STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 186 



a host of others. But these flies are very rapid flyers, and taken 

 with difficulty. I have never seen fowls attempt their capture, 

 although they are so common. Prof. Trelease of the Wiscon- 

 sin University, calls the golden-eyed or lace-winged flies too 

 fetid for anything' s api)etite. Dragon flies, beneficial by destroy- 

 ing gnats and mosquitoes, are also exceedingly swift in their 

 movements, and not only that, but high in their flight. As they 

 frequent pools and aquatic plants, not one poultry-yard in a 

 dozen is so located as to give its inmates even an acquaintance 

 with them. Prof. King unites with Prof. Trelease in a belief 

 that chickens can, from the nature of the case, do no consider- 

 able damage to useful insects. The Gardener^ s Chronicle is not 

 afraid to take the same stand. 



Perhaps no one will object, to such conclusions as have been 

 reached. It is, however, for her supposed wanton and unneces- 

 sary destruction, her scratching up things, instead of culti- 

 vating around them, that biddy is chiefly hated. Is not her 

 aim, extermination of bugs, and her injury to plants, incidental 

 or accidental? Her purpose accomplished, does she ever again 

 disturb the spot? The peas, before mentioned as attacked by 

 weevils, we thought ruined by those hens which overhauled them. 

 They were twisted every way, some plants nearly uprooted. In 

 a few days, though, they straightened up, took new hold, and 

 yielded excellently. Now, their work done, did our feathered 

 gardeners ever return to them. A fence a yard high, knit of 

 course carpet twine, in meshes an inch square, and, at intervals, 

 fastened top and bottom to slender poles driven fast in the 

 ground, is said to make a complete barricade against poultry 

 of any kind. It is graceful, nearly invisible, and suitable for 

 hedging in flour beds. Mosquito-bar, though less durable, 

 answers very well, so reports a Western Rural correspondent. 

 Mr. Hildreth of Massachusetts, owner of a large establishment, 

 a farm, six hen-houses, eight hundred hens, etc., finds a movable 

 fence, one lath high, made in sections, keeps them in bounds. 

 Nor when brought up in a garden from the first, are they so 

 likely to do damage as when they are only allowed in now and 

 then, or get in by chance, reminding us of the hungry boy at 

 a picnic. Our hens have access to all the premises, and we have 

 an abundance of garden stuff to bestow on our neighbors, as a 

 consequence, we believe. Undoubtedly, too, there are seasons 

 and occasions when fowls will have to be confined in their yards. 



The relation of poultry to horticulture is a worthy study, yet 

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