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JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOULTUBB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



I July 16, 1874. 



portance also should bo given to this variety, because though 

 other Pigeons are pretty, graceful, elegant, yet of the Pouter 

 only can the word "grand" be used. It is, indeed, a grand 

 Pigeon. 



Now, looking back historically, I find that the only Pouters 

 that were considered strict fancy birds were the four Pieds — 

 Blue, Black, Red, and Yellow ; but the laws of the fancy are not 

 like those of the Medes — unalterable ; thus White has been added, 

 and rightly, although the old writers do not mention it at all, 

 and even Brent, writing so recently as 18G0, says only " pure 

 Wbite are admired by a few." But, to come to present days, I 

 find that the two national representative Shows, the Crystal 

 Palace and Glasgow, differ as to the order of merit (inferred by 

 their arrangement of classes) as to colour. I will premise that 

 a hundred years ago the order was Yellow-pied, Redpied, 

 Black-pied, and Blue-pied last. Brent gives them thus : Blue- 

 pied, Black-pied, Red-pied, Yellow-pied, and White. The 

 Crystal Palace Committee arrange the colours thus : Pieds — 

 Blue, Black, Red or Yellow, and White, following Brent, then 

 any colour or markings ; while our Glasgow friends arrange the 

 colours in this order — Black- pied. White (mark this). Blue-pied, 

 Red-pied, Y'ellow-pied, then Mealy-barred, then lastly irregular 

 in colour and marking. 



I should like the order of colour to be settled; an election 

 taking place like the rose election, with this difference, that 

 once done it is done for ever, or for years. I incline to the 

 colours being placed according to the difficulty in getting them 

 good; then, of course, White would stand last. 



I would, as I have ijefore written, add Mealy, although Eaton, 

 a recent writer, calls it " the most despicable colour in the 

 feather," and I have myself written against it ; but all matters, 

 even the highest political affairs, are now settled by compromise 

 — giving and taking. Perhaps each leading Pouter fancier would 

 send his order of colours as he thinks they should be. These 

 lists sent to our Editors would by them be sent to me, and the 

 whole table printed together. Here we should have a basis to 

 work from, and perhaps the Crystal Palace Committee, and per- 

 haps Glasgow too, would adopt whatever the result of the 

 election would show to be the predominant feeling. 



I would, as I have before stated, have smaller prizes for the 

 newly-advanced colours, the fact of Mealies and Chequers 

 having prizes awarded at all would tend to encourage " the 

 young and poor fancier." I do not think there is any real 

 difference of opinion between myself and my friend Mr. Huie. 

 according as I understand his last letter. I will only add, in I 

 hope what is pure Scotch this time, that a letter from him is 

 always " a sight gade for sair een " to — Wiltshire Rector. 



BEES EE-SWALLOWING HONEY. 



Me. Pettigrew's challenge on the subject of bees re-swallow- 

 ing honey has received a capital response in the result of the 

 experiments of your able correspondent " R. S." I had hoped 

 myself to put the question to the proof, and had hived a swarm 

 in a beautiful observatory hive, presented to me by Mrs. Wood- 

 bury after the death of her much-lamented husband. Unfortu- 

 nately the bees took a dislike to the hive, and disappeared just 

 as I was leaving home for a fortnight. But nothing can be 

 clearer told or better managed than the experiment as conducted 

 by " R. S." Having no bar hives in operation just now in my 

 own apiary, I cannot myself try the question in the way indi- 

 cated ; but nothing can be more easily put to the test by persons 

 who are more fortunate than myself. The more witnesses to 

 any presumable truth the better. I observe that my theory 

 npon evaporation is fully endorsed, or rather is sufficiently 

 corroborated, by the experiment of " R. S."— B. & W. 



T try them with all till I find oat their taste — 



The fooi they don't care for they scatter and waste. 



About their brii,'ht cajjes I hang a gay bower 



Of ehepherd'fi-purae, chickweed, and groundsel in tIow6r> 



At a root of ripe grass they will pick with much zest. 



For seeds and small pebbles their food to diget-t. 



But all should bo ripe, and well seeded, and brown, 



Few leaves on the groundsel, but plenty of down. 



In summer I hang ihem out high la the shade 



About our hall door by a portiei> made; 



In spring, autumn, winter, a window they share. 



Where the blind is drawn down to the afternoon glare. 



This window, if open beneath them, we close. 



Lest the cramp should seize hold of their poor little toea. 



A bath about noontide on every mild day 



Will keep your small favourites healthy and gay. 



la hot summer suubhine, some cahco green. 



As a roof to their cage, makes a very good screen. 



On winter nights cover from lamplight and cold; 



And they'll sing in all weathers, and live to be old. 



-The Animal World. 



THE CARE OF CANARIES. 



A PAIR of Canaries I give to yonr care. 



Don't blind them with sunehine, or starve them with air, 



Or leave them out late in the cold and the damp, 



And then be surprised if they suffer from cramp ; 



Or open the window in ali kind of weathers 



Quite near to their cago till they puff out their feathers. 



The birds that are tree fly to bueb and to grot, 



If the wind bo too cold or the sun is too hot ; 



But these pretty captives depend on your aid, 



In winter for warmth, and in summer for shade. 



"When they chirrup, and ceaselessly hop to and fro, 



Some want or discomfort they're trjing to show; 



When they scrape their bills shaiply on perish or at wire. 



They're asking for something they greatly desire ; 



When they set every feather on end in a twinkling, 



With musical rustle like water a-Kprinkliug, 



In rain or in sunshine, with sharp call-like notes, 



They are besging for water to freshen their coats. 



Cage, perches, and vessels, keep all very clean, 



For fear of small insects — you know what I mean 1 — 



They breed in their feathern, and leave them no rest. 



In buying them seed, choose the cleanest and boat, 



I feed my Canaries (excuse me the hint) 



On hemp and canary, rape, millet, aud lint. 



OLD QUEENS. 

 The question of " A Scottish Schoolm.ister," " Do old 

 queens banish themselves ?" is very interesting and important, 

 as I believe far the greater number of losses of stock hives occur 

 through the absence of queens when the bees are unable to pro- 

 duce others. My experience may throw some light on the sub- 

 ject, while there are certain points on which I should be glad to 

 be enlightened. 



When I commenced bee-keeping, about ten years ago, I pur- 

 chased a good and early first swarm, which in the following 

 season gave me two swarms — the first having, of course, the old 

 queen of my original stock. The next season my three hives 

 seemed equally strong, and the two hives with young queens 

 swarmed early ; while the other — that with my original queen— 

 although full of bees, hung for a fortnight later. I happened to 

 be close by when they swarmed, and saw the queen come out 

 and drop on the ground, one wing being broken. I picked her 

 up and carried her where the bees were thickest, placing her on 

 a branch, where she was speedily joined by the other bees and 

 safely hi ved 



I carefully watched this hive, and just two months afterwards 

 found the same queen brought outside dead. I then turned out 

 the bees, and found a queen already hatched and laying. I then 

 formed an opinion (comparing this circumstance with what I 

 had read of queens destroying embryo queens when they attained 

 a certain size), which I have since confirmed by several other 

 observations — namely, that when the queen gets very old she is 

 unable to destroy the young queens, and they are often allowed 

 to hatch before the old one leaves or is driven from the hive. 

 I have seen so many proofs of this that I have no doubt at all 

 on the subject. Only last summer I had a hive with an old 

 queen, which swarmed before nine o'clock on a morning not 

 very fine. The queen fell as I expected, and I hived her with 

 a handful of bees for an experiment, allowing most of the bees 

 to return. The same day I heard young queens piping, and a 

 second swarm followed in three or four days. The old queen 

 had evidently been forced out, as the young queens were hatch- 

 ing. My opinion is strengthened by the fact that I can remem- 

 ber about a dozen cases of my own or neighbours' bees swarming 

 and returning to the hive, the old queen being almost invariably 

 found on the ground with a small cluster of bees, and the second 

 swarm with her successor generally coming in from three to 

 six days. 



The practical lesson from all this seems to be not to keep 

 queens beyond their third year. They may go safely into the 

 fourth season, but are not likely to do so successfully. — A Dorset 



SCHOOLMASTEB. 



APIARIAN NOTES. 



TnE honey season of 1871 will, we imagine, show very dif- 

 ferent results in different parts of the country. I am writing 

 on the 6th of July, in the midst of magnificent weather, such 

 as in other years would content the most exacting of bee- 

 keepers. White clover is abundant everywhere, and has been 

 in fuU bloom for more than a fortnight, yet my bees are cotn- 

 paratively idle, and have made no perceptible addition to their 

 stores for the last month. In some later swarms I can see no 

 sealed honey whatever, and hardly a sign of honey in the open 

 cells. Only one cause is apparent to account for it, which is 

 the excessive drought — exactly the contrary reason which I 

 gave last year as accounting for the extraordinary scarcity of 

 honey which then prevailed. 



Here, in our part of Somersetshire, we are as dry 3 inches 

 underground as we were six weeks ago. It is fully twelve weeks 

 since we had rain stifficient to penetrate to the depth of 4 inches. 

 It has been different elsewhere, heavy and abundant rains 

 haviuL; fallen recently, which no doubt will enable the fortunate 

 recipients of Heaven's bounty to tell another tale in regard to 

 honey as in other things. The early part of the season gave ua 



