April 20, 1876, ) 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIOOLTORE AND COTTAGE QAKDENEB. 



317 



The reports from the various chicken yards are discouraging, 

 so many have lost their early birds ia the recent suow and 

 winds. We hear of as good accouuts from the Dorking breeders 

 as from anywhere, but the whole season seems to have been 

 noticeable for the immense number of clear eggs and the diffi- 

 culty in procuring hardy hens. This latter is a well-known 

 grievance, but this year the hona have left off laying without 

 Bhowiog any inclination to incubate, which has made things 

 more dilBcnlt than ever. 



A Leghorn Club has been started among fanciers of that 

 breed. The President is the well-known fancier Mr. J. K. 

 Fowler of Aylesbury, and the Hon. Secretary Mr. A. Kitchin, 

 who has by his own exertions been the means of iucreasiug this 

 breed so much in this country. The rales seem good and judi- 

 ciously made, and we may have more to say upon the subject 

 of these little branch clubs later on, for wo think Mr. Kitchin 

 has put a very useful project on foot, and we wish him and his 

 friends very much Buceess. 



Last year we knew of an amateur who had a £.52 10s. pen of 

 Cochins poisoned from eating the berries which fell from a yew 

 tree, and we hear this week of two valuable cart horses worth 

 £63 each being poisoned from eating from a yew tree, and dying 

 within the hour. They were the property of T. Wyndham, Esq., 

 of Dinton House, Salisbury. We would recommend no yew 

 trees being planted in poultry runs, neither would we the 

 Laburnum trees, for the seeds from the latter appear occasion- 

 ally to cause death. 



We hear there is " on the tapis " a movement among fanciers 

 for starting a " broody hen farm." We believe such an institu- 

 tion with judicious management would prove of great value, 

 and be highly patronised by all fanciers. 



Mr. John Martin is now managing the poultry yards of the 

 Countess of Dartmouth at Patshull, Wolverhampton, and com- 

 mittees requiring his services as judge should write to him 

 there. We hear, too, that there is a probability of that cele- 

 brated Cochin exhibitor with the biblical name returning to his 

 old master's services after the autumn season of the present 

 year. — W. 



MATING A GOLDFINCH TO A HEN CANARY. 



In answer to "Bluebell" the present is a suitable time to 

 pair a Goldfinch to a Canary hen, but the coming months of 

 May and June may be looked upon as the most genial period for 

 Buccess in the breeding of Mules. As to the particular age of 

 the hen Canary before pairing is a matter of fancy. It is imma- 

 terial to us whether the hen be a yearling, or two or more years 

 old. The all-important point is' vigour and robust condition at 

 the time her services are required. Without good health you 

 must not look for success. A two-year-old hen may certainly 

 be considered to be more matured in constitution, and may be 

 better able to contend with the very changeable and trying 

 weather we sometimes experience in the spring; but it being 

 our rule not to commence Mule-breeding until the latter end of 

 April, a year-old Canary would at that time escape the chances 

 of illness over laying her eggs, which she would otherwise be 

 liable to if paired to a Canary cock and proceeded to nest in the 

 month of March. It is just possible that the cause of unfer- 

 tility of the three eggs might have been caused by the cold 

 weather we have experienced. It does not follow that the next 

 sitting of eggs will be bad. Upon the other hand, not being 

 able to examine your birds, we cannot assure you that the next 

 sitting of eggs may moat likely prove fertile. 



At this period Goldfinches should be in vigorous health, full 

 of action and song, and supplied daily with their varied food, 

 such as egg mixed with bun crumbs or powdered biscuit, dande- 

 lion or small salads, groats, flax seed mixed with the other 

 liinds ; but we would not advise the use of groundsel for the 

 reason of its being unfit for the stomachs of cage birds until the 

 season becomes more genial. Included amongst our pairs of 

 birds now up for breeding we have five lively merry Finches 

 full of life, from which we hope to see some good result before 

 the season terminates. Two of the hens have so far progressed 

 as to deposit four eggs in each nest. Perhaps the accompanying 

 notes may interest " Bluebell," and for the sake of illustra- 

 tion we will style the two pairs as No. 1 and No. 2. No. 1 hen 

 laid her first egg on the 11th inst., but the Goldfinch (an untried 

 one before this season) made a meal of it for his breakfast. 

 This he repeated the following morning. So far this was proof 

 that Master Goldie could not be farther trusted, and he had to 

 take refuge with a hen in another partition ready to go to nest. 

 Since the separation hen No. 1 has laid two more eggs, and is 

 now sitting without any apparent concern for her absent mis- 

 chievous partner. No. 2 hen, paired to another Finch, deposited 

 her first egg on the 13th instant, and as her partner does not so 

 far possess the bad habit of No. 1 Finch he is allowed to re- 

 main. When Goldfinches take kind ways, and do not destroy 

 eggs or pull nests to pieces by piecemeal, it ia better to let them 

 remain with the hens, for we have proved them to be as good 

 feeders to the young birds as cook Canaries. With the presence 



of such wintry weather, and snow upon the ground over 

 12 inches deep at the time of the hens laying, we should not ba 

 surprised at the eggs proving unfertile. — G. J. B. 



THE HEN AND THE HONEY BEE. 



A LAZV lien — tho story goes — 



Loquacious, pert, and solf-concoited, 

 Kspied a bee upon a rose, 

 And tlius tiie busy insect greeted 

 ** Say, what's the use of such as yon, 

 (lOxcuse the freedom of a neighbour), 

 Who yad about and never do 

 A Blngle act of useful labour ? 

 " I've marked you well lor many a day 

 In garden blooms and meadow clover ; 

 Now here, now there, in wanton play, 

 From mora to night an idle rover. 

 " While I discreetly bide at home 



A faithful wife — the best of mothers. 

 About the fields you idly roam 

 Without the least regard for others. 

 " Wliile I lay eggs, or hatch them out. 



You seek the flowers most sweet and fragrant. 

 And, sipping houey, stroll about, 

 At best a good-for-nothing vagrant l" 

 *' Nay," said the bee, *' you do me wrong; 

 I'm useful too ; perhax^s you doubt it, 

 Because — though toUiu^ ail day long — 

 1 scorn to make a fuss about it I 

 " While you, with every eg« that cheers 

 Your daily task, must stop and hammer 

 The news in other people's ears 

 Till they are deafened with the clamour I 

 " Come now with me and see my hive, 



And note how folks may work in quiet ; 

 To useful arts much more alive 

 Than you with all your cackling riot 1" 



— [From the German of Gellett, by J, G. Saxe.) 



Musical EnuciiiON of Canabies. — A writer in the Boston 

 Cultivator mentions a gentleman who makes Canaries liis special 

 pets. One of the birds he has taught to sing " Home, Sweet 

 Home " clearly and distinctly. His mode of instruction is as 

 follows : He placed the Canary in a room where it could not 

 hear the singing of other birds, suspended its cage from the 

 ceiling, so that the bird could see its reflection in a mirror. 

 Beneath the glass he placed a musical box that was regulated to 

 play no other tube but "Home, Sweet Home." Hearing no 

 other sounds but this, and believing the music proceeded from 

 the bird it saw in the mirror, the young Canary soon began to 

 catch the notes, and finally accomplished what its owner had 

 been labouring to attain, that of singing the song perfectly. 



ITALIAN V. ENGLISH BEES. 



(Gontinued from page 279.) 



At page 71 of the "Bee-keeper's Text Book" the author 

 states, " We were slow to believe all the good things said o£ 

 them [i.e., of the Italian bees] by Germm apiarians, until con- 

 vinced of their superiority by the universal testimony of pro- 

 minent American bee-keepers, coupled with our own experi- 

 ence." Then follow extracts, of which I select the following : — 

 " All agreed as to the superiority of the Italian to the common 

 black bee." — From Report of the American Apiarian Conven- 

 tion. " At the Wisconsin Bee-keepers' Convention in Febru- 

 ary, 1866, the following resolution was passed unanimously: — 

 Resolved, that the Italian (or Lignrian) bee fully sustained its 

 European reputation, and this Association heartily recommends 

 it for general cultivation as being more hardy, vigorous, and 

 fertile, and as a consequence more profitable." 



Mr. Langstroth says, "If we may jadge from the working 

 of my colonies the Italians will fully sustain their European 

 reputation. They have gathered more than twice as much 

 honey as the swarm of the common bee. This honey has been 

 chiefly gathered within the last few weeks, during which time 

 the swarms of common bees have increased in weight but very 



little The prospect now is that I shall have to feed all of 



them except the Italian." 



Mrs. E. S. Tapper of Brighton, Iowa, a noted Western 

 writer on bee-culture, says, " In the summer of 1863 I had but 

 two Italian stocks to commence with. One of these stored 

 110 lbs. of honey besides giving me three artificial swarms ; the 

 other gave me two swarms and stored 90 lbs. of honey; and all 

 the swarms but one partly filled several boxes each. I had that 

 same season fifty-six colonies of common bees, all of which were 

 divided, but not' one of which stored a pound of honey, though 

 in the same kind of hives and treated in a similar way with the 

 Italians. That season it will be remembered was very poor. 



" In the summer of 1801 I avera^'ed from nine Italian colonies 

 119 lbs, each. The greatest yield from one hive was as follows : 

 One full swarm taken from it the 15th of May ; honey taken in 



