304 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 9, 1874. 



pALE-YOLHED Egss (H. H. F.).—lt mnst be a mistake. We cannot think 

 there is a large village, mach less a town, whore barleymeal cannot be had. 

 "We have always heard, and our experience justifies us in believing it, that 

 the jolk of new-laid eggs vz paler than those that have been laid gome days. 

 It is very likely that, as yonr pullets get older and the weather get^ warmer, 

 the yolks wilt be darker. The eggs will be no better. Tour feeding is very 

 bad, Substitnte meal for barley; discontinue the cabbage leaves and shai-ps. 

 "Sou may continue the boiled meat, and may give a very moderate meal of 

 maize on the days when you give no meat. 



Partridge and Grouse Cochins {A Suftscri&fr).— Ouranswertoyour first 

 question, " How do they differ *.*" is — 



*' The only difference we eee 

 Is 'twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.'' 



Secondly, the legs shotild be yellow, especially in the cocks. As the btrdi get 

 older the legs become paler. Thirdly, vulture- hocked means having strong 

 feathers growing above the knee, but projecting from it backwards and down- 

 wards. Such birds should be put into'the stookpot. 



Barn for Fowl House {L. Jlf.).— Leave the floor as it is, unless you add 

 to it some chalk, clay, and gravel, and have it rammed hard down. You must 

 explain the size and the nature of the run the birds can have. You need not 

 take any measures against the rats. Let your perches be within 2 feet of the 

 ground, and made of fir or other poles 14 inches in circumfer^^nce, sawn in 

 half, and laid on ledges or props. The round side should be uppermost, and 

 the hark should be left on the wood. You can make some laying hoses by 

 fastening pieces of wood against the wall, or, better still, you may have them 

 quite moveable. A bos 2 feet long and 1 foot deep, divided in the centre, and 

 open in front with the exception of a 2-inch bead, will serve for fifteen hens 

 to lay in. If yonr number is larger have two such. 



Crevt:-Cij:crs (W. E. CavO. — Many persons write of breeds they have 

 never kept. We assert, as we did before, that Creve-Cceuis are great wan- 

 derers 



Ground Oats (yan).— Oatmeal and ground oats are not equally good for 

 fowls. Mr. Agate, Slaugham Mills, Crawley, Sussex, sells ground oats, and 

 we have had vei7 good ones from a dealer in Kingston. We think his name 

 is Marsh, and his address Market Place. 



Turkey Sitting on Twenty-two Eggs (Dark Brahma).~lt the Turkey 

 is to come off at the same time as some hens you will have no difficulty in 

 making the latter take to all the chickens, but you may have difficulty if there 

 is difference in age. It is possible to rear them without a mother by putting 

 them every night in a basket lined with flannel, and stuffed between the 

 wicker and flannel with hay. This must be put in a place where there is no 

 draught at night, and the chickens must be fed at daybreak. Such generally 

 grow up more or lees deformed. You cannot keep eggs in the way you name. 

 They must be from contact with air. We keep ours in slaked lime, and they 

 do well. 



Chicsens with Legs Extended Sideways (H. F. H.).— Artificial mothers 

 for chickens are like baby-farming for children— mere apologies for the real 

 thing. We wonder more are not similarly affected. We have seen thousands 

 of chickens reared in this way years ago, and it was painfully evident with 

 them all that something had gone wrong with them. Some carried their heads 

 on one side, Eome were doable- jointed, many were humpbacked, and the suc- 

 cessful were small and attenuated though old. All you can do for them ia to 

 give them nothing but good beer to driuk, and to feed on chopped eg?, chopped 

 cooked meat, bread and milk, and bread and ale. Feed the last half hour of 

 day, at night, and the first in the morning. 



Preserving Eggs fj. TT.).— We preserve the eggs when in great plenty, 

 and they keep till the time of year comes round again. The most important 

 point to observe is. they must be put away fresh. Take a vessel-— we use a 

 bread-pan ; cover the bottom with slaked lime of such consistence that the eggs 

 will remain in the position in which they are placed; fill the lime as full as it 

 will hold them upright on their small ends. When it is full cover over with 

 slaked lime deep enough to hold another layer, and so on till the pan is full. 

 The sprfacemustthenbe made good and carefully covered, no egg being visible. 

 By this plan we have always a good supply of eggs all the year round. They 

 are excellent for all culinary purposes, and by no means to be despised on the 

 breakfast table, though they may have been some months in lime. 



Old Mobtar (A Would-he Fowl-fancier).~-li is one of the best things you 

 can have in your poultry run. It is a good arrangement to have some mixed 

 with sand or coal ashes, and a heap kept dry under a shed for the fowls to 

 busk in. 



Suitable Pigeons for a Loft f Julius). — We recommend you to keep 

 only one vaiiety of Pigeons in your loft, the dimensions of which you give us. 

 Hunts are best kept on the ground floor in a shed or out-house of any kind, 

 as they are too heavy to fly high. Fantails would do, but they are also best 

 kept low down, and where they cannot catch the wind. We think high-flving 

 Tumblers would suit you, or Antwerp?. 



Ants in Hives (C. H. £.).— We do not think that either lime or soot round 

 the posts of your hives will keep the ants from eatering. Gas tar painted on 

 the posts would probably answer. A gutter of water, however narrow, would 

 protect the hives from ante. As their nest is under the walls of your green- 

 house, you may destroy thousands of them with saucers of treacle placed 

 nearer to them than your bees. By-and-by your hives will become full of 

 bees and have plenty of sentinels at the doors. 



Broken Combs (J. 0.).~-li you were to examine yonr hive you would 

 ascertain the cause of the broken combs which the bees carry outside. A 

 comb may have fallen, or mice may have been amongst the combs inside ; but 

 when bees build combs in autumn from syrup supplied in abundance, they 

 generally make the cells twice their usual depth. As your hive had its 

 combs bnilt in autumn from sugar and water, the probability is great that the 

 broken combs you see are merely paits or parings of the cells which the bees 

 have cut off in reducing them to a proper depth (about half an inch) for 

 breeding purposes. — A. P. 



Adding a Ligdrian Queen {S. A. £.).— Neighboiir & Sons, Regent Street, 

 import Lignrian queens for sale. Tho usual mode of introducing them to 

 stock hives is first to deprive the stocks of their present queens, and two days 

 after to give them the Ligurians; and sometimes the Ligurians are placed in 

 wire cages, and thus introduced. The cages are to prevent the bees kUling 

 them when they first meet. After they have been caged amongst the bees 

 for twenty-four hours the cages are removed and the queens left. ^Vhen the 

 liees of a hive arc mourning the loss of thcii- own queen they will gladly rc- 

 oeive ano^ier if wisely introduced. By strongly scentiug the hive T^-ith nut- 

 meg or mint at the time of the introdnction of foreign queens, no fear need 



be entertained that they will be killed by the bees of queenless hives. The 

 prices of Lignrian queens vary, and may bo ascertained of the dealers. 



Comes Insected— Crystallised Eon ey— Extractor {An Obliged Sub- 

 scriber). — The combs from which you drove the bees last year, and which you 

 say are being pulverised by animalculas, are not eligible for guide combs. 

 Honey is marketable in a crystallised state among people who know genuine 

 honey from that which is manufactured ; but if you find it otherwise in your 

 neighbourhood you can easily liquefy it, and thus make it limpid, by the ap- 

 plication of heat. A jar of candied honey placed in an oven soon becomes 

 transparent and liquid without detriment to the honey. Your honey-extractor 

 which you describe is, like many others, not satisfactory in its work. Having 

 invented and made it yourself, you are more liiely to he able to improve h 

 than we are, for we have not yet seen one that performs its work in a 

 satisfactory manner. It is yet to be proved that the American elinger con- 

 taining the latest improvements will be of any advantage to the bee-keepers 

 of this country. Our hunger for evidence on this point has not yet been 

 satisfied. 



Heating a Kaebit House (C. E. .4.).— For so small a house a gas stove 

 would be best, with a tube to carry the fumes into the open air or adjoining 

 chimney. 



Greyhounds {A. .4(fci7is).— Meyrick's "House Dogs and Sporting Dogs" 

 will suit you. It gives fuU information on the topics you mention. The price 

 is small. Published by Mr. Van Voorst. 



METEOKOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Square, London, 



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



BEMAEKS. 

 Ist. — Fine but boisterous all day; very fine night. 

 2nd. — Fine morning, but frequent showers, and very high wind dnrizig the 



after-part of the day. 

 3rd.— "Wind still high ; day moderately bright, but with frequent showers. 

 4th. — Rain at 8 a.m., cold, wet. and windy, some short intervals bright, but ou 



the whole a very uncomfortable day. 

 5th. — Wet early, but cleared off before 11 a.m., after which time it was fair and 



pleasant. 

 6th. — A most beautiful day throughout, and a very fine sunset. 

 7fch. — Another beautiful day, but not quite equal to the preceding one, from 



the wind being rather colder. 

 The mean temperature veiy slightly below that of last week, but greater 

 range, the maxima being higher and the minima lower than during that 

 time. Remarkably persistent high vinds during the early part. — G.. J. 



&YMONS. 



COYENT GARDEN MARKET.— Aprh- 8. 

 Markets are much influenced by the holidays, and very little alteration 

 has taken place. New Grapes and Strawberries are more freely supplied, the 

 latter in excess of the demand. 



Apples i sieve 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries %^ lb. 



Chestnuts bushel 10 20 



Currants i sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



FUberta lb, 1 1 



Cobs lb. 1 1 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse.... lb. 2 20 



Lemons «* 100 4 12 



Melons each 



FRUIT. 



d. s. d. 

 0to3 

 



Mulberries ^Ib. 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges ^100 



Peaches doz. 



Pears, kitchen doz. 



dessert doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plums i sieve 



Quinces doz, 



Kaspberries ib. 



Strawberries ^ oz. 



Walnuts bushel 10 



ditto ^100 2 



s. d. 8. d. 

 OtoO 







VEGETABLES. 



Articholcea doz. S 



Asparagus ^100 4 



French 12 



Beans, Kidney.... ^103 2 



Beet, Red doz 1 



Broccoli bundle 



Cabbage doz. 1 



Capsicums 1,* 100 



C Lirrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 3 



Celery bundle 1 6 



Coleworta. . doz. bunches 2 6 



Cucumbprs each 1 



pioklipg doz. 



Endive doz. S 



Fennel banoh S 



(larlio lb. 



Herbs bunch 3 



Horseradiah bnadle 3 



Leeks bunch S 



Lettnce doz. 10 4 



Oto6 

 10 

 LO 

 

 8 

 9 1 

 1 

 

 6 

 6 

 6 % 

 6 4 

 2 

 

 

 S 

 

 



Mushrooms pottle 1 



MuBtai-di Cress. .punnet 



Onions bushel 4 



uickling quart 



Parsley per doz. bunchea 4 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 10 



Potatoes bushel 3 



Kidney do. 



Round do. 



Radishes,, d^ie, bunches 1 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy bundle 1 



Savoys doz. I 



Scorzonera bnndle X 



Sea-kale basket 1 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 2 



Toinatooa doz, 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows 



Oto2 

 9 



