452 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 4, 1874. 



ding plants ; but as you do not care much about the latter they may be dis- 

 pensed with. Your house, as you dencribe it, is not too warm for Heaths, and 

 were you to dispense with them you could not do without a warmer house for 

 forwarding plants to bloom in the preeuhouse. If you put up a cooler house, 

 and make your present one warmer, it is evident you will force thingg in the 

 greenhouse. Keep ibis house as it is ; only, if you have the forciug pit, as 

 shown by the blue linoB, and the cool house, we should tate an extra pipe from 

 the boiler along the side of the present flow in the greenhouse, and this to go 

 along the front and oue end of your proposed cool house, with a return pipe 

 under the same. This would give you four pipes in the greenhouse and two 

 in the cooler house ; the former for plants in fluwer in winter should have a 

 temperature from fireheatof 40'^to45'. From the cooler house merely exclude 

 frost. The pipes will interfere with the doorway of the cool house, as you 

 at present Khow it in front ; but that might be moved or altered to the end, 

 and corresponding or opposite to the existing greenhouse door. The forcing 

 pit would, as you show it, answer well with sufTicient piping ; have two pipes 

 for bottom heat, and two for top heat, with efficient means of regulating the 

 temperature in all the bouses by valves. It is better to have plenty of piping 

 rather than too little, for in the latter case the water must be heated to 

 a high temperature in order to maintain sufticient heat, and this involves 

 a waste of fuel, and is prejudicial to the plants. The question of tenant fix- 

 ture or otherwise we have not considered, but we think, with so short a lease, 

 you ought to have an agreement with your landlord before making the pro- 

 posed additions to your glass structui-es. 



Najies of Plants (TV. H. Loseh'ti). — Calycanthus la^vigatus. (F. E. T.) 

 — Send when in flower. (A. C). — Tecoma jasminoides. {IF. P. B.). — 1, 

 Staphylea pinnata; 2, A Prunus, but specimen too for gone; 3, Athyrium 

 Filix-ftemina, var. ; 4, Cystopteris fragilis ; 5, t^uercus sp. ; 0, Scolupendrium 

 vulgare. IE. R, Mttdiie/ord).—\uhtiGtia. deltoidea. {D. R. 3/.).— Apparently 

 a Maxillaria, but specimen much faded. {W. S.). — 1, ^schynanthus sp. ; 

 6, Ophrys muscifera; the remainder mere scraps. {J. J. Copsey). — The speci- 

 men enclosed. Aloe variegata, or Partridge-breasted AIoo. That yon mention 

 may be Aloe glauca, but it is only a guess. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHEONIOLE, 



GREAT NATIONAL POULTRY SHOW. 



It has been brought to the knowledge of the Committee of the 

 Great National Poultry Show that many persons have an im- 

 pression that the above Show is connected with the body calling 

 itself the National Ornithological Association, owing to the 

 pecuHar character of their announcements, and further that none 

 but members of the Association will be allowed to compete in 

 future at the Crystal Palace. The Committee, therefore, find it 

 needful to state that there is no such connection as supposed. 



The Great National Show will be held at the Crystal Palace 

 in November, it will be open to all, and it will be conducted as 

 usual independently of every association or journal, and the 

 Committee trust that the previous management has given such 

 satisfaction as to commend it to the support of all interested in 

 the culture and exhibition of poultry. — C. How.uid, W. J. Nichols, 

 Eon. Sees. 



HATCHING ANXIETIES. 



I HAD a Dorking hen that sat on thirteen Houdan eggs in a 

 place for sitting quite away from the roosting house. On the 

 nineteenth day she left the nest, and though shut up could not 

 be got on to it again. I had a black half-bred broody hen (from 

 eggs sold me as Brahmas) which had set herself on a pot egg 

 she found in a manger, and though the eggs were quite cold we 

 carried them to her almost without hope. On the twenty-first 

 day my man came to me with a chicken having some signs of 

 life in it in each of his trousers' pockets, and he had found 

 them thrown to a distance in the manger ; another egg was 

 broken, but a live chicken not yet got out, and the hen had 

 deserted the remaining ten eggs. T\*e had a Houdan hen which 

 Lad been broody a month, and had constantly returned to her 

 nest in the roosting house, though she had been removed to a 

 place a considerable distance oil. In despair we took the eggs 

 to her, though they were again cold, and on the twenty-third 

 day she hatched-out eight more chickens, and is now going about 

 with ten. She seems to be a very careful mother, but keeps 

 very close to her rip. — Ellcee. 



[Your first mistake was to set a hen in a place where it was 

 optional with her whether she would sit fast or not. We con- 

 stantly advise our readers (their name is legion) not to leave 

 their eggs to the discretion of the hen. They are not all con- 

 tent with routine, and when the sun shines, and others are en- 

 joying liberty and basking, they yield to the temptation and 

 leave their eggs. The vitality of eggs after they are left depends 

 on the temperature to which they are exposed, and, above all, 

 whether the exposure is by night or by day. The fact of a 

 Houdan beitig broody is curious, but there are such sports now 

 and then. We shall be curious to know whether she remains 

 a good mother. We gather from your query that she is at liberty 

 with her brood. You say, " She keeps very close to her rip." 

 Put her under it, and keep her there six weeks at least, eight 

 are better. — Ens.] 



AriDITIONS TO THE OxFORD PoULTBY SHOW SCHEDULE. — 



H.B.H. Prince Leopold has again presented a silver cup, value 



£5, for the best pen of Dorkings at our coming Show in October 

 next. Also we propose giving prizes in several new classes, 

 and that the value of the third prizes will be increased, and a 

 fourth added in sortie of the classes that last Show had the 

 largest number of entries. Game will be exhibited on the 

 single-bird system. American fowls (Mr. A. Kitchen having 

 collected a £5 sis. cup). Black Polands, Brown Red Bantams wiU 

 each have a class, and there will be a Selling class for Bantams. 

 In Pigeons Black and Dun Carriers, Dragoons, and Turbits will 

 be shown distinctly from the other colours of those three varieties. 

 Young Barbs (1874) and Foreign and English Owls and Long- 

 faced Tumblers will have each a class to themselves. — Joseph 

 King. 



EARLY-LAYING BRAHMA PULLET. 



On the 22nd of January last I had hatched a brood of Dark 

 Brahma chicks, one of the pullets of which brood laid her first 

 egg on Saturday, May 23rd, and another on May 25th, so that 

 when she laid her first egg she was but four months and a day 

 old. I have kept fowls now for many years, and never before 

 experienced an instance of such early laying. — Geo. Waee, 

 Tunbridge WtjUs. 



[We thank you for your communication. We are always 

 looking for such, " 'Tis our vocation, Hal." We have long kept 

 note of such matters. We have one record of a Buil Cochin 

 pullet laying in the sixteenth week of her existence — we have 

 only one. Of late years we have found pullets do not lay so 

 early as they did formerly; and in advising correspondents as 

 to forming relays of pullets, to make new-laid eggs certain all 

 the year, we now allow a month more than we did formerly. 

 We shall be glad to hear from you at any time. — Eds.] 



CROWLE POULTRY SHOW. 



The first attempt at a show was made at Crowle on May 26th, 

 and as far as we can judge resulted in a great success, although 

 the amount of money offered as prizes (not bad, however, for a 

 start), was not such as to induce entries in great numbers ; but 

 the quality throughout was creditable to the exhibitors, and the 

 amount of gate money (over i'TO), was so encouraging that there 

 is little doubt but that the schedule will be made more tempting 

 another year. Turner's pens were used, and having been placed 

 against a high stone fence they were well sheltered. 



The first iu Dorkings were a nice even pen, the rest being of 

 only moderate quaUty. In Cochins another pen was disqualified 

 on account of stained plumage. The first in S}}a?ii3]i were dia- 

 monds in the rough ; the second being considered by the Judges 

 to be a little overtrimmed, and the get-up as much overdone as 

 the first were underdone, but there is little doubt that the latter 

 cock was the better. In Brahmas the cup for the best pen in 

 the Show was awarded, the cock being a gem, and the pullet 

 well marked, but far too small to look well in a show-pen. Two 

 fair Brown Beds won in the first class for single cocks, and in 

 the next the winners were Duckwings, the first being an exceed- 

 ingly hard short-feathered bird. Game hens were shown in one 

 class; the first a Duckwing, a perfect gem except that, as is 

 often the case when laying, she was a little high in comb ; the 

 second being a Black Eed. Hamhurghs were mixed classes — a 

 system we cannot sufficiently condemn, as it is very difficult to 

 determine upon the rival merits of the colours, and few good 

 exhibitors will risk the uncertainty. The winners in these 

 classes were of fair quality. Black Heds won in both cases in 

 Ked Game B(intamcoc\s; and in the next class a very smart Pile 

 was first and Duckwing second, the latter being very dirty. Of 

 Bantams, Game, the hens were by far the best, most of them 

 being noticed. First was a Black-breasted Eed of great merit, 

 and second a good Pile, except that she was somewhat large. In 

 the next class Blacks won, and the first was an extremely good 

 pen. In the Variety class the first were Golden Polands, the 

 hen being a gem, but the cock poor. Second came a good pen 

 of Crcve-Co'urs ; and a good set of Silver Polands were very 

 highly commended. 



Pigeons. — The entries were very good, and in some classes 

 the competition was very close. Carriers were only moderate, 

 while Pouters were very good ; Mr. Harvey's grand Blue-pied, 

 so well known in the show-pen, standing first, with Mr. Nottage's 

 excellent Blue a good second. Antwerps, with the exception of 

 about two birds, were only poor, but Tumblers were very good, 

 the winners in the latter being Almonds. White Foreign Owls 

 of rare excellence stood in the place of honour in the next class; 

 Blue English were second. In Barbs we were glad to see quality 

 recognised over mere age and coarseness, a neat Red being first 

 and Black second. Fantails moderate ; a White first, and Blue 

 second. In Jacobins a White was placed first and a Red second, 

 the latter being somewhat large but otherwise good, although 

 some preferred a neat Yellow to either of the above. The 

 Variety class was the largest, and the first prize was awarded to 

 a grand Trumpeter, the second to a neat Red Magpie cock. 



R.uiBiTs were not numerous, but the wmntrs very good 



