January 24, 1865. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



77 



to a liquid state with milk and water, and then pouring it 

 down the gullet by means of a funnel three times a-day, 

 and not supplying the fowl with any water. 



PKEPAKATION Or THE FATTENING FOOD. 



Bai-leymeal, or mixed in equal quantity with Indian corn- 

 meal, should be made into a thick paste with milk and water 

 and seasoned with bay salt. This paste is then either made 

 liquid for liquid feeding, or into pills, which should be dipped 

 in milk and water before they ai'e given to facilitate their 

 being swallowed. 



Experiments have proved that seasoning poultry food with 

 bay salt has the following advantages : — 



1. To render the fattening of shorter duration. 



2. To produce with the same quantity of food more flesh 

 and fat. 



3. To give the flesh greater firmness and flavour, and to 

 render the fat more compact and of a finer grain. 



Molasses or sugar mixed with the meal has also good 

 fattening properties. 



IMPROVED FATTENING PENS. 



good birds have died in consequence. The birds at first 

 mope about, eat little, and in a day or two begin shaking 

 their heads and twisting them about, sometimes falling for- 

 wards. They continue so for a day or two and then die, 

 neither eating nor drinking all the time. 



I keep the birds in a good warm cote facing the south. 

 Some have their liberty and others have a covered pen 

 7 yards by 3, shielded by a house on the north, and latticed 

 in front. I feed them on grey peas, Indian corn, lentels, or 

 wheat, or sometimes old beans, generally three kinds at 

 once. The birds flying as well as those kept in, both young 

 and old, have had it. — Airedale. 



[I am unable to inform " Aikedale " of a cure for his 

 Pigeons, but it seems to be apoplexy. If any of mine were 

 so affected, I should try pills containing one grain of calomel 

 and puU out their tails. — B. P. B.] 



Fig 



' - ■3/'-' ^ <; -3,'rj . 



23.— Improved Fattening; Pens. 



These fattening pens are so' constructed that they can b"e 

 placed in the open air, forming a building of themselves 

 Each fowl has her own compartment, and is thus in solitary 

 confinement, and being unable to see other fowls, fattening 

 IS considerably hastened. The floors of the cells should be 

 drawn out daily and cleaned and whitewashed, then returned 

 with the dry underside uppermost and sprinkled with some 

 sand. The cells should also be whitewashed for every fresh 

 occupier. The doors are solid boards with a piece of per- 

 forated zinc for ventUation at the top, and a drinkino--cup at 

 tbe Dottom. These pens combine all the sanitary advan- 

 tages for the speedy fattening of fowls.— G. K. Geyelin 

 Civil Engineer, London. ' 



(To be continued.) 



HAWKS AND PIGEONS. 

 I HAVE studied your poultry department very closely for 

 the last year to see if there was anything mentioned about 

 what, at least in this country, is considered the worst of the 

 inconveniences to which Pigeon fanciers are subjected — i. e,. 

 Hawks. I am led to believe, therefore, either that those 

 birds are not very numerous in England, or that 

 English Pigeon fanciers know some effectual 

 remedy against the scourge, allowing them at 

 the same time to give the Pigeons their liberty 

 all the year round. I am compelled to have my 

 Pigeons locked up from September to May, and 

 during this long arrest they afford me very little 

 amusement indeed, although my loft is roomy 

 enough ; and generally some good birds die-oif 

 during the captivity, and others are lost during 

 the first days of liberty in spring. — B., Gothen- 

 burg, Sweden. 



[I am sorry to say we know of no means of 

 preventing the Falcons from taking our Pigeons ; 

 but fortunately for English Pigeon fanciers these 

 rapacious birds are not very numerous in Eng- 

 land, as gamekeepers have almost exterminated 

 the race, and the smaller Hawks rarely attempt 

 to catch Pigeons. Many years back when resid- 

 ing at Dover, the Peregrines that lived about the 

 chalk cliffs used to make sad havoc among my 

 high-flying Tumblers, but they did not descend 

 into the town to take those that did not fly high. 

 Some quick-flying Pigeons are not easily caught 

 by these bu-ds, and if they have the shelter of a 

 town to drop into generally escape, as the Falcon 

 is shy of following among the houses. Mr. Acker- 

 mann, the Pigeon dealer in Coblentz, on the 

 Ehine, who kept a large flight of the Feather- 

 footed Tumblers, told me he used to keep a few 

 pairs of active little Hollanders, which he turned 

 out when he saw the bird of prey approach, and 

 as these would soar up and attract the Hawk, he 

 could get his heavier birds down and out of harm's way. 

 The little Dutch Tumblers generally saved themselves by 

 theii- activity, and if hard pressed would drop among the 

 houses where the enemy did not like to follow, unless very 

 hard pressed by hunger. — ^B. P. Beent.] 



MEGEIMS IN PIGEONS. 

 I should"; be greatly obHged by being informed of any 

 sure for what is called here the megrims in Pigeons, as 

 mine have been much troubled with it lately, and some very 



JEDBURGH POULTEY SHOW. 



It gives us great pleasure to announce that the entries 

 for the above Exhibition (held on the 18th and 19th inst.), 

 have this year increased in number, and that the quality 

 of the poultry shown has evinced a remarkable improvement 

 also. A reference to the appended prize list will at once 

 convince our readers that the Jedburgh Show this year was 

 well supported by most of the principal breeders in the 

 kingdom. It is certain that no committee of a poultry show 

 can strive more heartily than do the governing body of the 

 Jedburgh meeting to secure public interest and support, 

 each member being as indefatigable as though the whole 

 chance of success depended exclusively on his own individual 

 exertions. Every member of the Committee is constantly 



