing a hope that in the next annual Show 

 Mr. Montgomery may find his way from Belfast and pen a few 

 of his magnificent strain of this breed. 



There is a Pigeon bearing two names — i.e., " Homing," to de- 

 note its characteristic, and "Antwerp," to mark the country 

 of its origin. We find, however, it bears a third appellation — 

 i.e., the " Carrier;" at least we observed some pens so labelled. 

 We hope to offer no indignity to their possessor if we include 

 them not amongst Carriers as the term is accepted by us, but 

 describe them as " Homing birds." About 150 of these were 

 exhibited by Mr. Hudson; many of these birds of noted pedi- 



frees, others crossed with the Dragoon, a fine collection of 

 merles and Blue Beards, and in colours Blue, Blue-chequered, 

 and Red-chequered. The journeys they had performed were 

 duly noted in the pens, ranging from 150 to 580 miles. Mr. 

 Theobald sent a pen of fourteen fine-looking " Homers," and 

 Mr. Little also a pen of twenty-four Red-chequered of his well- 

 known strain. 



We arrive now before a pen of Blue Dragoons, and of the true 

 type, shown by Mr. Barnet ; next is the pen of Mr. Esquilant, 

 containing Silver and Powder-blue Owls. On sustaining this 

 old-fashioned strain our well-known judge and enthusiastic 

 Pigeon lover has exercised his skill for some years with the 

 result now to place seventeen fine specimens before the younger 

 fancier, to educate the eye but too frequently erring since 

 the introduction of the Foreign variety as to the true points of 

 the English Owl, which for beauty of shape, colour, and carriage 

 we trust will retain its position amongst our most highly-prized 

 Toys. Next is a pen of the same variety shown by Mr. P. H. 

 Jones, very level in quality, and a pretty collection. In con- 

 trast with the prim close plumage of the Owl comes a pair of 

 that highly-prized breed — the modem Trumpeter, shown by a 

 recently-elected member of the Society, Mr. Schweitzer, who 

 also exhibited a pen of twenty-fonr Foreign Owls — Silver, 

 Whites, Blues, &c., each bird a gem. This pen could not fail to 

 be a great attraction to visitors, in fact it was the largest col- 

 lection vpe recollect to have seen or heard of as the property of 

 any fancier. We wish Mr. Schweitzer all success in results after 

 he has paired his birds. A pair of Jacobins also his property 

 were high-class specimens. Mr. Whitehead's pen contained 

 fourteen Yellow Owls (English), all of excellent colour, not so 

 short-beaked as the Blues, their confreres; but where shall we 

 find better? 



Close by, Mr. Banks' Jacobins arrested the attention of all 

 judges by their very superior style and quality, to which Mr. 

 Bull's Jacobins proved themselves not unworthy neighbours. 

 Some very excellent birds (perliaps, if they were well looked 

 for, a few of the best Jacks in the country), would be found in 

 his pen. This variety now holding such a prominent place in 

 public taste was worthily represented. Mr. Tegetmeier's pen of 

 twelve Blue Dragoons had the head, beak, skull, colour, and 

 carriage which this bird ought to possess. Mr. Whitehead's pen 

 of Dragoons consisted of Grizzles, Blues, and Yellows. A very 

 interesting collection. Of Y'ellow Dragoons, so profusely re- 

 presented in former years, there was but one pen. It was filled 

 by Mr. Betty's birds, which found admirers as usual. Lastly, a 

 pen of Almonds, somewhat out of place it struck us, amongst 

 the larger Dragoons and Antwerps. We trust Mr. Ford will 

 secure a place next year for his very pretty 'Tumblers near their 

 own class. 



Such are the notes we jotted down whilst doing the tour of 

 the Show. Its extent is proved by their length, which we shall 

 not extend further than to congratulate the officers and mem- 

 bers of the National Peristeronic Society on their successful 

 effort this year to carry out one of the main objects in their 

 scheme, to popularise and extend Pigeon culture. 



Cbystal Palace Bran Show.— The twelfth annual Exhibition 

 of Canaries and British and Foreign Cage Birds is fixed to take 



place on Saturday, February 13th, extending to the 18th. The 

 entries are announced to close February 3rd, after which date 

 all post entries will be charged 25 per cent, in addition to the 

 fixed entry. Post entries to close February 6th. The classes 

 for entering birds amount to the unprecedented number of 

 eighty, besides a class (a new feature in the Exhibition) for show 

 cages, for which a silver medal will be awarded as a first prize, 

 and two money prizes for second and third. The prizes offered 

 for cages will be awarded with the view of giving a uniform 

 appearance to cage bird shows. The cages will include fittings, 

 which shall in the opinion of the Judges best fulfil the combined 

 requirements of cheapness and excellence of construction. In 

 the Selling class each exhibitor wiU be entitled to the same 

 number of entries as he shall have made in the competing 

 classes. The classes for Canaries and Mules extend to forty- 

 one, with fourteen for British birds, three classes for birds of 

 passage and migratory birds, and twenty-one classes for foreign 

 birds. The Judges are Messrs. Harrison Weir, J. Jeimer Weir, 

 G. J. Bamesby, A. Willmore, and E. L. Wallace. 



DEPRESSION OF HIVE FRAMES. 



I THANK Mr. Cheshire for his offer of assistance in trigonome- 

 trical calculation (page 601 of last volume), but as I require no 

 such instruction, and as it has no bearing on the question at 

 issue, it may be dispensed with. 



I still maintain that it is impossible for the bees to depress the 

 bars as stated. A bar might warp from fault in the wood, but 

 not from the weight of the bees, considering that a swarm is 

 distributed over several bars, and that the bees on one bar do 

 not suspend themselves from the centre only, but from nearly 

 the whole length. As to the bees commencing their comb in 

 the centre, that greatly depends on the position of the hive, for 

 they generally commence from the highest point, and, as it is 

 extended along the bar, must necessarily give a certain amount 

 of strength, and the conformation of the cells tends to support 

 themselves. As to the bees attaching the comb to the floor- 

 board, the instance Mr. Cheshire gives is no proof that they do 

 BO naturally ; in his case it might have arisen from careless 

 manipulation, and allowing pieces of comb to fall in the hive, 

 which the bees would immediately make fast, and should those 

 pieces be within a certain distance of the main comb they 

 would of course attach them. I deny that bees ever naturally 

 build down to the floorboards. 



As Mr. Cheshire refers me to his letter, I refer him to mine. 

 I said bees do " sometimes " attach the comb to the bottom 

 "rail," not floorboard. 



With regard to ventilation, Mr. Cheshire says that in full 

 skeps the cluster extends down to the floorboard. I can only 

 say I never saw so large a swarm in winter; and even if they did 

 it could have no prejudicial effect, for no one will deny that bees 

 winter as well in a skep as in any other hive if they have shelter 

 and sniEcient food. 



I am still at a loss to understand how the bottom rail aids 

 ventilation. I suppose Mr. Cheshire will allow that the heat in 

 a hive is generated by the bees, as warm air is lighter than cold ; 

 but Mr. Cheshire does not tell how he gets rid of the warm air 

 at the top to allow the cold to take its place, or how the said rail 

 assists in doing so. Mr. Cheshire's letter as a literary produc- 

 tion is all very good, but if the theories therein promulgated are 

 correct, then the attempts that have been made to instil into 

 my mind common reason have signally failed. Mr. Cheshire 

 appears to be singularly erratic in his commendation of hives, 

 and I would like to know how he can reconcile his letter in the 

 " British Bee Journal," pages 186, 187, and 188, with his letter 

 in the Journal of Horticulture of November 26th. Mr. Cheshire 

 expresses himself puzzled by the last sentence of my letter. 

 May I be allowed to explain that, if my memory serves me, the 

 hive which Mr. Cheshire claims as his consisted of a combina- 

 tion of several gentlemen's ideas, and because the one improve- 

 ment does not exist in his (?) he condemns it ? Why does not 

 Mr. Cheshire send his hive to the Editor of the " British Bee 

 Journal " as he promised to do ? — Pecchionk. 



THE SLINGER. 



Some weeks ago one of your correspondents in reply to my 

 letter on the slinger, asks, " Where is Mr. Pettigrew's authority 

 for saying the patrons of the slinger tell us that swarms spend 

 their first year in filling the bar frames with combs ? " The 

 literature of the bar-frame school which I have seen has led to 

 this conviction. At the present moment I cannot remember of 

 any records given of results of swarms in bar-framers. The 

 principal bar-frame apiarian in the neighbourhood of Manches- 

 ter told me, as I said before, that both honey and swarms could 

 not be obtained in one season. When I penned the remark I 

 had my mind fixed on an article of recent date, written as I 

 think ;by an inventor cr improver of bar-frame hives. I cannot 

 lay my hands on the number which contained this article, but 



