AprU 27, 187G. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOXTAGE GARDENER. 



337 



matnre. {A. G. ^.).— Athyrium Filix-fffniinfl. [A. Patcrson). — 1, Aspidlum 

 angalaro ; 2, Kot in fruit ; 3, Pteria longifolia : 4 and 5, PeUaea liastata. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON OHEONIGLE, 



THE CHICKEN SEASON. 



■We are very near to May-day now, and by this time we shonlJ 

 be able to speak abont the chicken season, whether it has been a 

 good one or no, and in what quantity chickens are to be found. 

 We are sorry to say we have no very good news to write. The 

 long winter seems to linger with us even now, and the broods 

 have fared but badly. The new year opened satiBfactorily, and 

 those who had some chickens out early in January are the best 

 off, for after then came snows, and frosts, and winds, and cold 

 rains, all jostling one another to see which could come the 

 fastest and do the most harm, and consequently chickens died in 

 the shells, or struggled into life and out of it again as quickly 

 as possible. Then came the most unsatiefactory of all calamities 

 — clear eggs. Nests after nests of eggs were thrown away all 

 over the country, because they were not fertile ; and then 

 followed the scarcity of broody hens. We never knew them so 

 scarce as in this year, and we positively could not get our own to 

 Bit. They would lay and then leave off, and never become broody 

 at all ; and all through February there were some who fared 

 even still worse, for they could not obtain eggs from their best 

 birds. It certainly has been a pitiful sight to see the birds this 

 spring run straight from their houses when let out in the morn- 

 ing to the corner of their run, which they had found from experi- 

 ence of many days and weeks was the most sheltered, and there 

 they would crouch all the day long, and look the picture of 

 misery, with the east winds blowing upon them. In the face of 

 all these troubles it is not wonderful that the chickens are scarce 

 and small. We have tried to have news from all parts of the 

 country, and from a few yards the reports are satisfactory, but on 

 the whole we think there is but little improvement from last 

 year, which was then looked upon as being so black and unpre- 

 cedented. We glean from our correspondents that there are a 

 few good January chickens about, but that February and March 

 afford but a miserable average, and with hardly one exception we 

 find that where there are chickens they are to be found in warm 

 localities, or where the runs are very sunny and well sheltered 

 with high hedges or walls. 



This year will, we think, be celebrated above all others for the 

 clear eggs and the ditliculty to get hens over a year old to lay. 

 The utter indifference of the cocks in many yards to every single 

 hen in his run is remarkable, consequently egg-purchasers have 

 been unusually disappointed, and those who bought cocks or 

 cockerels last year for breeding from again write back that they 

 " must have been tampered with." Of the various breeds we 

 find that Dorking chickens are as numerous as any, for we hear 

 of many yards being well off with them both in the Coloured 

 and Silver-Greys. Whites seem to be but few, but we have often 

 noticed that in the White varieties, especially in Dorkings and 

 Cochins, the per-centage of unfertilised eggs is greater than 

 in the coloured varieties of the same breeds. Brahmas, too, 

 are weak for Brahmas, but this breed is so enormously culti- 

 vated, and has so many friends, that chickens are sure to be 

 found in abundance somewhere or other. Spanish seem to be 

 very few, and French not so good as usual. We know of yards 

 which in other years had Houdans by now crowing lustily, but 

 this time they are all behind. Still we do not fear for Houdans ; 

 they are very hardy, and have so many admirers. Cochins we 

 fear are not plentiful. They came so nobly out of the 187.^i ordeal 

 that we lament it the more if the report is true — that they are 

 few and far between. Of them Buffs seem most numerous, and 

 we hear of a few good Blacks. Whites, we are afraid, save in two 

 or three places, make no better muster than in last year, still 

 we hope that those old ladies who so often did duty for their 

 daughters in the past season have gone to a better land, or that 

 time has dealt less kindly with them, for their appearance again 

 would be indeed monstroas. Polands seemed to have done as well 

 as any breed until lately, when the Good Friday snow seems to 

 have been too much for many broods, and left colds, and roup, 

 and gapes behind where it did not entirely destroy. Game we 

 hope have done better, for we hear of breeders bestirring them- 

 selves about champion cups, which looks hopeful ; still our letters 

 tell us they are not too plentiful. Of the less cultivated breeds 

 which go into the variety classes we have had but little news. We 

 know, however, of several good broods of Leghorns, Minorcas, 

 and Silkies in various places. 



This, then, is a summary of the letters we have had. We do 

 not mean to imply that good chickens of the various breeds are 

 not to be found in many places and in good numbers, but we 

 believe on the whole that it has been a very bad season, and that 

 but few early chickens will be ready for, or up to any high 

 standard, at our summer exhibitions. We would urge, then, upon 

 ^ow authorities to be careful how they embark in chicken 

 classes in their schedoies, and rather allow their classes to be 



" for any age," for even then a fair pair of chickens stands more 

 chance of a prize against adult birds in their ragged summer 

 plumage. We speak now, of course, for the summer shows, as 

 from this week we hope chickens will hatch-out better and grow 

 np strongly. We must remember that many a May-hatched 

 chicken has made a noted winner, and so it is not too late to be 

 setting eggs now. For ourselves, we mean to go on setting and 

 hatching all we can up to the end of June, for birds hatched 

 even then with judicious feeding and good management will 

 grow into good stock birds, and many of them be quite ready for 

 the late winter shows ; only in setting eggs during the coming 

 weeks we should as much as possible try to use those from hens 

 in preference to those from pullets, as they produce stronger 

 chickens and birds which feather more quickly, and so come to 

 maturity and adult plumage earlier. We know eggs from two- 

 year hens have been very few this season, and in fact wo know 

 of Brahma, Dorking, and Cochin hens which np to last week 

 had not laid an egg this year ; but now, however, in the bright 

 sunshiny days which we hope are before us these hens should be 

 laying freelv, and we would collect and use every egg from 

 them.— W. 



POULTRY AND BIRD NEWS. 



Eefekbing to this column, you have put in motion that which 

 I have often advocated — viz., a column in which those who de- 

 light in such things can freely communicate with each other, to 

 their mutual amusement and sometimes edification. 



I was lately visiting at the house of a friend who has a green- 

 house divided from an orchid house by a glass partition and 

 door. The side framework of the door is covered with rugged 

 bark. It yet lacks some finishing ; but the men had hardly left 

 their work before a pair of Robins took advantage of a conve- 

 nient place — a sort of deep cup in the bark, and made there their 

 nest. Although someone has been at work or visiting at all 

 hours of the day they have carried on their duty, have laid and 

 sat, and now have young. Seated in the greenhouse with a 

 friend last week, the cock perched just over our beads and 

 carolled at his best. I was then made acquainted with the whole 

 history. During several short visits to the place in the course 

 of the day I never failed to see the old bird come with food in 

 his beak and feed the young, not showing the least fear. In 

 another place I have a Robin's nest with four young. My grand- 

 children look at them whenever they pass the spot. 



I was struck by a remark of the lady of the house. There was 

 a nest of young Thrushes in the shrubbery; they were her espe- 

 cial favourites. They had been seen in the morning and were 

 missed at midday. Knowing she would be vexed, it was at- 

 tempted to account for their disappearance, but she said directly, 

 " I am not at all uneasy about them ; they are old enough to 

 leave the nest and have done so. When the Blackbirds were 

 taken last year the old birds were about screaming all the morn- 

 ing, there has not been a sound to-day." — M. G. 



It is a week since I heard the Nightingale first in North Hants, 

 I have not yet heard the Cuckoo, April 21st. — H. S. 



Mr. F. Green, writing to Nature from Cannes, France, states 

 that on the 8th inst., for the first time this year, he heard the 

 Cuckoo in a valley amongst mountains sixteen miles to the 

 westward of that place. The first time last year he heard it in 

 the same neighbourhood was on the 10th of April. April 16th 

 he saw for the first time this year a flight of about half a dozen 

 Swallows. They were passing over his garden coming from the 

 sea, and going to the N.W. The nearest land to the S.E. from 

 Cannes is Corsica, 110 miles away. Last year the first flight of 

 Swallows which he observed at Cannes was on April 11th, and 

 on the same day he heard the Nightingale for the first time of 

 the season. This season he had not heard the Nightingale on 

 the 16th. 



When attempting to breed cage birds old mortar shonld be 

 broken up and thrown in the bottom of the cage to assist the 

 hen in shelling her eggs. 



The habit of breaking eggs, to which cage birds are sometimes 

 addicted, can be effectually cured by putting some putrid eggs — 

 "stinkers" they are called by the fancy — in the cage for them 

 to pick at. 



The tail of the Fantail should form about seven-eighths of a 

 circle, and should be flat, the under taU-coverts smooth. The 

 carriage is a thing most important. The fan should be carried 

 so that the ends of the middle feathers would come in a straight 

 position over the centre of the feet, and touching the head, and 

 must lean neither to the right or to the left. — (American.) 



[We invite contributions to this column. — Eos.] 



BIRMINGHAM AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION 



SOCIETY. 

 A MEETING of the Council was held on the 13th inst. for the 

 purpose of revising the prize hsts. 

 The most important change in the potato classes wa3 the 



