JOURNAL OF HOKTIOOLTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ January 22, 1874. 



Hondaus are good hardy tirda and non-sitters. Their eggs Bhould be set in 

 March. 



Dorkings— Crowtng Hen^^ (Spanish Cork). — Yonr experience of the 

 Dorking hen may and will be endorsed by thousands. Tliere is no better 

 breed for general purpoaeH. A crowing hen is the gallinaceous representative 

 of *' woman's rights." and is a noieaace. She will never lay, and will torment 

 those that do. Kill her. 



Kates of Laying (H. O). — No bird lays every day without intermission, 

 nor can any average be arrived at. Much depends on health, weather, food, 

 and eeason. Thirty-three egys are quite a full average result in twelve days 

 from four or five hens. The number will increase in a fortnight. 



Twisted Flight-featkers— Duck Management (L. A. B.).~A twisted 

 flight in a Goose is a disqualification, and to any other bird. Oats are the 

 best food for Geese and Ducks. Ducks should be^n to lay at between eight 

 and nine months old. The best way to keep tame Wild Ducks tame is to 

 pinion them, to cut-off not only the feathers, but the wiug itself. If this is 

 not done, ^nd they are kept on a large piece of water, they are apt to be 

 decoyed away by Wild Ducks in the water either flying over or settling on the 

 water with them. 



Jacobin Pigeons (Idem). — Jacobins should be small, and must be pearl- 

 eyed. A pearl eye has a white iris Do you mean there is no outlet for the 

 Pigeons, but they are confioed to 6-feet square ? In that case, if you put-up 

 plenty of boxes, you may keep six pairs. 



Brahma Dying (Tyro), —From your description the bird died from disease 

 of the liver, caused by great variation of temperature and insufficient feeding. 

 Tour food is good enough, but where you have to counteract unfavourable 

 weather you must feed early and late. They should have meal at seven in 

 the morning and at half-past four in the afternoon, with a feed of maize and 

 house scraps at mid-day. Our experience of Brahmas and Cochins is, that they 

 are worn-out at three years aod a half old. We never use them after two. 



Rouen Ducks ( Lb: m\.— Being only 5 or 6 lbs. in weight they are not heavy 

 enough, but as they bear age bettor than the fowls you may look to their 

 getting heavier as they get oUer. You may mate the drake you mention with 

 the five-year-old Duck and two of the largest and best of your young ones. 



Twisted Bill (Duclcwinff).— There is no remedy, and you will do well to 

 kill him. 



Black Silkies (E. J. N. H.). — We can hardly alter our previous opinion, 

 but will continue to make every inquiry. We have never seen Black Silkies, 

 but have no doubt they may be made, or may come through accident. The 

 first Black Cochins were the result of a cross between a Buff cock and a White 

 hen. In our own experience one particular walk produced two-thirds of Emu 

 Cochins, although the parents were unmistakeable Buffs, and carefully se- 

 lected to breed good birds. We think the experiment worth trying, but you 

 must be prepared for one result which seem^ to show itself already. In the^e 

 accidental breeds, where black birds are the result, it is almost impossible to 

 get perfectly black cocks. Coloured feathers will show themselves in the 

 hackle and saddle, especially after the first moult. 



Mixing Varieties (A .Subscri/ier).— We are not favourable to a moderate 

 run of poultry made-up of several breeds. A well-managed but limited run 

 should conhist of one breed only, and that breed should possess all the neces- 

 sary properties for the perpetuation of its breed. Of those you havo named 

 ■we prefer the Brahmas. They bear confinement, they are very hardy, they 

 are good layers and sitters, and the young are easily reared. Houdans and 

 Creve-Cceurs are both hardy and good layers, especially the latter, but they 

 do not sit. This involves buying broody hens when you wish to rear chickens. 

 We do not think either of them possesses any advanta^'o of any kind to com- 

 pensate for this inconvenience. You might have saved the concrete floor to 

 your house. As you have it we addse you to cover it 2 inches thick in gravel 

 or road grit, or, failing those, with good dry earth ; a flijor tbat keeps the foet 

 always on the stretch, and that admits of no scratch is not favourable for 

 fowls. The run you name will answer for sixteen hens and two cocks. Pains- 

 taking may keep more. Having a large kitchen garden you may give them 

 lettuce, and barrowloads of weeds or rubbish that are dug-up, clearings of 

 paths, stumps of cabbage, &c. ; but all these tblugs must be thrown in a heap, 

 and the fowls will scatter them, affi>rding food and amusement. As soon as 

 they have divested them of t!ie eatable parts the bare stumps should be raked- 

 up and taken away. If no part of the run is laid-down in grass yon should 

 cut large sods, with plenty of earth to them, and throw them in ; the fowls 

 will eat the whole of it. Avoid all artificial heat; healthy well-fed fowls do 

 not want it, nor does it help them. If anyone would heat gratuitously 

 every house we have we would not accept the offer. Bricklayers' rubbish is 

 excellent for fowls, especially during the laying season, but broken earthen- 

 ware is quite useless. Your laying is very good and above the average. 



Fowls for Limited ErN [A. C.).— We call yours a small space. You 

 may run a cock and six or eight hens in it, and some of the previous answer 

 may interest you. To be a pleasure and a profit, where there is a family you 

 should have both eggs and chickens. The breeds you name are non-sitters, 

 with the exception of the Brahmas. We can find no birds more profitable 

 than they are. Let experience speak. They are of comparatively recent 

 introduction, and yet they form one of the largest, and in some instances 

 the largest, clabs at exhibitions. Their eggs are an average size, and if they 

 are killed young they are good for the table. No bird is good for the table 

 after it is old; and for eating purposes it is old at seven months old. The 

 very dark eggs would be from Cochins or Brahmas. They lay all colours— from 

 a light mahogany to a French white. If you decide against Brahmas, and 

 choose among the non-sitters, those that will do best with you will be Spanish, 

 Houdans, or Crt-ve-Cffurs. Your house will do. Baise the floor of it above the 

 run, let the bottom he of earth, and the door in one corner— not in the middle. 

 Poultrv Experience (*).— We are always glad to hoar of your experiences. 

 The plan you have adopted is the profitable one. Keep a few of your best 

 hens two seasons, but let the remainder of your stock be pullets. Moulting 

 becomes more difficult to a hen every succeeding year. The reparative pro- 

 cess becomes slower and more difficult. They also lay fewer eggs. Send them 

 to Stevens sale, the nearest market, or into the kitchen. The only code of a 

 profitable poultry yard should bo a Draconian one, or transportation should 

 be a regular annual process. 



Fowl's Leg Dislocated (Saml.— From your description the bird will never 

 be a prize one again. A leg broken, when the fracture is visible, can be set 

 and cured without much detriment, but if the injury be abive the knee there 

 is little hope A bird hatched November, 1873, cannot bo shown as a chicken 

 of 1874 at any period of the latter year. 



Cocks for Exhibition (Glnmmi.—Pat a pullet with each cock. It will save 

 their losing much flesh and weight. The hens from which you Intend to breed 

 should now be running with cocks. Good cooling food is the best for moulting 



fowls. Everything heating should be avoided. Mis their ground oats with milk 

 Give barley meal, and change with whole maize and barley. We have never 

 found fowls do well on maize meal, and they would not eat it, unless they were 

 starved to it. Lettuce is good food in moulting time. 



Altering Combs (J. M.). — We have never succeeded in getting pea-combs 

 from single ones, either in Brahmas, Hamburgbs, or Sebrights. Faults are 

 more surely transmitted than virtues. We would not on any account breed 

 from a vulture-hocked bird. (C. S.). — If the comb be a good pea-comb it is 

 not a disqualification- it is a disadvantage. We should not hesitate to breed 

 from him. 



Ulcers Internal (New Subscriber). — The disease you complain of 13 

 partly caused by great variations of temperature, and partly by insufficient or 

 injudicious feeding. Avoid all but natural foods. Give ground oats, barley 

 meal, a little whole barley and maize, with kitchen or house scraps, and you 

 will have no disease. We have no faith in prepared food, or in substitutes for 

 that which is sufficient for a wild bird. 



Perforated Zinc (C. H. £.).— No. 12^ we should think the best size. 

 T17 it. 



Bee Flowt:rs (J. A. H. S.). — The Sunflower and Euddlea globosa afford 

 pasturage for bees, especially the Buddlea. We do not remember a flower, 

 except some of the Arums, to which bees will not resort. 



Books (CuUor). — It is the fourth Georgic of Vurgil that details the Roman 

 knowUdge of bees and their management. There is a translation by R. M. 

 Millington, published by Messrs. Longman, that would suit your purpose; for 

 though in verse the translation is very close to the original Latin. 



Marine Aquarium Tcuino (Qlaucus). — Indiarubber tubing is the handiest, 

 and not affected by or affecting the water. Throw the coffee grounds on to 

 the dunghill. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Squajie, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0^ 8' 0" W. ; Altitade 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 

 14th. — Dark morning, and rather dull all day, though no rain. 

 15th. — Dull all day, with frequent slight showers. 

 16th. — Dull and showery all day, and wet night. 

 17th. — Rather tine morning, gradually becoming more so; beautifully fine 



about noon, and particularly bright and pleasant all day. 

 18th, — Frost in the night; rain at 8 a.m., and more or less wet all day, but 



very much warmer. 

 19th, — Rainy and dark at 9 a.m., and occasionally so all day ; about as un- 

 pleasant as it could be. 

 20th. — Sunshine and showers all day, but the rain prevailing at night and 

 with rather a high wind. 

 A week of higher temperature, but of dark, damp, comfortless weather, 

 except on Friday, which was very bright and enjoyable. The maximum tem- 

 perature in the shade on the 20th was higher than has occurred here in 

 January since 1869. January Slst in that year had a maximum temperature 

 of 50.3.- G. J. Syuons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— January 21. 

 The markets generally are very slack and dull, the supplies being ample. 

 Grapes and Pines are especially plentiful, the latter making very poor prices, 

 owing to the iaferior quality of the greater portion of the English-grown 

 fruit now coming to market. Dealers are glad to clear out, even at less than 

 3s. per pound. A large bulk of Apples is still coming, but Pears of good 

 varieties are comparatively scarce. 



FBUIT. 



Apples i sieve 1 



Chestnuts bushel 10 



Grapes, hothouse lb. 2 



FUberts lb. 1 



Cobs lb. 1 



Lemons V 100 4 



Melons each 1 



d. B. d. 

 Otol 6 



21 



7 



16 



16 



12 



S 



Oranges ^100 4 



Quinces doz. 



Pears, kitchen doz. 1 



dessert doz. 2 



Pine Apples lb. 8 



Walnuts bnahel 10 



ditto ^t-lOO a 



d. s. d. 



Otol2 







2 



5 



6 



16 



2 6 



Artichokes doz. B 



Asparagus ^100 4 



French 25 



Beans. Kidney.,.. ^103 2 



Beet. Red doz 1 



Broccoli bundle 



Cabbac^e doz. 1 



Capsicums l^ 100 1 



Carrots bunch 



CauUfiowor duz. 3 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworts. . doz. bunches 2 



Cucumbera each 1 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish bundle S 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce doz. 1 



VEaETABLES. 



d. S.d. 

 0to6 

 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress. .punnet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley per doz. bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidnpy do. 



Round . do. 



Radishes,, doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Scorzonera bundle 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushe 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows 



8. d. s. d; 

 1 0to2 

 2 

 



