98 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Februftry 8, 1876. 



("rawn upward, and not downward where the bads are situated. Do it before 

 the buds swell. 



DioN(EA MuscrPULA CuLTORE (.7. 5. S. B.).— The plants are dead if they 

 have entirely disappeared, but you may try them by potting in rough peaty 

 soil and a fourth each of sphagnum and crooks broken small, draining one- 

 third the depth of the pot, and etanding in a saucer stuffed round lightly 

 with frehh mnes and kept full of water, covering the plant with a bell glass, 

 but raised a Uttle by a thin piece of wood, placing near the glass, but with a 

 north aspect, or with plenty of light, but protected from bright sun. A 

 4-iDch pot will be sufficiently large. 50^ at night to 65^ by day is a suitable 

 temperature, or a warm greenhouse. 



ViNEEY Heating (C,).— The aspect is not a good one, but if there is not 

 shade or objecta that will obstruct the hght there is no objection to it other 

 than that you will have to make up for a deficiency of natural heat by arti- 

 ficial. Almost any kind of Vines would answer, but we could not advise as 

 jou do not say whether the vinery is intended for early, mideeason, or late. 

 A 4-feet border and all inside will bo practically useless after two years. 

 There should be a width of border equal to that of the house, and half of it 

 outside. The bottom of the border being rocky there may be no neid of 

 drainage, which can only be determined on the spot. There is no objection 

 to the depth of the border ; and as to the ingredients of which the bor ier is 

 to be composed, we do know good Grapes have been grown in such stuff, but 

 it is a very poor one, and would require very hiph feeding in the shape of 

 liquid manure. No one in these advanced days would think of such a 

 border. An orchard house in " a regular shaded comer " will be certain to 

 give a plentiful crop of disappointment, and only that; and yoa seem quite 

 as unhappy in the selection of a slow-combustion boiler, though if it be a 

 large size, and of ample heating power, there is no objection. The whole 

 appears to us to be ill devised— not well adapted for the purposes intended, 

 but there may be reasons which prevent its being otherwise, on which we 

 can offer no opinion. 



Plantino Steaweerries {F. M. S.).— You may safely remove the young 

 plants which were planted in September, selecting favourable weather in 

 Februaiy for the operatiou, takiog up the plants with good balls of earth 

 attached to their roots, and planting tfcera ciirefully in good soil. Do not 

 plant too deeply. They will require no special protection. 



Jerusalem Artichokes Ildevi\—Tnber9 planted any time in February 

 will produce a crop in the autumn the same as Potatoes. They are best in a 

 single row, planting a foot apart; if in a bed the rows should be 3 feet dis- 

 tant from each other. Thinning of the stems is seldom necessary, but if 

 more than one proceed from a root, draw them out when a few inches high. 

 You will find what you need on the cultivation of Horseradish in another 

 column. 



Heating a Conservatort (J. fl".).— Providing the greenhouse boiler is 

 sufficiently powerful to heat the 80 yards of flow aud return piping necessary 

 to connect it with the conservatory piping and the piping that will be 

 required to heat the latter, there is no objection, but there will be a loss of 

 heat from the SO yards of connecting pipes which should be taken in a 

 covered flue, and being open at the conservatory end some of the heat will be 

 utilised for heating the conservatory. To heat the 2O0O cubic feet of air you 

 will require about 120 feet of 4-inch piping. 



Cocoa-nct Fibre Eefube for Hotbeds (J. Long).~Jt is not a ferment- 

 ing material, and therefore it is pi actically useless for affording heat to a 

 hotbed. It is valuable as a plunging material, and in its decomposed state a 

 aesirable compost for plants. 



Nitrate of Soda (A New Beginyier).— The following is all the information 

 we can render you:— Nitrates of potash (saltpetre) and of soda (cubic petre) 

 have been found beceficial to Carrots, Cabbages, and lawns. One pound to a 

 square rod of ground is a sufficient quantity. Both these nitrates have been 

 found beneficial to Potatoes in Scotland. Mr. Murray says that from 1810 

 down to the present time he has been in the habit of watering Pinks ani 

 Caruations with solulinns of these two nitrates, and the benefit has been 

 uniform and eminent in promoting their luxuriance. They have also been 

 given in solution with great benefit to Chrysanthemums, Lettuces, Celery, 

 Fnehsias, and Dahlias; lib. to twelve gallons of water. Nitrate of soda 

 destroys slugs. 



Names of Fruits (J. EUiot).~-V!e do not recognise the Apple. It is 

 pleasantly flavoured, but the flesh is rather tough. 



Names of Plants (^ Subscribi:r, Cheshire).— V-'e caunot name plants from 

 a leaf only, we need a flower also. {W. F. ii.).— Isora coccinea. {W. C. E.). 

 — We regret that your flower had so shrivelled befo»6 reaching us as to be 

 quite undeterminable. 



POULTET, BEE, AM) PIGEON OKRONIOLE. 



SILKIES. 



Et eeginald s. s. woodgate. 

 Past 2. 

 Silkies for exhibition shoald be creBted, 5-toed, leg-feathered, 

 mulberry-combed, pure white in colour, light bine in cars, and 

 legs and beak of a dark bluish slate colour. They should not be 

 vulture-hocked : wc consider this a great blemish, and would 

 immediately destroy all birds with the slightest appearance of 

 it. The toes should be as much as possible like the Dorking's, 

 for the fourth and the fifth toes growing out of each other are a 

 great blemish. The comb should be darl and mulberry-shaped ; 

 it should be smooth and fine in texture, and not rough. Our 

 idea of a perfect comb for a Silky cock is that on the cockerel 

 of the firet-prize Alexandra Palace pair, which were claimed 

 there for the large sum of XIO, which is an extraordinary price 

 for birds cf this breed so little cultivated for exhibition purposes. 

 The comb is slightly hollow in the centre, but this for a Silky 

 comb is rather a point than a defect. The crests should be 

 large, in the pullets almost hiding the combs, and they should 

 be globular and compact, not like the crest of a cockatoo. The 

 leg-feathering thoold be distinct and go all down the legs to the 



middle toe ; but heavy feathering is not desirable er pretty— all 

 that is wanted is a narrow margin or edging of feathering down 

 the legs. The earlobes should be turquoise blue in colour : this 

 is much more easily obtained in the pullets than in the cock- 

 erels. In the latter it generally comes streaked with white. 

 We have, however, seen perfectly blue lobes in cockerels as 

 vivid in colour as in any pullets. In the second year in both 

 sexes, however, the colour is apt to fade and the lobes to come 

 almost white : this is very ugly, and would prevent, or should 

 prevent, a bird winning in strong competition. To remedy this 

 many do not try for the blue ears at all, but breed from and for 

 the dark raisin-colonred-faced birds, which generally keep their 

 colour for some seasons. Silkies, however, are not of much use 

 for exhibition after their first year, for the leg-feathering rarely 

 comes heavy again in the second moult, especially in the hens. 

 Of course it does sometimes, but we find it is the exception. 

 Young birds should not be discarded for being buff or pink in 

 breast, for very often — in fact generally — it will moult out except 

 in very bad cases. We should never, however, breed from such 

 birds where we could help it. 



A perfect pair of Silkies for exhibition, in our opinion, should 

 be rather small, but not too small, round in shape and very 

 fluffy and silky, especially on the thighs aud breast. They 

 should have hardly any tails, and no hard feathers in either tails 

 or wings. They should be low on the legs, and possess all the 

 other desired points as named above. We hardly think the 

 breed has justice done to it in the show pen, for it generally has 

 to appear in the Variety class, and in that unhappy refuge the 

 denizens are so varied and various that it must be almost a 

 lottery which wins, the judge's whims and fancies being neces- 

 sarily brought to bear. Still, all adjudicators should remember 

 that it really is as difficult a matter to breed a perfect pen of 

 Silkies as it is anything else. When we say perfect we know 

 there are annually but few such pens extant ; still most of those 

 have to " come out " in the Any other variety class. 



In mating them for breeding we like a cockerel and two-year 

 hens best, but we in any way breed generally from a cockerel. 

 We look for distinctness in toes, compact shape of body, combs 

 and crest, before mere whiteness or leg-feathering. The latter 

 with judicious crossing can nearly always be obtained; but the 

 good claws and size of crest are very difiicult to procure and 

 only a few strains possess these merits. We never breed from 

 a wry-tailed cock it we can avoid it, as this is wont to get worse 

 and worse as years go on ; in fact we know ef one yard where 

 the tails are thought nothing of, and many of the birds before 

 their debut in the show pen have Hamburgh-like sickles, but 

 when prepared for the glories of the exhibition room they are 

 made to undergo the Bo-peep penalty and leave their tails 

 behind them. This often happens, too, in the case of hocks, for 

 during the past season many of the Silkies have been as much 

 plucked in their hocks as Brahmas or Cochins. This latter evil 

 we lay entirely at the judges' doors, for if they will insist on 

 such an absurd amount of leg-feather they must expect hooks. 

 We do not for an instant wish to be thought to object to leg- 

 feathering — very far indeed from it, but ouly a narrow strip or 

 edging down the legs is needed or desirable for beauty in our 

 opinion. A perfect Silky feather is a most beautiful thing. We 

 have often had letters from ladies, who have seen our birds at 

 the shows, writing to beg us to sell them the feathers by the 

 ounce for fancy-work in swans and such like. A very admirable 

 illustration of Silky feathers, one in the natural state and one 

 magnified, are to be found in the chapter on Silkies in the 

 " Illustrated Book of Poultry." The feather which is not mag- 

 nified is a perfect representation of what the feathers should be 

 in the fluff of good specimens. 



To hatch for exhibition the time must depend upon the month 

 when they are wanted for. A bird rarely gets perfect in points 

 until it is five or six months old, and some late-hatched birds do 

 not thoroughly get their matured plumage till the second year ; 

 still, generally, birds hatched in May and June will be quite 

 ready for the Palace and Oxford Shows, at both of which places 

 they have classes. Sometimes they are for some weeks, when 

 about four months old, quite yellow on the breast and wings. 

 This colour, however, is in no way similar to the baft or pink 

 which we have mentioned before, but resembles feathers dipped 

 in the yolk of an egg. This is merely the sap in the feathers, 

 and will generally come quite right. We have seen birds almost 

 lemon-coloured from this which have in time come snow-white, 

 but we believe it to be more common to some strains than 

 others. Still, no bird should be too soon discarded for this 

 peculiarity. 



Silkies are good and rough feeders. Nothing comes amiss. 

 They eat everything greedily which a fowl can eat, but we never 

 give maize, believing it tends to making the plumage yellow. 

 Silkies, like all other white birds, are liable to being sunburnt: 

 but this again we believe is more in some strains than iu others. 

 Birds for exhibition should, however, be kr-t in the shade, 

 where they can have the shelter of living shrubs and underwood, 

 and then they will rarely change colour. It is more often seen 

 in the cocks than in the hens, though we have observed at 



