402 



JOUKNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 20, 1875. 



ceived as new citizens in the freebooting hive. If a hive which 

 is IsDOwn to be weak be discovered in a state of unusual bustle 

 and excitement, watch it narrowly ; and if fighting ha going on 

 nearly close up the entrance for a few days, leaving room only 

 for one or two bees to pass at a time ; a narrow door is more 

 easily defended than a wide open gate. Should the assailants 

 be very pertinacious, wet a piece of tow or moss with carbolic 

 acid, and fasten it on the alighting board ; the robbers will be 

 too disgusted to pass, but the defenders will brave it. Fighting 

 may often be ascribed to the bee-keeper's carelessness in spilling 

 honey or syrup round about a weak stock, which being dis- 

 covered and appropriated by stronger bees, they soon seek for 

 more plunder in the same locality. The Rev. Mr. Kleine says 

 robbers may be repelled by imparting to the hive some intensely 

 powerful and unaccustomed odour. He effects this by placing in 

 it iu the evening a small portion of musk, and on the following 

 morning the bees, if they have a healthy queen, will boldly meet 

 their assailants. These are nonplussed by the unwonted odour ; 

 and if any of them enter the hive and carry off some of the 

 coveted booty, on their return home, haviug a strange smell, 

 they will be killed by their own household." 

 The volume is illustrated by many well-executed woodcuts. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Eggb {C. a. O.). — The notes yon refer to did not mention aoy namea, and 

 we think it would not be advisable to publinh an index to them. Moreover, 

 it would Itad to p^eas and rejoinders for which we could not afford epace. 



Detecting Sex of Eggs (J. T. Q.). — The knowledge you ciave has been 

 sought for majiy years. Many have been convincpd they hid acquired it till 

 they put it to the test. The theory was that the pointed eges produce cochs, 

 and the round eggs pullets. We do not helievc in it. We have tried for 

 years, and the only result we can arrive at is that we believe the early-laid 

 eggs of a sitting produce more cocks than the later ones ; even this, we be- 

 lieve, is uncertain, but it has proved right with us sometimes. 



Unusual Length of Hatching- time (ii.).— We cannot explain why it 

 11, but in hatching largely we have frequently twenty-four hours between the 

 lirst and last chickens coming out. Such beiog the case, there is no reason 

 why the time may not bo somewhat extended. We are careful to remove the 

 shells, and leave the chickens till all are out. If we were to put Spanish, 

 Cochins, and Brahmas together, we should expect the Spanish out first from 

 the thin shells. 



Chickens Dead in the Egg (L. G. Z*.).— In all cases siting eggs should 

 he thoroughly damped for some days before they batch. When this is not 

 done, especially when the wind is in the east, the egg becomes unnaturally 

 dry, and the inner membrane so tough that the chicken cannot make its exit. 

 Its little strength is wasted in vain endeavours to break out. If the eggs were 

 wetted daily for ten days before hatching time this could not happen. It 

 may be doLC when the hen is off. The bauds should be dipped in cold water, 

 and then wrung several times over the eggs. It is merely following Nature. 

 AW bird^ leave their uesta at daybreak in search of food. The grass then is 

 wet with dew, often with white frost, sometimes from rain. The hens return 

 to their eggs reeking with wet. They always hatch, and so will yours probably 

 if you use like precaution. 



Detecting Fertilised Eggs (S. .E.).— We cannot help you, the fertility 

 of an egg can be only discerned after a change has taken place, and life begins 

 to bo developed. It can be seen after the egg ha^^ been five or six days under 

 the hen. Cboose a dark outhouse on a sunny day, close the door all but a 

 streak of light, make a telescope of the hand, place the egg at the end farthest 

 from the eye, bring it in a direct line between the sun and the eye, and au 

 irregular dark streak will he plainly visible, showing the change has begun. 

 Where there is no change the egg is not impreguattd. 



Cooking Eggs Soft.— I learnt the following mode at Queen's, Oxford. 

 Have a tin boiler with a coverlid. Bi>il the water and put in the egg for six 

 minutes, and take the boiler off the fire as soon as you put in the egg. The 

 reader will he surprised at how good the white is when so cooked. It is as 

 good as the interior. Usually the white ia as hard as a hoard, tasteless, and 

 indigestible.— W. F. Radclyffe. 



Canary Breeding (C. S., Liverpool). — Canary breeding cannot be carried 

 on to snch advantage when the space is limited, or the breeding compart- 

 ments are not advantageously cnustructcd, and especially when the first 

 broods cannot be separated from the old hens while sitting their next nests 

 of eggs. Where only one neat is provided it is a natural consequence that 

 the eggs may become soiled and spoiled by the shifty young birds, who for a 

 time prefer crowding about the old nest quarters. It is rarely young Canaries 

 Isave the nest before they are seventeen or eighteen davs old, and by sending 

 the hen again to nest twhen the young aro a fortnight old), iu another part 

 of the comitartmout away from the young, the eggn will neither be disturbed 

 nr soiled. But even if the hen lays her second lot of egcs in the nest where 

 the young brood may be, each egg can be taken out and kept iu bran or fine 

 and until the whole, or at least four of them are laid, when they can be re- 

 splaced in a clean nest in the cage for the ben to sit upon. The young birds 

 by this time will be on the turn vl three weeks old, and if, when you return 

 the nest with the e^'gs in. you find the young interfering wth or annoying 

 the old hen, at once partition or cage them off with tbe cock bird, who will 

 bring them up and learn them to feed in a day or two. Our plan is when the 

 youna Canaries have att4ined the age of twelve dajs, to introduce into the 

 breeding compartment a duplicate box or basket with the nest half made, and 

 some nesting material for the hen to put the finishing stroke to. We take 

 care that there be two hooks or nails in different parts of the cage for hanging 

 the boxes on. We transfer tbe nest with the youug on to the other nail, and 

 in its place suspend the clean nest. Most hens like tbeir old breeding 

 quarters. The hous will bo laying and no doubt commencing to sit before 

 the first bro jd have left the nest, and will eecape much of the annoyance they 

 are subject ta when only one nest is used. Mont hens when nesting again, 

 or sitting their eggs in another part from where the young birds are, will 

 chastise their offspring if inquisitive or annoying. There is another ad- 

 vantage (which we look upon as a part of good management), and thai la if 

 you send the bens to nest earlier than they would otherwise go, if having to 

 cope with a nest of fidgetty young birds, which have to leave the nest before 

 the ben can well settle down to sitting, the probability will be that one-half 

 the feathers will be stripped off or plucked by the hen, who will line her nest 



with tbe same. Now, what can be more annoying than to have what the 

 " fancy " call their *' plums" mutilated in this way, and the second feathers 

 shooting forth before art can step in to assist Nature? Pepper and every 

 other artificial mode of operation would then he of no avail. 



The tJEED Question (Nutc). — For the fuither information of Canary 

 fanciers, we may state that we have not used one grain of canary seed for the 

 past month. Ft-'r canary seed we have substituted white millet. 



Pheserving Peas Green (F. J.). — Pick them when full grown, shell them 

 dry them gently but thoroughly, and then store them in canvas baga in a dry 

 place. Wuen required for use soak them in water for a few hours until 

 plumped-up, and then boil them. The following mode has been reported to 

 us by a person well qualified to judge of such matters as being very suc- 

 cessful;— Carefully shell the peas, then put them in tin canisters, not too 

 ItsTge ; put in a small piece of alum, about the Fize of a horsebean, to a 

 piut of peas. When the canister is full of peas fill up the interstices with 

 water, and solder on the lid perfectly air tight, and boil the canister for 

 about twenty minutes; then remove them to a cool place, and they will be 

 found in January but little inferior to fresh newly-gathered peas. Bottling 

 is not so good — at least, we have not found it so ; the air gets in, the liquid 

 turns sour, and the peas acquire a bad taste. 



Sthaw Super ( W. F. Clark\. — As soon as the straw hive on the top of the 

 empty bar-frame hive is full of bees, they will commence to build combs in 

 the bar-frame one, and may fill it with combs before they ewarm ; hut some- 

 times bees so treated swarm before the nadir is filled. If you were to remove 

 the frame hive and put a super on the top the bees might swarm then. Nadirs 

 are more likely to prevent swarming than supers. Your better way will be 

 to let it remain as it is for a month, or swarm it artificially when it is ready. 

 At present it is not strong enough to occupy both top and bottom hives. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Sqdare, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0° 8' 0" W. ; Altitade, 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 

 12th.— A very fine pleasant enjoyable day. rpleasant. 



13th. — Rather hazy morning; a very line day, hut rather too warm to be 

 14th. — Very fine day ; rather stormy-looking about 7 p.m., but clear by 9. 

 15th. — A very beautiful day, very warm in the middle of the day; hut rather 



cloudy in the evening, though soon clearing off. 

 IGth. — Fine morning; and all day fair and pleasant ; tha evening very much 



cooler, in fact quite cool. (7 and 8 p.m., but fine after. 



17th. — A very bright pleasant day, with cool breeze ; rather cloudy between 

 18ih. — Slightly cloudy day; a little rain just afternoon, and again about 7 p.m., 



in each case preceded and accompanied by violent gusts of wind. 

 A week of pleasant weather, bright and dry, and thoagh the mean tempera- 

 ture is about 7'' above that of last week, only one day on which it was too 

 warm to be agreeable. — G. J. Simons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— May 19. 

 TnE supply is well kept up; business, however, somewhat interrupted by 

 the holidays. The French goods have not come so well during the last few 

 days owing to the unusual heat of the weather. 

 fruit. 



