178 



JOUBNAL OF HORTIOULTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ AugQBt 20, 1874. 



Books (TF. B.). — Oar " Poaltry-keoper's Manual " f^ivea all the essential 

 information you need. If you enclose Rixty-thi-ee stamps with your address 

 yon can have it post free. {D. B., Enjicldl—Oar " Bee-keeping for the Many." 

 Yon can have it free by post if you enclose five postage stamps with yonr 

 address. 



BRnjGEND Poultry Show.— The first prize for Polish was awarded to 

 Mr. Bloodworth, and not to Mr. Joues, as stated in the prize list, the birds of 

 these exhibitors having been placed in the wrong pens. 



Fowls' Legs ScriRFY (Tettciihalll—Iiab the legs with citrine ointment 

 daily. You can obtain it of any chemist. 



Rain VRoDVCTrm op Food {J. C ).— It is possible to have too much of a 

 good thiny, and jnat as we often long for sunshine in April and May, bo we 

 have wished and waited for rain for some weeks past. We are convinced it 

 is as beneficial to the poultry as to the garden. You need only look at the 

 grass run. Ten days since it was plain unrelieved brown ; the passage of a 

 chicken raised a dust, and the poor, dead, moulted feathers flew about with- 

 out hindrance. You might as well look for animal life and food on a London 

 gas-pipe as on the parched surface. Now there ia a shade of green, the earth 

 is pleasant to walk upon, and at daybreak the lon^ voyages of discovery un- 

 dertaken by the chickens will show they know food may be bad for the 

 seeking. 



Fowls in Confined Space— Eating Home-fatted Chickens (A. G.).— 

 We are answerable only for our own writincr, that is enough for anyone. If 

 you had wi-itten to ua we could have told you, you could not rear chickens in 

 the space you name. It was larq^e enough only during the first fortnight. 

 We advise you in future to " go in " for eggs. Perhaps you will say as one of 

 our correppondeutfl did lately, that " it is very hard to keep poultry and never to 

 eat a chicken." We are by no means sure those who keep the largest number 

 of fowls eat the moat poultry. Proverbial wisdom says, " The cobbler's wife 

 is the worst-shod woman." You say there is such a satisfaction in eating 

 that you have had something to do in producincr. We will meet that diffi- 

 culty. Have a email fatteuiug-coop made. (" Fowls," by Baily, page 96). Buy 

 four or six well-grown, lean, but fleshy cbickeng, put them up, and fatten 

 them yourself. You can do this at small expense. You have space enough, 

 but mind the fattening chickens must not be in any place used by birds at 

 liberty. 



Depectite Fowls (G. IF.).— Get rid of the faulty birds at once. Every 

 mouthful they eat is waste. " Poor little pets," as they are called, are the 

 plague and bane of the poultry-yard. They eat as much as the best birds, 

 and cannot make any return for it. Where only fancy is concerned, do as you 

 please ; but if you want to show a balance, you must forswear sentiment. 



Keeping [Fowls Profitably {Sarah).~Yon must keep account of the 

 food consumed, and strike an average. With such meagre statistics as you 

 provide, we cannot do it. The condition of the birds, whether recently par- 

 chased, the nature of their run, the breed of them, all have to be taken into 

 consideration. 



Avoid Depectite Stock (J. J.).— Never breed from a cock with a dis- 

 qualifying fault. 



Watery Swelling on Hamburgh's Earlobe (T. L.).— We were not aware 

 any query had escaped us. We are sorry if it is so. The white skin is only 

 the outer sac or covering. The lobe withm is perfectly red. If you think it 

 is a watery swclUng, puncture it so that it will not show from "the outside, 

 and let the contents escape. If it increase much in size, wash it freqnencly 

 with a strong eolation of alum and water. It is very unnsual for any hen to 

 lay thirteen eggs in thirteen days. It has not been very uncommon for 

 a Spangled Hamburgh to sit. Our experience in Bla^k Hamburghs is 

 not as great. We have, however, known a Pencilled hen sit and reai- a 

 brood. 



Base Brahmas lCJianging).-^T>o not give up your Brahmas. They and 

 Cochins are the only birds that will suit you, because they are the only breeds 

 that respect fences. The non-sitters— Hamburghs, CrOve-Cceurs, Houdans, 

 and Spanish "fly like Pheasants." If yon kept "any of these you must cut 

 one wing close, and even then we believe they would struggle over the 

 fence. 



Fowls for Limited Space (G. H.).— Some fowls are not fitted for a con- 

 fined space, and it is probable those you describe as barndoor are of tho num- 

 ber. The Game cock haw caught the disease from the hens. Do tbey get the 

 sun ? We should prefer the light sandy soil to the ashes for the flooring of 

 the house. We should alter the feeding by giving gi-ouud oats or barleymeal 

 slacked with water in the morning, house scraps at mid-day, evening same as 

 morning. Give them some lettuce, especially those that "are gone to seed, 

 and let them have dust heapg. On these conditions you can choose your 

 breed. Keep twenty-four fowls in your space. They should be Brahmas or 

 Cochin B. 



Brahmas Broody (JVo nice). —Light Brahmas are not more prone to sit 

 than any other birds, and you must, as in any other case, consider that the 

 ordinary course of tilings cannot be altered, even though it should interfere 

 with our wishes or arrangements. Broodiness is their rest. It is the sign of 

 pnberty, and their growth ceases ; but beauty of form and plumage, excellence 

 of condition, and general merit remain, and cannot fail to be appreciated. 

 If they cannot be winning chickens on account of their precocity, they will 

 be beautiful adults next January and February, because the blush of youth 

 will remain upon them. 



Pigeons Neglecting to Feed One op Their Young Ones (G. C).— 

 Pigeons will frequently do this. There is no cure if the birds be well supplied 

 with food. Perhaps they are aware that one bird ia too weak to Uve, and 

 treat it as the Hindoos are said to treat their sick or aged relatives — leave it 

 to die. 



White Clover {A. J. 17.).— Bees prefer the white before any other species 

 of clover. A row of it between rows of peas and beans in your garden would 

 not injure them, but the clover would be productive of very little honey in 

 such a situation. 



Emptv Bee Hives in Garden— Following a Swarh (Morning Watch). 

 —It is not illegal to have hives with comb in them left in a garden after the 

 bees are dead. No one can legally follow a awarm of his beea on to another 

 person's land. He should goto that person and ask permission to recover the 

 swarm. 



Uniting Swarms (B. B ).— We cannot approve of putting so many swarms 

 mto one box in June and July. Probably you would have had more honey to 

 take now, and more stocks lor another year, if you had kept your swarms 

 separate. Thoagh you may have failed to find the qneens cost out of Taylor's 



hive, they were, doobtless, destroyed. We think that the 32 lbs. gained in 

 the time mentioned by you is very good, and that as you are desirous to have 

 some honey your better way will be to remove No. 2 box, and take all the 

 honey you can get from it, then replace it on the hive. If some of the 

 centre combs are filled with brood they could remain undisturbed, by cutting 

 out the honeycomb only. If the weather become fine your bees should gather 

 from the heather SJlbs. more. If they do, you may have a second harvest of 

 honeycomb in about a month. 



Vermin on Canary (Ynis-n-Cwm).—')dr. Brent says— *' The red mites or 

 cage bugs are a ppecies of Acarus. They live in the cracks and joining of the 

 cages, and at night sally forth to suck and annoy the birds; they multiply in 

 great numbers about the cage and in the neets, tormentiug the poor birds, 

 catiHing the death of the young, and frequently of the old birds likewiBe. Some 

 fanciers have reconimouded the use of tbe Persian insect-deetroying powder; 

 but I have not tried it, finding that by thoroughly cleaning the cages, saturating 

 the oracka with linseed oil, and then filling them with flowers of sulphur, and 

 duwting sulphur among the birds' feathers, also by cleaning the nest and 

 sprinkling powdered sulphur in, that I can get rid of these pests. "Wherever 

 any floury or mouldy appearance is noticeable about the joins or crevices of 

 the cage, these torments to the birds may be suspected, and no time should. 

 be lost in giving them notice to quit." 



METEOEOLOQICAIi OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Square, London. 

 Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Loq^. 0° 8' 0" W. : Altitude 111 feet. 



BEMARE3. 



12th. — Fine morning, and moderately so till 5 p.m., when it clouded over ; rain 



at 6 p.m., and wet night. 

 13th. — Showery till 4 p.m., after that time fine. 

 I4th. — Stormy and boisterous all the fore part of the day, the latter part fine 



and less windy. 

 15th. — Morning and noon very fine ; a very pleasant day, scarce any 



wind. 

 16th. — Fair all day, but rather cloudy and dull. 

 17th. — \ very pleasant enjoyable day, and starlit night. 

 18th. — Another very fine day; much warmer in the after part of the day. 



The I'ith, 13th, and I4th were stormy uncomfortable days, tho wind on the 

 14th being particularly bjisterous; the remainder of the week very pleasant. 

 The mean temperature at 9 a.m. about 1° above that of the previous week. — 

 G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— August 19. 

 A GOOD supply and the fine weather favours the iu-getting of a large 

 quantity of Plums and Pears, a considerable portion of which goes to furnish 

 the markets in the north and midland counties. Rough vegetables have 

 much improved under the recent rains. Hothouse Grapes, both Black and 

 Muscats, are plentiful. Peaches and Nectaiines from the open walls seU at 

 '3s. to 4s. per dozen. 



FRUIT. 



Apples J sieve 



Apricots doz. z 



Cberrles ^Ib. 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants i sieve 4 



Black do. 5 



Figs doz. 3 



Filberts lb. 1 



Cobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse. . . . lb. 1 



Lemons **- 100 16 



Melons each 8 



a. d. 8. d. 



1 Otol i 







Mulberries ^ lb. 



Nectarines doa. 5 



Oranges :^ 100 12 



Peaches doz. 4 



PearB, kitchen doz. 



dessert doz. 3 



Pine Apples lb. 2 



Plums i sieve 3 



Quinces doz. 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries ^ lb. 



Walnuts bushel 10 



ditto ¥'100 a 



B. d. a. d. 



1 OtoO 

 10 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. 



Asparagus ^100 



French 



Beans. Kidney.... i sieve 



Broad bushel 



Beet. Red doz 



ErocciiU bundle 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums ¥*■ 100 



Carrots bunoh 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts. . doz. bunches 

 Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish bundle 



Leeks 



e. d. a. d. 

 B Oto6 











4 





 8 



1 6 



3 







1 

 U 



2 



4 

 1 

 

 

 

 

 

 4 

 



Lettuee.... doz. 



MusUroomu pottle 



Mustard & Cresa.. punnet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quarl 



Parsley per doz , bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes buehol 



Kidney do. 



Now ^ lb. 



Radishes., doa. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsaly bundle 



Soorzonera bundle 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Tornipa bsneb 



Vegetable Marrowa ..dos. 



8. d. 8. d. 

 1 otoa 



a 



8 

 



1 6 



I 















