Mirch li, IMS. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICTTLTTTEE AXD COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



219 



4, Herofordshire Pearmain ; 5, Tulip ; ij. Sweeny 



:i. Autumn Pearmain ; 

 Nonpareil. 



Nauks op PraNTs ;CfVi>(^sl.— ], Lastrea oUataU: 2. Lastrea Filix-mas; 

 3, Too young, p^rhips Hypolepis tenuifoUa ; 4. Blechnum occidentale ; 

 5, Pteris semilaU ; tl. Polystichum annulare proUferum ; 7, Gymnogramma 



ochracea; 8, Doodia cauiiata ; 9, Lastrc) Fillx-mas, yoan? ; 10, H, Selagi- 

 nellas, but impossible to name from such 8crap.>4 ; 12. Pleris hastata macro- 

 phylla. Your misnaircii plant is Aspidistra larida varieirata. {L. 3. D.). — 

 1, Apparently a sterile frond of Lomaria Pater^oni; 2 and 4, Asplenium 

 viride ; 3, Selaglnella rubricaulij ; 5, Asplenium flabellatuni ; 6, .Asplenium 

 marinum. 



JtETEOEOLOGICAL OBSEEYATIONS in the suburbs of London for the week ending March 11th. 



Dirt. 



Son. 5 



Hon. 6 



Tues. 7 



Wed. 8 

 Thnis. 9 



Fri. 10 



Sat. 11 



Mean 



Max. 



29.579 

 29.377 

 29.574 

 29.755 

 29.950 

 29 9S0 

 29.914 



29.733 



Min. 



29.403 

 29.176 

 29.479 

 29.597 

 29.S79 

 29.564 

 29.520 



29.517 



TfiSBHOMETEB. 



Air. 



43 

 41 

 45 

 44 

 46 

 45 

 44 



Min. 1 1 ft deep. 



2S 

 29 

 21 

 30 

 25 

 34 

 31 



43 



43i 



12 



43 



42 



43 



42 



42.36 



2 ft. deep. 



■Wind. 



inches. 



43 



42J 



42.i 



43 



42 



43 



42 



42.29 



S.W. 

 S.W". 



w. 



N.W. 



N. 

 N.W. 

 N.W. 



,03 

 .02 

 .06 

 .02 

 .00 

 .09 

 .05 



Gbhebal Remarks. 



Clear; drizzly ; fine but cold at night, slight frost. 

 Fine ; cloudy ; overcast at night. [In the night. 



Cloudy, cold, and damp ; rain ; very cold wind ; sharp frost 

 Overcast, some sleet; duaky white clnuds ; fine at night. 

 Cloudy and cold : clear and cold ; overcast; alight frost. 

 Fine ; cloudy, with brisk cold wind ; cloudy at night ; rain. 

 Cloudy and cold ; showery ; cloudy at night. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



THE LAWS OF JfATUIlE 



IX BELAIION TO POULTET KBSPI2JG FBOII A COIIMBKCIAL 

 POINT OF YIEW. 



{Continued from page 183.) 



3. Are tJie eggs not affected iy the heat whilst ieing pacied ? — 

 Althongh the jais are placed in boiling water the internal 

 temperature never exceeds blood heat, and as eggs are not 

 affected by that temperature, wMoh is the same as that at 

 which they come irom the hen, it becomes only necessary to 

 avoid packing the eggs against the jars without a hning of 

 cocoa-nut reftise, which ought to be perfectly dry and used 

 warm for packing. 



4. Hoic can you tell .rhen a '.ir j^ air-tight? — To ascertain 

 whether a jar is air-tight when empty is easy enough ; it is 

 merely necessary to fill the jar with boiling water, and when 

 thoroughly warm to empty out the water, then close the jar 

 quickly with the air-tight cover, and place it inverted in a tub 

 of cold water. The air in the jar, thus rarified, will be con- 

 densed by the cold water. If not perfectly air-tight some 

 water wiU find its way into the jar, which can be ascertained 

 by opening the latter a few hoars afterwards. This test, 

 however simple, cannot be applied to filled jars as it would 

 be necessary to open the jars again. Ifow, this very same 

 ijuestion I put to several pickling firms, and obtained the 

 iTUsatisfactory reply that they consider when jars are air- 

 tight when empty they will be equally so when fiUed. This, 

 however, cannot be depended on as the cover may fit in 

 one plaee and not in another, or it may not be screwed 

 down so much at one time as another. 



5. Can yon at any period ascertain whether the jars ccmiinue 

 air-tight ? 



6. Which are the best air-tight jors, glass or stoneware' 

 These two questions I will endeavour to answer under one 



head,_ and to prevent my being considered to advocate one 

 principle more than another from an interested motive, I 

 must inform my correspondents that to most scientific men 

 and poultry -breeders it is well-known that egg preserving has 

 formed the study of some of the most eminent chemists in 

 Europe, and that until I published, through The JotrENAi op 

 HoRTicuiTUEE, my simple and yet the only truly effective 

 mode of preserving eggs for any length of time no satisfactory 

 means had been discovered. The intense interest this dis- 

 covery has created throughout England has induced me to 

 ascertain which of the professed air-tight jars are really so, in 

 order that the public may not lose theh- confidence in so 

 important a discovery on account of the jars not being to be 

 depended on. Through the kindness of an eminent firm in 

 the pickHng trade I have been enabled to mate experiments 

 with the various so-called air-tight jars, few of which really 

 were so, and all without exception objectionable on account of 

 their construction. Then there came another important con- 

 sideration : how can it be ascertained, when the jars are filled, 

 whether they are air-tight, and how long they will remain so ? 



This, of course, was a perfect impossibility with the jars as 

 at present manufactured. 



These important deficiencies in air-tight jars for preserving 

 eggs have led me to invent a jar pui'posely for egg preserving, 

 and which jar is not only perfectly air-tight, but it will show 

 at a glance whether it is so, and how long it remains so, by 

 means of its patent pneumatic self-indicating cap. I have 

 every reason to believe that these jars will remain air-tight 

 for any number of years, and that the eggs preserved in them 

 will remain as fresh as on the day they were laid, and fit for 

 hatching and the breakfast table. Now, although such jars 

 can also be made of glass, which would have the advantage 

 of showing the eggs, yet when it is considered that glass is 

 hable to crack when put into boiling water, particularly 

 during cold weather, it is my opinion that glazed stoneware 

 is preferable. — G. E. Getelin, C.E. 



POULTRY JUDGES. 



I BEAD now and then, in your paper and elsewhere, of 

 a certain Poulti-v Club which is to dominate over local 

 associations in much the same way as monarchy did over 

 feudal potentates, and the change is, doubtless, a good one 

 in principle. 



At the same time I do not clearly gather the scope 

 of the Club's proposed operations. Apart from the esta- 

 blishment of a standard of excellence (which the Club hopes 

 to settle hereafter, and which I hope it may, and that 

 judiciously, so as to obtain general assent), the great point 

 made seems to be the putting down of " dealer judges," or, 

 as a semi-official article has said, "persons who sell birds." 

 Now, in horticultural shows, the amateur and nurseryman's 

 classes are very different ; but in the matter of poultry the 

 amateur who does not sell off his surplus stock whenever 

 an adequate price is forthcoming, is, I imagine, a rare variety 

 of the fancier species. Now, if the habit of selling birds 

 infallibly perverts the moral sense, I doubt whether entire 

 rectitude be consistent with even occasional bargains. Why 

 not disqualify at once all who keep birds the value of which 

 would be affected by competition, including, of course, all 

 whose relatives or friends may be in that predicament? 

 Living in an out-of-the-way locality, I know nothing about 

 the secret history of the matter ; but it seems to me invidious 

 to throw reproach on a class, and, if as I suppose, it be a 

 very limited class, rather an ignoble ol^ect to put in the 

 foreground of the programme. 



There is no royal road to the selection of judges. Cha- 

 racter — that is, recognised skill and integrity — is the growth 

 of experience and publicity. There are different kinds of 

 people — fast and slow, bold and timid, vulgar and " genteel." 

 Classification is an excellent aid to natural history, but 

 none at all in choosing poultry judges, any more than the 

 colour of their hair. 



As to the wisdom of special arrangements to prevent 

 judges' acquaintance with the ownership of the pens, any 

 mark or indication found on a b.rd at once, as I am told, 

 disqualifies it ; and it is proposed to mai-k the pens for 

 judging apart from the numbers in the catalogue, which 



