February 18, 1875. ] 



JOUBNA.L OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



153 



SPiBEOws (Java).— Prize, W. Walter, he, E. H. Sweeting (2). c, Mrs. 

 Faraeaax. 



SPARRUW3 (Diamond).— Prize. Mrs. A. Sambrook. 



Doves ( Barbary or Ring).— Prize, T. Newmarch. he, W. Travis ; W, C. Clark ; 

 J./[jeiltchford ; — IvLQtfstoD. c, W. Travis. 



L.UVE Birds.— Prize, Mrs. M. Jiidd he, T. Nowmarcb. 



pA8AKEETd(.4,astrftlian (ira«3) -Prize, Mrs. H.Beatiie. he.'V. Ncwraarch ; J. 

 Drake, c, £, Hawkins ; T. Nuwmarcb. 



CoCKATEALS.— Prize, airs. \V. C. Druinmood. he, W. Walter, c, .1. Groom. 



Small Parrots or Parakeets (.\Dy other variety),— Prize, Mrs, W. Mostyn. 

 vhc, Mrs. W. C- Drumraoml. he, J. Yallop. 



Pabakeets (Australian or Broadtail) —Prize, T. Newmarch. 



PARAKEETSlRiiii^-ueeke'lurlQ.iian).— Prize, J. Drake, v/ic, 0. Torond. /ic.H. 

 Cross; F. Saunders, c, W. T. Titcomb; W. Walter; S. Cook. 



Kino Pahrots.— y/ic, S. Buiiting. lie, J. Drake, c, Mrs. W. C. Drummond. 



Pabrots (tireen or any other variety of large, except (irey) —1, b. J. Wiide. 

 2, Mrs. Scott, 



Pahrots (Grey).- 1, Mrs. Segrave. 2, Mrs. W. Huskinson. he, F. U. Cudd. 

 C, Hon. and Rev. F. Dutton. 



Cockatoo (Adv other variety).— Prize, T. Newmarcb. he, A. Vicars. 



CocHAToo (Leadbeater or Kose-bri;tiBted).— 1, W. Walter. 2 and he, J. 

 Battershiil. 



Cockatoo (Lemon or Orange-crested) —1, M. George. 2, Mrs. W. H. Wyeth. 



Foreign Birds (Any other variety).— I aud Extra 1, E. Hawkins. 2, J. Drake. 

 Extra 2, Mrs. E. Cross; C. W. Gedney; E. Hawkins, he, Mrs. M. Judd; J. 

 Drake; W.Walter; Madame Gallo; Miss W. Pope ; E.Hawkins, c, J. Drake; 

 W. Walter (2); Madame Gailo; J. Groom ; T. Newmarcb (3). 



Extra Prize to the winner of the most puints in the lirst six. classes.— G. & J. 

 Mackley. 



Silver Cup for the greatest number of points in elaasea 30, 31, 32, and S3.— 

 J. Doel. 



Judges. — Canaries : Mr. G, J. Barnesby, Mr. A. Willmore, 

 Mr. R. L. "Wallace. British and Foreign Birds: Mr. Harrison 

 Weir, Mr. J. Jeuner Weir, assisted by Mr. F. W. Wilson, 



PURE WATER. 



' Water that ie freah and pure 

 (jives to life what will eusare 

 Health, growth, productiveness I 



The importance of a plentiful supply of purs water for live 

 stock cannot be over-eetimated. To quench thirst is not the 

 ultimate end or only purpose of water. The desire that is 

 created for drink is occasioned by a feeling termed thirst, simi- 

 lar to a desire for food through a sensation of hunger. These 

 are but the demands of the inner being, the act of satisfying 

 such but a physical exertion, while the article drank enters 

 into the compo-sition of blood, bone, and flesh, maintains a 

 greater per-centage than other component parts, and is one of 

 the essentials of life. 



In a pure state, water (as it is indispensable) sustains existence ; 

 while, if impure, it, like a poison, affects the entire system, 

 occasioning many diseases that are attributed to other causes 

 through the attachment of so little importance to the vital 

 necessity of using the pure aqueous fluid. 



Pure water may be considered juat as essential to life and 

 growth as is pure air, and upon the advantages of a free circula- 

 tion of air medical authorities have written volumes, attributing 

 so much to it as to believe its condition sufficient to make a 

 person sick, cause death, alter body and mind ; while with water 

 the influence must be decidedly greater. 



The tendency of water to absorb noxious effluvia is one great 

 reason why it becomes unfit for drinking purposes after standing 

 close to such impurities ; and there is no greater source of un- 

 healthfulness than where there is allowed to accumulate decayed 

 vegetable matter or animal excrement, particularly with that of 

 the feathered creation. 



All gaseous contagious matter are substances in a state of 

 decomposition, and water in the presence of such gases being an 

 absorbent, soon becomes turbid, or, so to speak, putrefies by the 

 process of decomposition, which is completed in the water. It 

 so remains unchanged, unless subject to the filtering process it 

 undergoes in the earth, when vegetation, having a stronger 

 affinity for such gases, extracts them from the water, and it 

 again becomes pure and fit for drinking purposes. 



Furthermore, the vitality and productive qualities of live stock 

 are increased or diminished through the effects (resulting from 

 the nature) of the article which becomes the means of their pro- 

 ductiveness ; in an egg, for example, the white contains iJS, the 

 yolk 79 per cent, of water, and it reasonably follows that the 

 quality of the egg is dependant upon the nature of its largest 

 constituent part. 



Small bodies of water when left exposed to the sun's rays lose 

 their freshness and satisfying qualities ; and with fowls there 

 is either too much drank, causing intestinal diseases, or too 

 little to enable a sufficient moistening of their food to ensure a 

 proper digestion, either of which retards the functions of the 

 organs, and interferes with the health and profit of the stock. 



Vessels used in watering stock should receive a proper cleansing 

 before being used a second time ; if not, any impurities that 

 may remain in the previous surplus supply, or that may adhere 

 to the sides of the vessel, will taint the fresh water, and in time 

 cause a smell that will be objectionable. 



Rain water should not be permitted to accumulate so as to be 

 accessible for drinking purposes for stock, as it contains the 

 impurities of the atmosphere, which being very acceptable 

 and beneficial to plant life, are just the contrary to animal 

 existence. I 



It is the belief of the writer that many of the diseases incident 

 to poultry are due to neglect in providing them with pure water; 

 particularly do I believe such to be the case in the majority 

 of instances where chicken cholera prevails. One writer has 

 attempted to account for the contagious nature of this and other 

 fatal distempers by saying that unhealthy fowls will impart to 

 the water from which they drink their particular disorders, and 

 that other fowls that may drink afterwards become similarly 

 affected ; but this is not accounting for the first cause or origin 

 of such fatalities, and hardly seems possible ; but the infection 

 of such diseases could reasonably be imputed to the vitiated 

 state of the water consumed. 



The omission to furnish fowls with suitable drinking water 

 is one of the worst features of cruelty to animals. It is a neglect 

 that is decidedly adverse to success, hence tends to diminish 

 individual fancy for fowls, and works detriment to poultry 

 interests. Those whom we occasionally hear say that *' there is 

 no profit in poultry " are not qualified to have the management 

 of the same, aud in their attentions may be classed with the 

 thriftless and neglectful parties who keep fowls that get drink 

 when it rains. 



Let every owner of live stock, among other attentions, see 

 that such are supplied with a sufficient amouut of pure water, 

 aud they will not have occasion to regret that the said stock are 

 not as profitable and thrifty as they might be. — {dfucrican 

 Fanciers^ Journal.) 



LIGURIAN BEES. 



For two or three years I have been under the impression that 

 all thoughts as to the superiority of Ligurian bees over the 

 common sort have been fast dying out. I have never believed 

 they possess any superior powers or qualities, and therefore have 

 been rather pleased to think that all earnest apiitrians would 

 Eoou settle down with the conviction that the common English 

 bees are in no sense inferior to any other sort yet discovered, 

 and that the apiarians would commence to give them ample 

 scope for the development of their breeding powers and industry, 

 and store room enough for honey, instead of seeking novelties ; 

 for if profit or honey be the aim of bee-keepers, they will find 

 in the end t^at the pursuit of novelties is very uusatisfactory 

 and costly. For many years I have been waiting and looking 

 out for evidence of the superiority of Ligurian bees. I have 

 seen almost all that has been published in this country in their 

 favour, and much that has been written and spoken in America, 

 but never have I seen anything that proves they are better in 

 any sense than the common English bees. Almost all that has 

 been written and published in their favour has come from 

 breeders and importers of Ligurian bees. For many years we 

 have had some opportunities of seeing Liguriana at work and 

 examining their hives, and never once have they furnished ua 

 with evidence of any superiority at all ; and so far as I have 

 read the discussions on the relative merits of Ligurian and 

 common bees in the annual conventions of American bee-keepers, 

 the weight of disinterested evidence was certainly not in favour 

 of Ligurians. Some years ago I cut a letter touching this ques- 

 tion from the New York Tribune, and sent it to the late Mr. 

 Woodbury. The writer had tried Ligurians for some years, and 

 BO far as honey-gathering went the trial was a comparative 

 failure. He said thev were good breeders but poor honey- 

 gatherers. 



Last year I heard of a lady in the north of Scotland who gives 

 prizes every autumn for the heaviest swarms, and that Ligurians 

 had carried off the laurels for one or two seasons. From in- 

 quiries I have made the report seems to be correct. We have 

 also the fact before us, already recorded in the ■Journal uf Horfi- 

 culture, that Mr. George Campbell had last year a gross weight 

 of 373 lbs. from a stock hive of Ligurians and its swarms. Mr. 

 Campbell is a very intelligent aud able apiarian, and the season 

 in Aberdeenshire, where he lives, was very favourable for honey- 

 gathering ; he has in two or three private letters to me ex- 

 pressed his opinion that the Ligurians are better than the 

 common sort of bees. He says that the Ligurians fill larger 

 hives, and fancies that the breeding powers of the English bees 

 can be improved by crossing or culture. Two swarms of com- 

 mon bees in the same country went together last year, and 

 gathered about -10 lbs. more than Mr. Campbell's first swarm, 

 which was 120 lbs., the united swarm gathering about or above 

 IGO lbs. In the heavy swarm there does not appear any de- 

 ficiency of the breeding powers of the queen, and we well know 

 that hives a little larger than Mr. Campbell's have been filled 

 elsewhere by simple swarms of common bees. Still, he has the 

 fact of 373 lbs. gross weight before us, and I can remember but 

 one instance of common bees doing better than, or even as well 

 as this. 



Is there no way of testing by a public trial or competition 

 which sort of bees is the best? Is it not possil)le to have a 

 Derby day in the apiarian world without a manifestation of 

 temper and ill-feeling? I think it can be done. Surely no 

 right-minded apiarian would object to a fair and honourable 

 contest between English and Ligurian bees. Though my old 



